'Clicks vs code' is a false dichotomy
I regret to inform you that “clicks v code” is a false dichotomy. It oversimplifies tool choice into a sales slogan meant to spark emotion more than deliver insight.
Both declarative configuration and typed code are abstractions for telling computers what to do. Both compile into machine language that almost no one writes directly anymore. Yet code gets treated as the domain of a priesthood, while configuration is framed as the great equalizer for everyone else.
But the syntax of code was never the hard part of software development, something developers have been shouting into the void as people cheer for LLMs to topple our priest class. The hard part is gathering the requirements, reconciling conflicts, and designing systems that securely scale, extend, and adapt without collapsing under their own weight.
Declarative tools remove the need to learn syntax, at the cost of complexity limits and verbosity, but they don’t eliminate any of those challenges. That’s where the real talent has always been... for developer and declarative solutioneers alike.
My solutions have long been a mix of declarative & code, and I often include point-and-click configuration into my solutions—no false choice required. My co-founders Ryan McCloskey and Amit Kulkarni work the same: baking in flexibility and extensibility so a developer isn't required for every small change. I recently revisited Salesforce code I wrote a full 14 years ago; because it was designed to be dynamic and metadata-driven, it has needed almost no changes since.
Don’t choose software tools based on emotion-packed slogans from salespeople. Choose them the same way you would any tool—by what best fits you and the job to be done. And if you’re not sure how to make that call, that’s exactly where the expertise of someone like me comes in.
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My name is Jessie Grenfell, the CEO of Codality and designer of solutions based on requirements not sales slogans.
#Salesforce #SalesforceDevelopment #SolutionArchitecture #LowCode #SoftwareDevelopment
Jessie Grenfell
Jessie has spent 20+ years architecting and delivering software for organizations where complexity is the norm — financial services, insurance, nonprofits, and regulated industries where getting it wrong isn't an option. She specializes in the hard problems: unique operational workflows, cross-system integrations, and the kind of compliance requirements (HIPAA, CCPA, SOC 2) that most developers treat as someone else's job.
At Codality, she leads every principal engagement from discovery through delivery — because she's seen what happens when that thread gets cut.