Salesforce-Platform-Strategy-Designer Practice Test Questions

Explanation:

An MVP is a lightweight version of a product that includes only the core, essential features needed to:

Test assumptions.
Learn what works (and what doesn’t).
Validate whether the concept solves the intended problem.

The MVP is not about building everything or testing with the largest group possible — it’s about quickly and cheaply testing hypotheses and collecting feedback.
So in this case, Cloud Kicks’ design team should focus on validating or invalidating essential features that are most critical to the success of the product.

❌ Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:
A. Testing an outline of all features and possibilities of the product
→ That’s closer to a prototype or full product roadmap. An MVP should be minimal — not an outline of “all possibilities.”
C. Assessing essential features of the product with a large group of users
→ MVPs are usually tested with a small, representative group of early adopters, not a large user base. Large-scale testing comes later, once core value is validated.

📖 Reference:
Eric Ries – Lean Startup (MVP Definition): MVP is about learning what customers want by testing essential hypotheses.
Salesforce Strategy Designer Guide: MVP = “focus on validating assumptions with minimum effort.”

⚡ Exam Tip:
When you see MVP questions, look for answers that emphasize learning, validating assumptions, or testing essential features — not scaling, all features, or large user groups.

Explanation:

An impact ladder is a strategic tool used to connect short-term actions with long-term goals by mapping out incremental steps and their cumulative impact. It helps visualize how immediate efforts (e.g., analyzing emissions and integrating data-driven insights into logistics planning) contribute to achieving a broader objective, such as Cloud Kicks becoming a net-zero company. The impact ladder aligns short-term initiatives with measurable progress toward the ultimate goal, ensuring each step builds on the previous one and provides clarity on how tactical actions drive long-term impact.

Why not B. Project plan?
A project plan is a detailed roadmap for executing a specific project, outlining tasks, timelines, resources, and deliverables. While useful for managing the implementation of individual steps (e.g., analyzing emissions), it focuses on operational details rather than explicitly connecting short-term efforts to long-term strategic goals like net-zero. It lacks the strategic alignment and impact focus of an impact ladder.
Why not C. Service blueprint?
A service blueprint is a design thinking tool used to map out the customer journey, internal processes, and touchpoints for delivering a service. It is primarily focused on improving user experiences and operational efficiency in service delivery, not on aligning incremental steps toward a long-term sustainability goal like net-zero emissions.

Reference:
Salesforce’s Trailhead modules on “Strategy Design for Sustainability” and “Design Thinking” discuss tools like impact ladders (or similar frameworks) for aligning short-term actions with long-term goals, especially in contexts like sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
General strategy frameworks, such as those from McKinsey or BCG, emphasize tools like impact ladders or goal cascades to ensure tactical initiatives contribute to strategic outcomes, particularly in sustainability strategies.

Explanation:

Why B is Correct:
The primary purpose of an Impact & Effort Matrix is to serve as a prioritization tool. It helps teams visually plot and compare initiatives (like projects or features) against two key axes:
Impact (Y-axis): The potential positive value a project will deliver. This value is measured against the key business goals and strategic outcomes defined during the project framing and discovery phases (e.g., "increase user adoption," "improve customer satisfaction scores," "generate revenue").
Effort (X-axis): The estimated investment required to complete the project (e.g., time, resources, cost, complexity).
By plotting projects on this 2x2 grid, teams can objectively identify "quick wins" (high impact, low effort), major projects (high impact, high effort), fill-ins (low impact, low effort), and avoid time-wasters (low impact, high effort). This directly enables prioritization aligned with strategic goals.

Why A is Incorrect:
While the matrix does facilitate stakeholder discussion, its purpose is more specific. It is not for comparing "products" in a general sense, but for comparing initiatives to determine the order of execution. The predefined criteria are specifically Impact and Effort, not a broader, undefined set of criteria.

Why C is Incorrect:
Classifying projects by urgency is typically the purpose of a different framework, such as the MoSCoW method (Must-have, Should-have, Could-have, Won't-have) or a simple Priority Scale (e.g., Critical, High, Medium, Low). Urgency is often a separate input that might influence the perception of "Impact" but is not the direct dimension being measured by this specific tool.

Key Concept Reference:
This question tests your understanding of prioritization techniques a Strategy Designer must employ to ensure the team is working on the most valuable tasks that align with business strategy. The Impact/Effort matrix is a foundational tool in a strategist's toolkit for making rational, data-informed decisions about where to allocate limited resources.

