SPTech Conference Recap
I spent a few days this week at the SPTech Conference in Boston, doing a session on requirements gathering for SharePoint and working the Nintex booth with Mike Fitzmaurice. First, some observations…
· Solid attendee base. Given the economy, I wasn’t sure how attendance would look but there were lots of eager SharePoint’ers from all over the country.
· There are still lots of people brand new to SharePoint. Very cool! I especially like their commitment to “going slow and getting it right”.
· SharePoint 2010 is (already) hot. The demand for crumbs of information is amazing… and I am certain that users will not be disappointed when they see it in action.
· There is no glory in working a conference booth; props to those who do it regularly. My back still hurts from all that standing! But, I love the spontaneous dialog with strangers.
· Nintex workflow is way cool. I don’t do product reviews or shameless plugs but after spending two days with it I can’t live without…
· Mike Fitzmaurice is a technology guy who gets business value. It was a pleasure hanging out with him.
As for the session, my big thing was focusing on… wait for it… planning. I actually had one attendee, a business analyst, tell me after the session that she discovered one of her co-workers, IT person, was at the conference when he asked a question from the back of the room. Let’s work together folks and make this a success for all…
I posted my deck for SPTech Conf attendees but I can share it with anyone interested. Just shoot me an email. Below is my summary of what I think a requirements document looks like…
|
What it is… |
What it isn’t… |
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Clearly defined business process(es) definition; exceptions noted |
Placeholder document until “we figure things out” |
|
Clearly defined security model definition; risks noted |
Loosely structured with lots of open questions |
|
Definition statements for membership, purpose, vision, ownership (accountability) |
Different from all other SharePoint requirements documents |
|
Validation that intent maps well to native SharePoint; exceptions (and resolutions) noted |
Written by the owners of the new solution |
|
Actionable and always true |
Done after the solution is delivered |
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Read and approved by business and executive sponsors |
All words |