‘Less Code the Better’, Parker Harris Says: Insights from True to the Core at TDX
If there is one thing for certain about any True to the Core session, it’s that it is guaranteed to be popular. Another guaranteed thing is that the community has consistently shown that it is not afraid to hold back with its questions and requests, which is, at least in our opinion, what makes this session one of the most valuable at TDX.
This time around, the community once again brought the heat, prompting important conversations around Salesforce’s monetization decisions, the future of code, and more. Here’s what you need to know.
Key Highlights from True to the Core
As always, True to the Core highlighted the work that Salesforce had been doing behind the scenes to deliver solutions to problems and queries on the IdeaExchange, with over 365 ideas delivered in the past year.
These include:
- Making text fields inline editable in Lightning Web Components
- Introducing list view multi-column sort
- Increasing custom field activity to 300
- Introducing enhanced data encryption
- Releasing a Table Viz extension
- Introducing a search manager
- Introducing branded and customized welcome emails
- Releasing Setup With Agentforce (Beta)
Salesforce pledged to make more of an active effort to keep TTTC-esque conversations going even after the main event, encouraging the community to continue engaging with the IdeaExchange and RoadmapExchange to have their say on future releases, while also taking part in the ongoing Salesforce Research Program. This can be found here.
“If You Want to See Headless Succeed – We Need to See a Roadmap”
This week, Salesforce announced Headless 360, making “everything on Salesforce” an API, MCP tool, or CLI command that is usable by agents.
Ever since Salesforce began rolling out its major artificial intelligence products and tools – starting predominantly with Einstein GPT – the community has had concerns that the SaaS giant is neglecting its core platform and users. It is something that we witnessed at TTTC at Dreamforce last year, with the community saying, “Agentforce isn’t everything”.
Andrés Catalán, the Senior Delivery Principal of Financial Services at Slalom, brought that conversation back up this year, saying that if Salesforce wanted to see Headless “succeed”, its customers would need to see a roadmap of core functionality going forward.
“I’ve heard this before – that there’s a concern we’re not investing enough in things that are not Agentforce and Data Cloud,” said Parker Harris, CTO of Salesforce. “As we fix and add more features to the core platform, our goal is that all of that should also be exposed from a Headless interface as well. Headless is not an excuse for us not to build great UI.”
Although Harris acknowledged that Salesforce could not ignore the community’s continual request for core updates, it is evident that the goal is to marry up the two sides of the business, where the core platform directly influences the agentic side and vice versa.
“I Would Say the Less Code the Better”
Perhaps the most interesting statement to come from this session is from Parker Harris himself, somewhat solidifying the future of Salesforce’s UI as we know it.
When talking with Muralidhar Krishnaprasad (MK), President and CTO of Engineering at Salesforce, on how Salesforce’s UI is shaping up, his sentiments were clear: “I would say the less code the better.”
“Just because AI can write it and rewrite it, I still think the less code the better, and we’re not going to upgrade what’s underneath your complex Apex code, but we will keep enhancing what’s under Flow,” he said.
“Even at Salesforce, we’re generating a lot more code because of AI. I really worry about that, because it could be a huge mess if we’re not careful.”
“Get a Job That Is Salesforce-Adjacent”
At a time when both the Salesforce community and wider tech community are navigating a rapidly changing job market, advice on how to break in and get your foot in the door has never been more valuable. That’s why we found it interesting that we were able to get job advice from the panel, in answer to a question submitted on Salesforce+.
“For folks that don’t have experience and are trying to break into a Salesforce role, whether it’s BA, admin, or dev – my recommendation has been to get a job that is Salesforce adjacent,” said Joy Shutters-Helbing, the session’s second facilitator. “[That might mean] using the tool, so you become the resident expert at a call center or someone who is familiar with the business and using the tool on the side.”
Meredith Brown, the SVP of Trailhead and Community at Salesforce, revealed that the Salesforce training side is also going to become more accessible through Trailhead.
“I think a lot is coming for people who just want to get their hands on the technology, whether it’s in-app or in Slack, and [we will be] bringing Trailhead to them rather than it being a destination they go to.”
“This Is an Example of How People Lose Trust in Salesforce”
If there was something that felt the heat, particularly in this session, it was Salesforce’s Known Issues.
Known Issues are problems that Salesforce has acknowledged and keeps track of, logged on their specific page. Users can submit problems, and once Salesforce has confirmed it, its progress to a solution can be tracked. However, it has become evident that this does not work as smoothly as intended – as Salesforce Architect Alon Waisman explained.
