Bill English

Working Thesis on SharePoint

Bill English — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:32:48 GMT

I hope to write a book about this topic that will come out sometime next summer, but for the record – here is my working thesis:

A SharePoint deployment will surface business model and/or cultural dysfunction in the organization. This is due to breadth and depth of most SharePoint deployments. No other software – perhaps other than e-mail or a home grown application – will have as wide a "touch and feel" as SharePoint in most organizations. Hence, the logic that something this impactful in bringing change to an organization will also surface that organization's dysfunction.

OK – so there you have it. I've presented this several times already and have yet to have anyone push back on it. I'm working on several white papers and ideas that will flesh this out in book format. As details warrant – I'll post them here, including introductory and draft white papers that will form the book.

Bill English, CEO
Mindsharp

SharePoint Conferences Survey

Bill English — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 02:11:23 GMT

As a way to ensure you continue to receive high quality services from Mindsharp and the SharePoint Best Practices Conference, we've published a survey to gain better insights into what you really look for in a SharePoint conference and how we can serve you better.

The survey should take roughly 15 minutes to complete. If you fill out your contact information, we'll send you a coupon worth 25% off your registration at the next SharePoint Best Practices Conference.

Thank you for your help in answering this survey. Even if you're an exhibitor or a speaker, there are parts of the survey that are meant just for you. If possible, please take 15 minutes and complete this survey.

Thanks!

Bill English, CEO
Mindsharp

Bill English Contact Information

Bill English — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:58:54 GMT

Mailing Address:

7767 Elm Creek Blvd
STE 220
Maple Grove, MN 55369

Office: 763-496-4039

Email: bill@mindsharp.com

Personal blog: businessandfaith.wordpress.com

Professional blog: sharepoint.mindsharpblogs.com/bill

Twitter: @minnesotabill

LinkedIn: Bill English

Bill English, CEO
Mindsharp

25 Tools in SharePoint that Organizes Information and Improves Findability

Bill English — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:23:16 GMT

Just a quick note to say "thanks!" to everyone in my Findability sessions today here at SPTechCon. Collectively, we came up with these 25 out-of-the-box tools to make Findability better and organize information.

Remember that several concepts are connected and dependent on each other if you're going to organize information for Findability:

Here are the 25 tools – In no particular order:

Shortcuts
Favorites
Pin the Taskbar
Search
Mapped Drives
Folders
List Views
Scopes
Advanced Search on metadata
RSS Feeds
My Site Links
Wikis
Publishing navigation
Content Types/Metadata
Publishing links to Office Clients
Personalization Sites
User Profiles
URL Taxonomies
Authoritative Pages
Best Bets
Roll-up Web Parts
Filter Web Parts
Tags, Ratings
Information Management Policies
Workflows

Bill English, CEO
Mindsharp

Speaking at SPTechCon

Bill English — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:09:58 GMT

I'll be speaking four times at SPTechCon in San Francisco. Here is my schedule:

Sunday, February 26, Full-Day Workshop, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Topic: Organizing Information in SharePoint Server 2010

Tuesday, February 28, 8:30 AM - 9:45 AM

Topic: Understanding how the Microsoft Ecosystem Offers Findability – Part I

11:30 AM - 12:45 PM

Topic: Understanding how the Microsoft Ecosystem Offers Findability – Part II

Wednesday, February 29, 10:45 AM - 12:00 PM

Topic: Developing a SharePoint Deployment Reference Architecture and Methods of Measuring your Deployment Against this Architecture

All times are PST. I hope to see you all at my sessions!

Bill English, CEO
Mindsharp

Teaching Course on Organizing Information in SharePoint

Bill English — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:55:14 GMT

I will be teaching Mindsharp's 3-day course on how to Organize Information in SharePoint, February 21-23. You can attend in-person here at our offices in Minneapolis or attend online. If you are responsible for managing content in SharePoint, then this class is for you.

Here is the course syllabus:

Module 0: Overview of SharePoint Server 2010's Information Management Capabilities and Current Issues in Information Management

Provides an overview of what is covered in this seminar including an Executive Overview of SharePoint's Information Management capabilities.
Discussion of the value of information in business
Learn about the Business Reference Architecture, ECM Reference Architecture and how SharePoint Server 2010 supports both architectures
Learn about the different levels of information
Learn about the generational differences in approaches to information
Best and Worst Practices plus Trade-off Decisions

Module 1: Collaboration for Business Users

Understanding what collaboration is
Current issues in collaboration
Understanding the costs and benefits tan organization for using collaboration technologies
Discussion on Social Media, it's use in the corporate setting and current issues in case law
Best and Worst Practices plus Trade-off Decisions

Module 2: Understanding How to Build an Information Architecture and an Information Design with SharePoint Server 2010 in Mind

Brief overview of information architecture and information design
Understanding how SharePoint's technical architecture impacts the development of the Information Architecture and Design:
- Web Applications
- Database Sizing
- URL Taxonomies (includes Managed Paths)
- Site Collection Design
- Single or Multi-Farm Deployments
Learn a "to-the-point" methodology for implementing your Information Architecture and Design in SharePoint
Discussion of current research on how SharePoint and ECM systems are working together
Discussion of the opportunity costs of living with an inefficient information management system
Costs of living with Information Overload
Best and Worst Practices plus Trade-off Decisions

