buckleyPLANET

RTM of my first SharePoint book

We’re days away from the general availability of my 4th book, but the first I’ve done around SharePoint technology. Funny that my 3rd book on Rational Software technology was published a couple months into my start as a Microsoft employee in 2006, and it has taken me this long to work on another book. Why so long? For those who know my exploits, I publish 4-6 articles a week across various sites. So writing a book on SharePoint should have been a no-brainer, right? Something odd happens when a book proposal has been accepted, and a project plan agreed to by its authors – your workload quadruples, and all of it the highest urgency.

Thankfully I embarked on this project with some friends from the community who were supportive and easy to work with. The entire project was spearheaded by Jennifer Mason, who brought together myself, Wes Preston, and Brian Jackett. The idea was fairly simple: create a book that walked through, step-by-step, a number of no-code solutions that anyone could build to help them more quickly get value out of the platform. Each chapter follows the same template, walking you through the business analyst perspective to help you understand the scope and scale of what you are trying to build, and to help you involve all those who should have a voice in the process. The book also points out differences in SharePoint 2010 versions, so you know what is possible in Foundation vs Standard vs Enterprise vs Office365.

Here are the solutions we covered:

Chapter 1: Building a Project Management Solution

Chapter 2: Building a Training Registration Management System

Chapter 3: Building a Basic FAQ Solution

Chapter 4: Building a Learning Center

Chapter 5: Building a Help Desk Solution

Chapter 6: Building a Remote Teams Activity Site

Chapter 7: Building a Team Blog Platform

Chapter 8: Building a RFP Response Solution

Chapter 9: Building a Contact Management Solution

Chapter 10: Building a Resource Scheduling Solution

This book really will be a desktop reference for anyone trying to learn to master SharePoint. It was written for power users – people who understand the basics of SharePoint, and have the right permission level to build some solutions.

For those interested in buying a copy now, you can order an electronic “rough cut” version here, or pre-order a copy to be shipped in mid-March.

Waking Up MVP

On Sunday, I joined the ranks of a very talented and passionate field of experts as a SharePoint Server MVP, and am very grateful to Microsoft, my team at Axceler, and the many members of the community for making this all possible.

It’s the influence of amazing people like Joel Oleson, Mike Watson, Bill Baer, Todd Baginski, Ben Curry, Ivan Sanders, Susan Lennon, Michael Lotter, Eric Harlan, Becky Isserman, Jason Himmelstein, Geoff Varosky, Mark Miller, Chris McNulty, Inna Gordin, Virgil Carroll, Christina Wheeler, Chris Beckett, Owen Allen, Fabian Williams, Jeff Shuey, and so many others that make this community so vibrant and exciting, and inspire me regularly to keep going, to keep doing what I do.

As some of you know, I had my first real experience with SharePoint back in 2005 when, as an independent consultant, I deployed WSS and attempted to get Project Server up and running at a customer site. While Project Server was problematic back in the day, SharePoint stuck (and is now widely deployed at the company) and got me interested enough to investigate opportunities working for Microsoft. Thanks to help from Joel Oleson,I found my first job at Microsoft, where we shared an office for a couple months before he wandered off to work on the product team.

It’s been an interesting ride at times, but very exciting to be a part of this space.

I have been thinking about what to write since Sunday. I thought about writing something outlining what an MVP means, what people can do to achieve it, yada yada. But that’s been done. However, there have been a few blog posts this week with people questioning the value of the MVP designation.

My position is simple, and aligns very closely with what internal Microsoft employees are told all the time: you own your career. You are responsible for getting value out of the MVP designation. It is not handed to you with a user’s manual. Microsoft has set up the framework, provides tools and access and recognition – but you have to do something with it.

I love the joke about the man who wanted to win the lottery, so he prayed every day that he would pick the winning numbers. Every day he prayed, and yet every day – nothing. Finally, he died and met St. Peter at the gates, and remarked “All I wanted was to win the lottery, just the once” to which St. peter replied “You never bought a lottery ticket.”

I hope to make the most of this. Thanks again, Microsoft.

