Why I Canceled Lightning Boot Camp... For Now

Dear Friends who Salesforce,

It's with a heavy heart that I tell you that I'm not going to continue with all 31 days of Lightning Boot Camp with Longshore Consulting... for now (and possibly not ever). 

Why?

1. Free (and paid) content on migrating from Classic to Lightning doesn't seem to be resonating with people right now.

Why might this be the case?

- Migrating to Lightning from Classic is a big project on top of everything else an admin needs to do. As I really started to grasp watching Francis Pindar's video (see below) featuring Mike Rosenbaum, Salesforce Executive Vice President, Salesforce wants moving to Lightning to be, "an opportunity for people to re-think their organizations and the[ir] configurations..." Mike suggests looking at older extra fields, outdated business processes, and the like to be sure they are aligned with current business strategy. I couldn't agree more! 

But here's the challenge: Not all organizations are ready and have the capacity to improve their business processes right now. It's particularly tough for, say, a solo admin to make the case to improve business processes if they're already behind on learning process builder or launching a new Community. 

- Classic and Lightning are not designed to have feature parity, which makes things tough. Lightning is designed to be better than Classic, which is awesome, but it still means if you use features that are not going to be moved to Lightning like Account Contact Roles, JavaScript Buttons, or Solutions (see Features Not on Roadmap for the full list), you need to figure out how to move to the Lightning counterparts that are available, which will take time and resources. 

- Lightning can be frustrating for speed and feature reasons. By now many of you have heard about the speed challenges with Lightning (vote it up on the IdeaExchange now) and the usability issues (thank you Brent Downey for this post). Even when there is feature parity, not every aspect of a feature is available yet, which leads to the timing question of when it's right for most people to migrate to Lightning so that it will be less frustrating for users and admins. I have found this article on gaps between Classic and Lightning to be particularly helpful. 

Here's an example: related lists. They're not all available yet in Lightning. As the documentation article states, "Related lists for objects that aren’t supported in Lightning Experience don’t appear anywhere in the interface, even if they’re included on an object’s page layout." Salesforce explains that until this feature is available in Lightning, users can easily switch back to Classic with the click of a button.

The challenge: an admin needs to figure out before users get too frustrated whether a feature is:

A. Not coming in Lightning

B. Coming in Lightning (and if so when and will there be any noticeable changes)

C. Already available in Lightning (but looks or functions slightly differently so therefore the admin needs to figure this out and give users a heads up or be prepared to answer support questions) 

Figuring this out is not impossible thanks to Trailhead and Salesforce's awesome documentation team, it just takes time and effort, which results in the question of when to move to Lightning not even being on the table for many Salesforce leaders.

- Change is scary and hard. Did you know there's an actual formula for change? It's true. ​With Lightning Boot Camp, I wanted to offer the F in Dannemiller's equation (C = D * V * F > R) , which is First, concrete steps that can be taken towards the vision. However, there are issues with multiple variables in the equation (including F as I'll explain below). One of the most challenging in regards to the move to Lightning is Dissatisfaction with how things are now. In other words, Salesforce Classic is great and it meets the needs of many (most?) Salesforce customers (especially nonprofits)! 

So what needs to happen so that organizations can overcome the Resistance and successfully implement Change in the form of Lightning? I'm not completely sure, but I can tell you that according to math and Kathleen Dannemiller, Dissatisfaction will need to be greater than zero. 


2. I need to eat. A 31 day course would take many dozens of hours to put together, and with a significant lack of signups I’m not able to justify turning down client work to finish the boot camp. Shutting down the boot camp is also the result of staying true to the lean entrepreneurship philosophy I think is pretty cool, and will allow me to try more innovative things in the Salesforce space without forcing me to starve. This is my first real glimpse into the hard part of having a minimum viable product, however, and it's not as fun as the articles and conferences make it seem. After all, I do what I do to make social change, to contribute to the Salesforce community in a new way, and to make your life as a Salesforce leader easier.

3. I can and will do better. I realized on May 3rd that I was not meeting my own quality content standards for Lightning Boot Camp. When I put an experience out to the Salesforce community, I want that experience to go above and beyond your expectations. If Lightning Boot Camp comes back in some form, it will still be a step by step action plan to support you in moving to Lightning from Classic, but it will have easier to consume original content to move you towards that goal (feedback on what would help most is welcome!). 

So... what does shutting down Lightning Boot Camp mean? 

I'm still trying to figure that all out. I'm a finisher, dang it (thanks Kristi Guzman and the Two WIT Podcast for that New Year's Resolution)! I also love teaching and coaching beginner to intermediate Salesforce administrators and leaders how to better use Salesforce.

I also still believe that there has got to be a way that I can help social change organizations and admins at companies who want to learn (see #2 above) while meeting the following goals:

1. Offer services and products at a reasonable price.
2. Offer something between my bespoke consulting services and my free trainings like #AdminHour.
3. Create as much social change as possible.
4. Offer content that fits your needs and allows you to make change in your Salesforce instance; do not just offer generic tips and strategies.

Your willingness to be patient and try new things in the Salesforce space with me as we all learn and grow together means the world to me. 

What do you think? 

Is it too soon to move to Lightning?

When will the pain of Classic become enough to warrant the switching cost of moving to Lightning?

What's the best way for a Salesforce leader to get support in moving to Lightning?

I really want to hear from you! Let me know in the comments, on twitter @missylongshore, in the Success Community, or in the Power of Us Hub. 

Also, don’t worry! #AdminHour, the blog, and products will continue. In the spirit of full disclosure, my plan is to offer a paid product every month this year, to see what works. So far, the planner was great but no one bought it, the coaching crew was successful (go team!), and Boot Camp was a sort-of fail. Your feedback and comments, including on the 2017 Nonprofits who Salesforce Survey, will all help myself and many others who write blogs, create podcasts, and design events for the Salesforce community better understand how we can best serve you! May the force.com be with you!