He reported that there are around 10,000 Known Issues on the site, with the oldest one being scheduled to be fixed from 2013.
“I looked at the first 1,000 of the 10,000 – so a full 10% – and those were all more than seven years old,” he explained. “I’m losing trust because I see problems as a developer. I see that you identify problems, and you’re like, we’re totally going to fix them, but instead you’re probably just going to talk about AI.”
This is something that comes up time and time again, but for good reason. With Salesforce pushing so many new AI advancements, what happens to the core platform’s issues that desperately need attention?
“Why Does Everything to Do With Files Suck?”
Pat McCellan, a Salesforce MVP, asked a super straight-to-the-point question on behalf of MVP Hall of Famer Michael Kolodner, but it inspired an ongoing conversation. That question was: “Why does everything that has to do with files, the content, and whatever objects, suck?”
MK explained that although Salesforce has done a lot of work with files and how they operate on Data 360, more work needs to be done around the general filing/data storage scenario.
Andrew Russo, a self-proclaimed “Archa-Admin-Eloper”, also highlighted the issues around data storage, explaining that his team recently had the option to move all emails to core from AWS, effectively storing them as email messages and tasks. The catch? They would need to start paying for every new email that came in.
“Salesforce says that data is the moat,” he said. “The moat is currently quite small to put data behind. Can you make it so we can put more data behind your moat, making it more sticky to stay in Salesforce, but actually cost-effective too?”
Salesforce has long been considered a sticky technology, with a unified platform that enables businesses to handle everything from sales to service to marketing, all in one place. However, if it means it is more cost-effective to outsource to different platforms for different tasks, suddenly processes are running the risk of becoming disconnected and difficult to manage, even if it comes at a cost advantage.
“That’s a fair point,” MK admitted. Watch this space.
True to the Core Deep Dives
At this year’s TDX, there were several True to the Core deep dive sessions. Unlike broader product updates, these sessions focus on the areas that matter most to the community, shaped directly by user feedback. That alone makes them valuable, but it is the extended Q&A and direct access to product leaders that really set them apart.
Take the “True to the Core Deep Dive: Low Code & Pro Code Development” session. On stage was an all-star lineup from Salesforce, including Khush Singh, Cheryl Feldman, Karen Fidelak, Greg Whitworth, and others.
Questions came from both the in-person audience and those watching online. While the topics varied, there were clear themes running throughout. One of the most prominent was Salesforce pages.
There was a strong sense from the audience that Salesforce has slowed down investment in this area. This includes long-standing gaps such as migrating functionality from Classic to Lightning, something many would argue is long overdue. Admins are frustrated with having to switch back to the Classic interface for relatively simple tasks, and there is a growing concern that their needs are being deprioritised in favour of AI and pro-code tooling.
In response, Salesforce reassured attendees that improvements are in progress. This includes enhancing the Lightning App Builder by bringing across features from the Classic page layout editor, as well as addressing ongoing accessibility and usability challenges.
Another key topic was offline access, particularly for mobile use. Salesforce reiterated that offline functionality remains a priority for its mobile applications. However, some capabilities, such as offline screen flows, are still not on the roadmap.
Staying on the theme of core platform investment versus AI, SF Ben Technical Content Lead Christine Marshall had the opportunity to ask the final question of the session, focusing on the future of admins.
She pointed out that the TDX keynote felt heavily geared towards developers, meeting them in familiar territory, whereas many of those concepts and tools are less accessible to admins. She also raised a broader concern. If AI begins to take on more day-to-day admin tasks, such as user management and troubleshooting, and if interfaces continue to evolve towards vibe coding, are we heading towards a future where the admin role still exists, but requires fewer people?
Salesforce was clear in its response. They do not believe these changes will reduce the need for admins.
Khush Singh shared that the team had previously explored an admin-focused AI tool, but it was ultimately shelved due to challenges with low-quality metadata. That experience highlighted a bigger issue. Before AI can reliably support admins, the underlying data and metadata need to be of a much higher standard.
As a result, current efforts are focused on improving the quality of AI-generated metadata and increasing opportunities for reuse. The longer-term goal is to build a stronger foundation that will allow AI-powered tools to better support admins in a meaningful and reliable way.
Final Thoughts
This year’s TDX True to the Core session provided the community and Salesforce with a much better understanding of one another and how each party is feeling, with both praise and criticisms shared. Hopefully, we will see more positive change in the coming months, especially in the run-up to Dreamforce.
If you missed the session, you can watch it on demand on Salesforce+.