Reference:
The use of prioritization matrices like this is a best practice covered in Salesforce architect and strategy resources. It aligns with the core principle of focusing on Outcome-Driven Delivery—ensuring that the highest impact work for the business is delivered efficiently.

Explanation:

A storyboard is a visual tool that uses a sequence of drawings or images to tell a story. In the context of strategy design, it's used to visualize a user's journey or experience with a product or service. By creating a storyboard, the strategy designer can illustrate the new patient experience step-by-step, including interactions with the application for both patients and doctors. This makes abstract ideas concrete and easy to understand for all stakeholders, helping them to evaluate, prioritize, and align on a shared vision.

The other options are incorrect:
A. Cross-functional survey:
A survey is used to collect feedback and data from a group of people, but it is not an effective tool for communicating a complex, shared vision or narrative. It helps in gathering information, not in presenting a new experience in an easily digestible, visual format.
C. Creative brief:
A creative brief is a document that outlines the goals, target audience, and key requirements for a creative project. While it helps align a team on project objectives, it does not visually depict the user's experience or facilitate a shared understanding of a new journey in the way a storyboard does.

Explanation:

When stakeholders undervalue UX research, the most effective way to shift their mindset is to connect research outcomes directly to their own goals — whether those are revenue growth, customer retention, operational efficiency, or product adoption. This approach:

Builds trust and relevance by showing how research supports business outcomes.
Encourages collaboration rather than resistance.
Helps convert skeptics into advocates by demonstrating measurable impact.
This is a core principle in Salesforce’s Strategy Designer mindset, which emphasizes stakeholder alignment and outcome-driven design.

❌ Why the other options fall short:
A. High-fidelity prototypes: These can impress visually, but they don’t address the root issue — stakeholders’ lack of understanding of why research matters.
B. Strictly align to business requirements: This limits innovation and ignores user needs. Strategy Designers are meant to bridge business goals and user outcomes, not choose one over the other.

📚 Reference:
Salesforce Trailhead’s Predictable Process module outlines tools like Stakeholder Ecosystem Mapping and the UX Critique Tool, which help teams align research with stakeholder priorities and foster inclusive, outcome-oriented conversations.

Explanation:

In brainstorming, the primary rule is to generate as many ideas as possible without judgment in the early stages. Strategy designers encourage collaboration, creativity, and “yes, and…” thinking where participants build on each other’s contributions.
This ensures:
A more open, creative environment.
Divergent thinking → leading to more innovative solutions.
Psychological safety so participants feel comfortable sharing.
Therefore, the designer should encourage participants to build on proposed ideas, not critique or filter them too early.

❌ Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:
A. Emphasize critique of proposed ideas
→ Critique kills creativity early. Criticism comes later in the process (convergent thinking phase).
B. Explore qualitative assessment of proposed ideas
→ Assessment and evaluation are important, but not during brainstorming. That step comes afterward when prioritizing or refining ideas.

📖 Reference:
IDEO Brainstorming Rules → “Defer judgment” and “Build on the ideas of others.”
Salesforce Strategy Designer mindset principles → Emphasize collaboration and creativity in workshops.

⚡ Exam Tip:
When you see brainstorming-related questions, always look for the answer that emphasizes creativity, building, collaboration, and no early judgment.

Explanation:

Why B is Correct:
The "Jobs To Be Done" (JTBD) framework is a tool for understanding the fundamental needs and motivations of a user. It focuses on the why behind a user's actions—the "job" they are "hiring" a product or service to do. In the Design Thinking process, this deep understanding of the user's core problems and needs is synthesized and articulated during the Define phase. The goal of the Define phase is to create a clear, actionable problem statement based on the insights gathered in the Empathize phase. A JTBD statement (e.g., "Help me feel recognized for my loyalty so I continue to choose this brand over others") is a powerful outcome of this phase that frames the problem in a human-centered way and guides the subsequent ideation.

Why A is Incorrect:
The Prototype phase is about creating inexpensive, scaled-down versions of the product or specific features found within it to investigate the ideas generated in the Ideate phase. It is a solutioning activity, not a problem-definition activity like JTBD.

Why C is Incorrect:
The Deploy phase (often also called "Test" in many Design Thinking models) is about releasing the finished product to market and gathering feedback. This is the final stage of the cycle, far removed from the initial problem definition work where JTBD is used.

