Traditional T&M Salesforce Delivery is Broken
Every time we explain our delivery model, it takes a minute to help people break free from the old assumptions.
Somehow, we’ve all been conditioned to believe you can predict exactly how long something will take — even when the details, dependencies, and people involved are completely unknown. It’s comforting, but it’s a lie.
T&M doesn’t actually lock your vendor into delivering on their commitments. It locks you into a contract that often balloons with every change order.
Recently, our COO, Victoria Smith, reflected on where our delivery model began — the moment it clicked, and why “we’ll die on this hill,” because it is the only delivery approach that truly works the first time.
A True “There Has to Be a Better Way” Story
From Status Updates to a Full-Blown Therapy Session
I’ve delivered hundreds of Salesforce projects. And if I’m being honest… not once has the final result ever matched the original statement of work.
After years of leading service organizations and delivering Salesforce projects, I found myself asking a question that every delivery leader has wondered at some point:
It was one of those late afternoons in a Toronto office — the coffee was cold, the snacks were gone, and the conversation had shifted from “status update” to “existential crisis.” We were venting about the usual suspects: the handoff from sales that felt like a game of telephone, the change orders that multiplied like rabbits, and the inevitable “this isn’t what we asked for” conversation at the end of every project.
And then, in the middle of our collective therapy session, my colleague Syed—with decades of agile project experience—laughed and dropped the mic:
I’d like to say that there was silence, but there were a lot of groans — he was right.
Clients absolutely know the outcomes they want: more members, better visibility, happier teams. What they don’t know (and shouldn’t have to) is the exact configuration of fields, objects, and automations required to get there. Yet here we were, forcing them to write a 47-page requirements document before they even knew what was possible.
It was like asking someone to design their dream house before they’d ever seen a hammer.
What if We Started Scoping Progress?
After that conversation, the mood in the room shifted from venting to problem-solving — which, for a delivery team, is a far more comfortable gear.
If the problem was how we defined success, then maybe the answer was to redefine it.
We stopped trying to scope perfection up front and started scoping progress.
Once I’d had that lightbulb moment, the answer was obvious: agile delivery. Sprint by sprint, focused on business outcomes. Easy… right?
Well, not so fast. There was one teeny-tiny problem: how do you sell that?
Procurement teams love their SOWs. They want numbers — this many fields, that many objects, three automations, and a partridge in a pear tree. And “we’ll figure it out as we go, but trust us, it’ll be great” isn’t exactly a comforting line item.
So, we got creative. Partnering with a few brave clients (shoutout to them for being our early adopters and guinea pigs), we rewrote statements of work around business outcomes instead of feature lists.
- It wasn’t “build twelve objects and four automations”
- It was “make the lending team faster”
- “Give leadership real-time visibility”
- “Reduce handoffs”
And almost immediately, everything got easier. Projects moved faster. Collaboration improved. Clients stopped feeling like passengers on a runaway train and started acting like co-pilots.
It was still agile — but suddenly it was manageable. Predictable, even.
The change orders disappeared, the arguments faded, and the energy in the team shifted from reactive to proactive.
That was the first time I realized: Delivery doesn’t have to feel this hard. It can be structured and flexible. And guess what? It worked.
We deliver faster, more flexibly, and with less drama — and no one missed the giant spreadsheet of made-up estimates.
Progress Doesn’t Pause — It Pivots
When I joined Fortimize, that thinking finally found its home.
Here, everyone is an owner — not just in name, but in accountability. That mindset changed everything. We stopped “delivering projects” and started owning outcomes with our clients. We took what worked — the agility, the focus, the progress-over-perfection mindset — and gave it structure. Predictable, repeatable, transparent structure.
That became Delivery-as-a-Service.
Operationally, it’s simple: we scope for time and materials but plan and bill by monthly outcomes. This model gives teams room to shift priorities without penalties, bureaucracy, or re-scoping chaos.
Progress doesn’t pause — it pivots. And the difference shows. Projects stay aligned, communication stays open, and both sides move in the same direction.
Brendan, one of our longest-tenured teammates, said it best:
That alignment isn’t luck. It’s what happens when structure serves people, not the other way around — when delivery stops being a transaction and becomes a true partnership.
Agile Doesn’t Have to Give Your CFO Nightmares
Even now, this is still the question I hear most often:
It’s a fair question — because most organizations are conditioned to think predictability and flexibility can’t coexist. But they can.
The answer is focus and ruthless prioritization. We don’t try to do everything at once. We deliver what actually moves the business forward. Think of it like Marie Kondo for software — if it doesn’t spark business value, it doesn’t make it into the sprint.
The second objection is always about budgeting. CFOs don’t want surprises, and traditional agile can sound like one long “we’ll see.”
So we fixed that too.
Delivery-as-a-Service spreads investment over time, blending flexibility with financial clarity. Instead of a massive, rigid invoice tied to static scope, clients plan predictable monthly or quarterly spend while continuously improving their Salesforce platform.
The system stays fresh. The spend stays steady. The CFO sleeps at night.
It’s simple, transparent, and sustainable — exactly how Salesforce delivery should be.
Why We’ll Die on This Hill
Today, 90% of our customers run on Delivery-as-a-Service, and we’re convinced it’s the only way Salesforce projects should be done in today’s economic climate.
The era of massive implementations, disappearing teams, and dusty systems is over.
Salesforce is a living, breathing product — and we’re its co-parents. We grow it, improve it, and make sure it behaves.
This isn’t about “projects” anymore. It’s about partnership — predictable costs, continuous value, and outcomes that actually matter.
And frankly, after years of doing it the old way… we’re never going back.
