If I may, I'd like to take a couple of minutes to get on my soapbox and talk about what I'm seeing in the SharePoint community. I had the opportunity to speak at DevConnections a couple of weeks ago and had the pleasure of interacting with many SharePoint enthusiasts from across the country. It was a very educational experience; not so much from a “tips and tricks” perspective as it was a “meet the people in the trenches” exercise. Here are some impressions:
· Many described themselves as the “only SharePoint resource in their company”, supporting an entire community of business users
· All have open support calls with Microsoft (and are doubtful that an answer is imminent)
· All are experiencing some level of “pain” in supporting their SharePoint environments
· Many use Google as their prime resource for troubleshooting; blogs are the prime source for answers
· All keep cheat sheets/lesson learned/”don’t this again” documentation but don’t necessarily share this information
· To a person, they love SharePoint but are frustrated with the unpredictability of even the simplest of tasks
While these attributes are consistent with many of my customers, I am troubled. I put myself at the top of the SharePoint fan club but I fear there is at least some risk to the platform based on the items stated above. An average day sees me getting three to five emails with requests for help on specific SharePoint problems. I’ll end up reading at least one or two blog posts where the information is either wrong or incomplete. I, too, will get frustrated with a KB article that suggests yet another hotfix download. I always carry one or two support items that I have no answers for. Ugh!
There has to be a better way. We (the SharePoint community) need to find a process to collect, validate, and distribute information in a more timely fashion. There are so many of us! I’m not sure if this runs through or around Redmond. I’d like to see more whitepapers, articles, webcasts on best practices. I’d like to see fewer code snippets and “how to” pieces and more on when and why. I’d like to see a SharePoint conference where users are the presenters and Microsoft (and services folks like myself) are the attendees who listen and learn (about how hard it is sometimes to support this technology). I’d like to find a way to better connect these “only SharePoint resource in my company” folks so they help each other. I’d like to see more companies invest in SharePoint governance and really stick to the plan. I’d like to see some companies actually use SharePoint less (it is not a hammer where every application request is a nail). Most of all, I’d like to see a trend toward more consistent installations/configurations/support/extensions of SharePoint so it is easier to acquire and distribute practical knowledge.
Phew! I feel better now. Sorry for the rant. I truly believe that SharePoint has the potential to really influence and improve a diverse community of businesses… if we don’t screw it up! Let’s find a way to make this happen.
Teach me what to do with SharePoint and save me a few hours; teach me what NOT to do (before I do it) and save me a lifetime (of headaches)…