The Anaheim Effect

I seem to recall attending the SharePoint Conference in Anaheim last week, but it was a blur. Maybe it was because I tried to maintain a fairly full session schedule, while still delivering on a number of content and program commitments, filling my spare time with partner meetings and learning about some of the new vendors out on the floor. Or maybe it was because of the full social agenda each night. Or maybe it was because I couldn’t walk 20 feet without finding someone else that I hadn’t seen in ages (or had never met in person, just Twitter profiles) which made every conversation an exercise in attention deficit disorder. It really was a blur.

As I sit here engrossed in yet another project, gearing up for yet another road trip (I’m heading over to Berlin this weekend for the European SharePoint Conference, followed by a partner event in Brussels), I thought I should at least follow up with my NothingButSharePoint article on my secret agenda for SPC11.

Here goes:

• I did, in fact, crash Shane and Todd's admin session on Monday, delivering around 30 of the infamous kitten-killer t-shirts. Yeah, the problem was that the room had about 600+ participants, half of which literally rushed the stage at the end for the shirts. Shane threw out what I had, and then pointed people over to the Axceler booth for more….which I didn’t have. All I can say is, if you want one, send me an email and I’ll do my best to get one to you – or let you know where to find me/them at a future event.
• Fpweb's new booth met all expectations, although they didn’t take my suggestion and see how many people they could pack into the upstairs conference room. Nor did they have a dance party upstairs. Next time.
• I was able to record several new videos for TheOneThing series, as well as a couple videos for a new project being launched later this fall with compatriot Owen Allen. Watch for them. I’ll be pushing heavily through Twitter (follow me at @buckleyplanet)
• I handed out 50 of a limited edition CherPoint t-shirt in an obnoxious green. Don’t worry, I’ll great more later…..just not in the green.
• I attended a number of sessions, and even provided write-ups for CMSWire on Shane and Todd’s session, as well as the Forrester session where they presented their results of a 1,000-company survey on adoption and migration. But maybe you’ve already read them….
• I consumed a grand total of 2 Diet Coke's at Oktoberfiesta, which turned out to be the biggest party (outside of Disney) at SPC, as expected. Not a surprise, what with 9 companies sponsoring/participating. Very proud that I kept the caffeine to a minimum, as I am getting back into running shape, and hope to complete another marathon next spring with my oldest son, who has become quite the distance runner….and is making me look bad. Oh yeah, and we even had a Cher impersonator, walking around taking pictures with folks…while pointing.
• I tweeted a whole lot. But maybe you noticed…

I thoroughly enjoyed the event, and am looking forward to participating in next year’s event – which will be back in Las Vegas. While not a drinker or a gambler, I have to say that Las Vegas is the preferred location for this type of event. While I enjoyed the short walk between Anaheim Convention Center and the Marriott, it was no Las Vegas. I love the people watching, the interesting diversions (its like a circus and a rock concert and theme park all rolled into one), and the sheer spectacle (again, the people watching) of Las Vegas. With the forthcoming release of SharePoint (SP2012?), I feel its going to be a fun ride.

Why SharePoint Hegemony?

With all the writing I do these days, I’m glad to still maintain this personal blog and share some of my unedited opinions on things. For those of you who follow my activities in the twitterverse (@buckleyplanet), you’ve probably already seen my latest article over on SharePointMagazine.net, entitled Taking Control of Governance. It’s the first article in my new column for the site, which I’m calling SharePoint Hegemony. I liked this name, first because I am a huge fan of Orson Scott Card’s Ender series, but second because it provided some dissonance when paired with governance, setting up my column for some bold and candid conversations on the topic.

Here’s how I define the column in my extended bio:

SharePoint Hegemony with Christian Buckley is on ongoing review of the management and governance issues surrounding SharePoint. The goal of this column is to help readers get maximum business value out of their SharePoint platform through effective planning, repeatable processes, and sound governance policies.

You’ll learn more about the many different facets of governance and how they can help you get the most out of your SharePoint environment. Christian will explore topics from a project management and business analyst perspective, exploring how proper analysis and planning around architecture, infrastructure, and business requirements can help align your tactical SharePoint activities to your broader corporate goals and initiatives.

I hope to grab some attention, both with the title of the content and some plain words on what is means to build out governance in the enterprise – of which SharePoint governance is just one small (but important) part. I mean it when I state “If your engineering team is building your governance plan, you’re doing it wrong.” Most dev-types are just not wired for this kind of business thinking, or if they have the softer skills, they just don’t have the bandwidth to be effective in both technical and management tasks.

