The operating instructions file: making an org legible to an agent

An agent starts every session with no memory of your org. The file is the briefing, and its quality decides the first hour of every run.

1. VideoWhy an agent asks the same six questions every timePreview8 min
2. VideoAn org at scale: 314 Apex classes, 1,781 fields, and why memory does not scaleThe org this track is built from, in one screen: 314 classes, 32 triggers, 79 components, ~191 active flows.7 min
3. VideoWhat belongs in the file, and what belongs in the code7 min
4. VideoDirectory-scoped instructions in a large repository6 min
5. ReadingWhat a stale instructions file costs, before you write one5 min
6. LabLab: map an org you do not know, in one file10 min

The patterns an agent must not break, and why an unwritten convention gets reversed by the next person who finds it inconvenient.

1. VideoConventions: naming, structure, and the patterns you already use7 min
2. VideoThe naming convention nobody wrote down, and the branch it cost6 min
3. VideoDeployment paths: the one that is sanctioned and the ones that are not7 min
4. VideoWriting a convention as a rule with its reason6 min
5. ReadingA convention with no reason attached, and why it gets reversed5 min
6. LabLab: extract five conventions from a repository’s history9 min

Limits, package boundaries and the things that must never deploy, stated as facts about this org rather than platform trivia.

1. VideoConstraints: limits, package boundaries, and what must never deployName the credential that gets blanked on redeploy, the managed package you cannot modify, and the object nobody may add a trigger to.7 min
2. VideoThe 120-second callout budget as an org constraint, not a footnote6 min
3. VideoThe trigger that is vendor code, and stays out of source control~90 managed Field Service Starter Kit triggers, deliberately excluded from source control.7 min
4. VideoThe credential that gets blanked on redeploy, named in the file6 min
5. ReadingNaming the object nobody may add a trigger to5 min
6. LabLab: write the constraints section for a real org9 min

Log in as this user, open this list view, apply this filter, and confirm this number. Vague verification is unverified work.

1. VideoVerification click paths, written for a stranger7 min
2. VideoLog in as this user, and why that sentence has to be literal6 min
3. VideoWhat to name: the list view, the filter, and the number to confirm7 min
4. VideoA click path bad enough to be useless, rewritten6 min
5. ReadingThe difference between a click path and a promise5 min
6. LabLab: write a click path for a change you already shipped10 min

A stale instructions file is worse than none, because an agent follows it confidently. This module is the maintenance loop.

1. VideoUpdating the file as part of the change, not afterwards7 min
2. VideoMeasuring whether it helped: runs before and after7 min
3. VideoThe instruction nobody follows any more, and why it survives6 min
4. ReadingThe review that finds it5 min
5. LabLab: audit an instructions file for staleness9 min

A large repository does not get one file. It gets a root file and a rule for finding the rest.

1. VideoAn org with 191 active flows, one file, and does it still work~191 active flows, 119 objects, 45 permission sets. One root file cannot carry all of it.7 min
2. VideoSplitting by directory without losing the one thing everyone must read6 min
3. ReadingThe one paragraph every directory file must inherit5 min
4. LabLab: write the file for an org you know12 min
5. QuizCheck: operating instructions12 min