Module 3: Putability: Learning How to Put Quality Information into the SharePoint System

Introduction to Putability
Discussion of the following topics:
- Tagging responsibilities
- Reasons users don't tag content
Introduction to the putability technologies in SharePoint
- Content types
- Managed Metadata Service
- Site columns
- Uploading documents
- Social network tags, notes and posts in SharePoint
- Business Connectivity Services
Demonstrations of the putability technologies in SharePoint
Best and Worst Practices plus Trade-off Decisions

Module 4: Findability: Learning How to Pull Quality Information out of the SharePoint System

Introduction to Findability
Understanding the current research on Findability
Introduction to the findability technologies in SharePoint
- Crawled and Managed Properties
- Search Scopes
- Content Sources
- Federated Search
- Customizing the Advanced Search Web Part
- In-Browser navigation customizations
- Metadata navigation
- Working with RSS
- Working with Dataview Web Part\
- Tagging lists and sites
Demonstrations of the findability technologies in SharePoint
Best and Worst Practices plus Trade-off Decisions

Module 5: Organizing Information in SharePoint Server 2010

Understanding how documents and content items can be organized in SharePoint
Understanding the architecture of records management in SharePoint
Understanding the technologies that support information organization in SharePoint
- Document Information Panel (DIP)
- Advanced properties in the content types
- Routing records to a Records Center (content routing)
- In-Place records
Best and Worst Practices plus Trade-off Decisions

Module 6: People: Organizing and Finding Expertise

Understanding user profiles and My Sites in SharePoint 2010
Learning how to customize the metadata for user profiles
Understanding how to find expertise in the SharePoint 2010 system
Best and Worst Practices plus Trade-off Decisions

Module 7: Making some information NOT Findable

E-Discovery and SharePoint
Data breaches and SharePoint
Understanding the limits of what SharePoint can reasonably do
Best and Worst Practices plus Trade-off Decisions

Module 8: Integrating SharePoint with Other ECM Systems

Differentiation between data integration and application integration
Understanding the various methods of integrating SharePoint with other ECM systems
Understanding when SharePoint should not integrate with other ECM systems
Best and Worst Practices plus Trade-off Decisions

Module 9: Social Media and SharePoint

Understanding the current legal issues in social media
Understanding the differences between internet-based social media and SharePoint's social media features
Discussion of how social media might "fit" into your environment
Best and Worst Practices plus Trade-off Decisions

Bill English, CEO
Mindsharp

Speaking at SPTechCon

Bill English — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:49:59 GMT

I'll be in San Francisco at the end of this month for the SharePoint SPTechCon. I'm speaking four times on the following topics:

FULL-DAY WORKSHOP: Organizing Information in SharePoint Server 2010

75-MINUTE SESSIONS:

Findability Part I
Findability Part II
Developing a SharePoint Reference Architecture

I'll also be doing a book signing on Wednesday, Feb. 29, from 10:00 am – 10:15 am at the BZ Media booth and another one at the LighteningTools booth – date & time is TBA.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the show!

Bill English, CEO
Mindsharp

Speaking in Chicago, March 6

Bill English — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:40:45 GMT

I'll be speaking at the Chicago Microsoft SharePoint Business Strategies user group on March 6 on the topic "From Vision to Best Practices". This presentation was well received recently in Washington, DC at FEDSPUG. If you're in the Chicago area, I invite you to join us.

http://www.meetup.com/sharepoint/events/51349972/

Bill English, CEO
Mindsharp

Tired of “Punxsutawney Phil” Stories

Bill English — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:22:15 GMT

Am I the only person in these United States of America that is tired of hearing how the groundhog didn't see his shadow and we have six more weeks of winter?

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/02/punxsutawney-phil-predicts-6-more-weeks-winter/

Fine, call me a Punxsutawney Scrooge. I'll plead guilty.

Bill English, CEO
Mindsharp

An Excellent Assessment of Our Current Economic Environment – A MUST Read

Bill English — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:54:30 GMT

I have not read a better, more succinct explanation and assessment of our current economic environment. Richard Fisher is top drawer in my book. I especially like this paragraph:

"I maintain that no matter how much cash you have on your balance sheet, or how compliant your banker might be, or how cheap the cost of money, you will not commit substantial capital to expanding your payroll or investing significant amounts to expand plant and equipment until you know what it will cost you to run your business; until you know how much you will be taxed; until you know how federal spending will impact your customer base; until you know the cost of employee health insurance; until you are reassured that regulations that affect your business will be structured so as to incentivize rather than discourage expansion; until you have concrete assurance that the fiscal "fix" the nation so desperately needs will be crafted to stimulate the economy rather than depress it and incentivize job creation rather than discourage it; or until you are reassured that the sinkhole of unfunded liabilities like Medicare and Social Security that Republican- and Democrat-led congresses and presidents alike have dug will be repaired so that our successor generations of Americans will prosper rather than drown in dark, deep waters of debt."

Rarely do I laugh out loud when reading a white paper or a speech, but this comment got me laughing pretty good because it seems that so many economists do speak in technical terms:

"My colleague Sarah Bloom Raskin—one of the newest Fed governors, and a woman possessed with a disarming ability to speak in non-quadratic-equation English…{emphasis mine, on the part I found funny}"

I encourage everyone to read this speech.

Bill English, CEO
Mindsharp