I’m looking forward to this new column, and to share some of my own background, coming from more of a project management and business analyst world. I’ve always been in high-tech, but the meat and potatoes of my experience has been project management organizations, business analysis, MRDs and PRDs, and building governance and decision-support systems within organizations. I am passionate about it…..which is why it often hurts and frustrates me to hear engineers who have a very limited view on the topic espouse their expertise (kind of like everyone is suddenly a social media guru).

I hope you enjoy the content that is coming, and I look forward to the open dialog.

Horse’s End, Turned Up to 11

Can't get enough of Horse's End? It’s understandable. As the biggest, most rocking (fake) SharePoint band ever, the band has influenced literally dozens of people.For all of the true fans out there, I decided to pull together the entire saga (to date), in all its glory:

Here's the backstory from NothingButSharePoint.

The first presentation we did - a "lightning talk" at SPTechCon Boston where we spoke for 3 minutes in an effort to entice people to come to our session. IN this talk entitled “Going Gaga for SharePoint,” we attempted to recreate Lady Gaga’s infamous meat outfit.

Here's our presentation slides:

9 Ways to Become a (SharePoint) Rock Star

View more presentations from Geoff Varosky

Here's the (fake) VH-1 Behind the Music video (full-length) that we shared in our session:

Here's the breakup announcement video, provided to attendees of SPSTCDC:

Here's a shortened version of the VH-1 video live on stage at SPSTCDC (video 1, video 2) with me on webcam and Geoff on stage:

Here's the video sharing reflections on the (fake) band by members of the SharePoint community:

 

And that’s it (so far). I'm thinking about doing a pop up video sometime this fall, or maybe a "Where are they now?" as a lead in to a possible reunion tour. Our (fake) attorneys are still negotiating the details…

Content a la Carte

It’s good to keep a running list of all the content you create. When you write for several blogs and regularly submit to various online and offline publications, the list helps you keep the voices in your head at bay…

While not a complete list (which includes event write-ups and personal observations, internal documentation, marketing copy, and a lot of videos), here is some of my output over the last 4 or 5 months:

• Mapping Out Your Development Processes
• Moving SharePoint from IT-Led to Business-Focused
• SharePoint as an IT Service Offering
• SharePoint is a User Platform
• The Consumer Decision Journey
• What Came First: SharePoint or the Egg?
• When should you bring in end users?
• Evangelism, Sales, and Marketing
• SharePoint Community Maturity
• SharePoint, Hillbillies, and Community
• The Business Value of Good Will
• The Need for Network Renewal
• The Power of Circles
• Tracking the Influencers
• Does SharePoint Workspace Belong in ECM?
• Is SharePoint 2010 Really Ready for ECM?
• How to kill innovation in SharePoint, in 5 easy steps
• As SharePoint Use Increases, Governance Decreases
• Retroactive SharePoint Governance
• Yet Another SharePoint Governance Article?
• Preparing SharePoint for Redesign of your Information Architecture
• The SharePoint Informatics Shift from Centralized to Decentralized
• 5 Steps of a Successful SharePoint Site Transformation
• (4 More) Steps of a Successful SharePoint Site Transformation
• Looking Under the Hood: How Your Metadata Strategy Impacts Everything You Do
• 10 Reasons Davinci Beats Database Attach for SharePoint Migration
• Migrating to SharePoint 2010: Lessons Learned
• When Should You Migrate Your File Shares to SharePoint?
• Reality Check on Office 365
• Good, Better, Best Reporting in SharePoint
• How SP2010 Stacks Up to End User Social Requirements
• In SharePoint, Social Tools = Personal Productivity
• Social as a Search Layer

SPTechCon: The Building of a Demo

Most folks don’t understand the difficult work that goes into setting up one or more demos for a presentation for a technology show, such as this week’s SPTechCon Boston, being held at the Sheraton in Boston’s Back Bay. To make a demo rich and functional and to help people put the examples in perspective to their own working lives, you can’t go with a simple “Company XYZ” that produces widgets and thingamabobs. No, you need to be more creative, otherwise people will recognize that they are within the Matrix, and fight back against the system. Hence, the backstory behind the fake company created by Geoff Varosky and myself for our SharePoint 101 session this afternoon, “9 Ways to Become a (SharePoint) Rock Star”

But in our exuberance, Geoff and I took things a bit further: as fake employees inside a fake company, we decided to also create a fake rock band. And since it was all imaginary, why not make it a band that has a following? And bumper stickers? And a limited-edition, collectible t-shirt? And a video? All created to help people suspend their disbelief for just a little while to help them understand the scenarios we will present.

