Code Reviews as a Tool for Protecting Salesforce Transaction Architecture

One of the practices that significantly improves the efficiency and stability of software projects is a well-established culture of code reviews. While code reviews are often perceived as a purely technical activity, their impact goes far beyond verifying syntax or coding style. When implemented properly, they improve communication between developers, architects, and business stakeholders.

For some developers, code reviews can feel stressful. However, when conducted in a constructive and transparent way, they become a powerful mechanism for recognizing strong technical work, promoting best practices, and improving the overall quality of the system.

In healthy engineering teams, code reviews should be considered a standard part of the development lifecycle. In Salesforce projects, they are especially important due to the platform’s strict transaction limits and complex interactions between automation, Apex code, and integrations.

The Most Important Question During a Code Review

There are many approaches to conducting code reviews, but from an architectural perspective everything can be reduced to one fundamental question:

Will the new functionality harm the existing system in any way?

In Salesforce environments this question is particularly critical. Because the platform operates within strict governor limits, poorly designed functionality can quickly degrade system performance or break existing processes.

Therefore, code reviews should not only evaluate code readability and correctness, but also the impact of the change on transaction architecture and platform limits.

Understanding Where the System Is Already Struggling

Before evaluating new functionality, architects must understand where the system is already experiencing stress. This requires continuous observation of several key areas within the Salesforce org.

Three sources are particularly valuable:

Paused Record-Triggered Flow Interviews

Paused Flow interviews often indicate process bottlenecks or transaction conflicts. If flows frequently pause or fail to resume properly, it may suggest problems with record locking, long-running transactions, or poorly structured automation chains. Monitoring this area helps identify processes that are already close to platform limits.

Asynchronous and Synchronous Logs

Logging is essential for understanding the real behavior of the system in production. If logging mechanisms are not yet implemented in the project, they should be introduced as soon as possible.

Logs allow architects to detect:

• long-running transactions

• repeated retry patterns

• integration delays

• unexpected spikes in platform limit consumption

Without proper logs, diagnosing systemic issues becomes significantly more difficult.

Ticketing Systems and User Complaints

The third important source of information is often overlooked: the ticketing system.

User complaints frequently expose patterns that are invisible in isolated debugging sessions. When multiple users report slow performance, failed operations, or inconsistent behavior, it usually indicates deeper architectural problems.

These signals should always be correlated with platform logs and system metrics.

Measuring Transaction Efficiency

Once these data sources are collected, architects can begin measuring transaction efficiency.

One useful metric is the number of queries executed per transaction, especially in Apex-driven processes or complex automation chains. By analyzing logs and exporting error reports from the last few weeks, patterns often begin to emerge.

Typical Salesforce platform errors include:

• Unable to lock row

• CPU limit exceeded

• Too many SOQL queries

• Other governor limit exceptions

Grouping these errors and analyzing their frequency across transactions helps identify which processes are most vulnerable.

When to Reconsider Transaction Design

If a new feature touches processes that are already close to platform limits, architects should pause the implementation and reconsider the design.

In many cases the correct solution is to move heavy processing into asynchronous execution, such as:

• Queueable Apex

• Future methods

• Batch processing

• Platform Events

Asynchronous patterns allow the system to distribute workload more effectively and reduce pressure on individual transactions.

The Architect’s Role in Code Reviews

From an architectural perspective, code reviews are not simply about checking code quality. They are about protecting the stability of the entire system.

Architects must continuously monitor system indicators, analyze error patterns, and ensure that new functionality does not amplify existing weaknesses. When limits are repeatedly approached or exceeded, the transaction architecture itself should be reconsidered.

Well-executed code reviews serve as an early warning system. They help teams detect potential performance risks before they reach production and affect end users.

In complex Salesforce environments, this proactive approach is essential for maintaining both scalability and long-term system health.