To illustrate the DevOps lifecycle, this part of the book summarizes how to build applications on the Salesforce platform, while Part 4: Salesforce Ops (Administration) summarizes administering Salesforce in production. Building things right and running them wisely are the two most important aspects of the development lifecycle, but in this book we touch on them only briefly. The vast majority of the book, Part 3: Innovation Delivery, covers the stages of deployment and testing that unite development and operations. Less has been written about that critical topic, but there are enormous efficiencies to be gained from doing it right.

Developing on the Salesforce platform is generally fun and straightforward, and there is an amazing array of learning resources available to help. Salesforce’s developer documentation is excellent, as are Trailhead and the thousands of presentations given at Salesforce conferences and events every year. In addition, there is a wealth of books, blogs, tweets, and StackExchange posts you can find to educate you or help you untangle complex problems.

Although this section is brief, we introduce key concepts in development and architecture along with recommendations for where you can learn more.