Reference:
This question tests your knowledge of the Design Thinking phases and the appropriate use of the Jobs To Be Done framework.
Empathize: Conduct research to understand user needs and behaviors.
Define: Synthesize research findings to define the core problem. This is where Jobs To Be Done are created.
Ideate: Brainstorm a wide range of potential solutions.
Prototype: Build tangible representations of ideas.
Test/Deploy: Validate solutions with users and release them.

Reference:
This aligns with the teachings of the Trailhead Module: "Create a Platform Strategy" and the Salesforce Innovation Lifecycle, which emphasizes defining the problem from the user's perspective using frameworks like JTBD before generating solutions. The JTBD theory is a well-established practice in product strategy and human-centered design.

Explanation:

V2MOM (Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, Measures) is a strategic alignment framework, originally developed and used by Salesforce, that is specifically designed to address the kind of siloed behavior described in the scenario.

Here's a breakdown of why it's the right choice:
Vision and Values: V2MOM begins with a clear, shared vision for the entire company or a large initiative. This "North Star" helps all teams understand the ultimate goal and the principles that guide their work, moving them away from a narrow, team-specific focus.
Shared Methods: The key component for this scenario is the "Methods." By creating shared methods that require collaboration between different product teams, the V2MOM framework forces them to work together to achieve a common goal. This directly counters the siloed behavior by making cross-departmental collaboration a necessary and explicit part of their work plan.
Obstacles and Measures: Identifying obstacles and defining clear, measurable outcomes (Measures) that are tied to the shared methods ensures that progress is transparent and that teams are held accountable for their collaborative efforts.

The other options are less effective:
B. Roadmap of cross-product features:
While a roadmap can show how features from different products connect, it is a document and not a process for collaboration. It doesn't inherently force the teams to work together and could still be created and managed in a siloed manner.
C. Annual leadership summit:
An annual summit can be a good way to kick off initiatives and align leaders, but it is a one-time event. It doesn't provide the ongoing, structured framework needed to nurture and sustain day-to-day cross-departmental collaboration. The problem in the scenario is a persistent one, requiring a persistent solution.

Explanation:

🧠 Why this builds psychological safety:
Encouraging team members to share personal experiences fosters vulnerability, empathy, and trust — all key ingredients of psychological safety. When people feel safe to be authentic, they’re more likely to:

Speak up with ideas or concerns
Take creative risks
Collaborate openly across disciplines
Navigate conflict with curiosity rather than defensiveness

This aligns with Salesforce’s Fearless Teaming principles, which emphasize creating space for courage over comfort, and building inclusive environments where diverse perspectives are welcomed.

❌ Why the other options fall short:
B. Ask everyone their expected level of project involvement: This is useful for logistics, but it doesn’t foster emotional connection or safety.
C. Ask everyone to introduce themselves via title and greatest success: This can unintentionally reinforce hierarchy or competition, which may inhibit openness.

💡 Pro Tip for Strategy Designers:
Kick off cross-disciplinary initiatives with a team development session that includes:
Personal storytelling
Empathy-building exercises
Shared norms for communication and critique
A commitment to learning from tension rather than avoiding it

Explanation:

The Lightning Usage App provides insights into how Lightning pages and components are performing, including:
Page load times.
Which components are slow or unresponsive.
Usage trends by users, devices, and browsers.

This tool is designed for admins and designers to diagnose performance issues in Lightning Experiences and LWCs, making it the best first step for Cloud Kicks’ team.

❌ Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:
A. Run the Salesforce Optimizer
→ The Optimizer evaluates overall Salesforce org configuration (unused fields, profiles, storage, security issues, etc.). It does not provide detailed performance metrics for Lightning components.
C. Create a case with Salesforce support
→ This is a last resort if there’s a confirmed Salesforce platform bug. In this scenario, the issue is likely with custom component design or performance bottlenecks, so the team should first use internal diagnostic tools.

📖 Reference:
Salesforce Help – Lightning Usage App → gives visibility into performance and adoption metrics.
Salesforce Strategy Designer content emphasizes data-driven diagnostics before escalation.

⚡ Exam Tip:
When troubleshooting Salesforce UX or component performance, always think of the Lightning Usage App first. Optimizer = org health, Usage App = performance monitoring.