Or maybe we did it for fun. You be the judge. But here is our faux VH1 Behind the Music video:

The One Thing Reaches 10,000 Hits

We’ve just passed some milestones with my video series, The One Thing You Need to Know about SharePoint 2010: we surpassed 10,000 views (in 4 months), I recorded my 100th video (still have a dozen to edit and post), and it looks like I may be filming then in a more official manner for Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference and uploading them daily (and multiple times daily). For those who may be unfamiliar with these videos, they are community videos by experts, MVPs, and MCMs talking about the one (or two) features that they want people to be aware of. The topics might be broad (like Joel Oleson’s “don’t turn it all on unless you know what you’re doing” video), or very granular (like Sadie Van Buren’s video on ratings).

The following video includes segments of videos from Steve Fox (Microsoft), Jeff DeVerter (Rackspace), Ruven Gotz (Navantis), Chris McNulty (KMA), and Paul Swider (OnClick Solutions). Its purpose is to provide an overview of some of the great content available through this video collection. Thanks for watching!

To keep up on the latest videos, you can follow me on Twitter at @buckleyplanet

What Drives Community?

Sitting through keynotes at the Australia and New Zealand SharePoint Conferences last month, I had some time to think about community building - both inside your company and external to your company. Both of the events featured Mark Miller and Joel Oleson talking about community, and sharing some details of their most recent activities around Asia-Pacific. While they did a great job of highlighting the macro-level view of community, what was missing were the tactical steps it takes to get started -- and this is generally the help that people are looking for from those in the expert community. It was with this need in mind that I authored a free e-book on the topic, available here.

But back to the question: what drives community? Mark succinctly captured the essence of community when he said "Community is about participation and contribution."

At the core, people need to participate. Having been involved in several user groups, I recognize that in many cases there is one person who holds things afloat, drives the content, and coordinates all activities. I love having these people in a community – the influencers, the connectors – because they are the people who see a need and try to fill it, taking action so that the broader community can benefit. However, once that person leaves, it usually all falls apart.

A healthier model is where you have multiple stakeholders, with defined roles and responsibilities, and a sharing of those responsibilities. Develop a committee, with clear areas of ownership, and solid commitment. You need people, and you need them to contribute.

Another important aspect of community building is to just do what makes sense. While this sounds overly generic, the point here is that you cannot force community on the unwilling. Introduce ideas and methods that make sense for your organizational needs and culture. Only move as fast as your organization can handle. As Mark points out, “Listen to participants. Conversation will dictate when it's time to expand the vision.”

For more tactical and practical steps for building out your community, please take a look at my free e-book. While focused on the SharePoint community, most of the suggestions and links will apply to just about any community-building effort, and can help you get your own initiatives off the ground.

As always, your ideas and feedback are welcome. If I add your idea to the e-book, I'll give you full credit and provide links to you and your business inside the e-book.

3 Things You Should Know About The One Thing

My SharePoint community video series, The One Thing You Need To Know About SharePoint 2010 (on Twitter, search for #TheOneThing), has been gaining speed over the past three months since launch, now with over 65 videos in the collection. The series highlights experts and events in 4 countries. More articles will be added throughout the year, but I thought I’d share a quick post on the top 3 videos to date:

1. Mark Miller (@eusp) discusses the strength of MOSS 2007, and provides guidance that many companies may not need to jump to 2010 right away. Sound advice. Recorded at SharePoint Saturday Boston.
   
   
   
2. Chris McNulty (@cmcnulty2000) shares his thoughts on PowerPivot, and the democratization of business intelligence through SharePoint. Recorded at SharePoint Saturday Hartford.
   
   
   
3. Susan Lennon (@susanlennon) provides a detailed overview of sandbox solutions, with great examples and business benefits from her extensive work in the Federal space. Record at SharePoint Saturday Virginia Beach.
   
   

I am always on the lookout for experts willing to participate in the series. If you find that we will be crossing paths this year, be sure to reach out to me and I’ll be sure to set aside time to capture a video. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook for updates. Thanks