Overview of where SharePoint has been and where its going. Reviews the changing roles for business users, admins (IT Pro), and developers.

1. The Changing
Landscape of
SharePoint
Phil Greer

2. INTRODUCTION
2
Phil Greer
10+ years SharePoint experience:
 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013 versions
 Development
 Architecture
 Governance
 Infrastructure / Administration
 Project Management
 Business Analysis
 End-User Training
 MCTS & MCITP certified
 Pursuing TOGAF & MCSA/MCSE
 Saskatchewan SharePoint User Group
(SKSPUG) - Lead

3. Agenda
3
 SharePoint Elements
 History
 Today
 Future
 Problems / Prescriptions / Tips
 Business – Administrators – Developers
 Collaboration & Working/Playing Together

4. Disclaimer
4
This is not an Ignite recap
This talk is about:
 Trends
 Common SharePoint tensions

5. SharePoint …
5
Document Management
Enterprise Content Management
Search
Workflow
Electronic Forms

6. SharePoint …
6
Self-service end-user tool
Scalable
Blank slate, highly customizable

7. SharePoint …
7
Hard!

8. SharePoint is…
8
All those things + +
 Enterprise Social
 Less about forms ?

9. SharePoint is…
9
Cloud-ready

10. SharePoint is…
10
Highly customizable
 In a new way…

11. SharePoint is…
11
Harder!

12. Get-SPName
12

13. 13

14. Get-SPName
14
Tahoe
Office Server
Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001
MS SharePoint Team Services 2001
Microsoft Content Management Server 2001 (MCMS)

15. Get-SPName
15
MCMS 2002
SharePoint Portal Server 2003
Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 2.0
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0

16. Get-SPName
16
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation/Server 2010
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation/Server 2013
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation/Server 2016

17. 17
Get-SPHistory

18. Newborn (2001)
18
3 distinct products
 Developed in isolation
Built to meet distinct business
needs:
 Portals
 Search
 Collaboration
 Content Management

19. Child (2003)
19
Cohesive product (SharePoint)
begins to emerge
SPS & STS teams merged in 2002
 Takes a few releases for
merger to be complete
SP & CMS teams merged in 2004

20. Adolescent (2007)
20
The product's relationship with
Office is pivotal in its history
Important for integration
 Staying inside the Office suite
didn't really make sense

21. Adolescent (2007)
21
Adopted Office
version numbers
 2003 = 60hive
 2007 = 12hive

22. Adult (2010)
22
Beware of server-side code
 And don’t touch the hive !
 Or the database for that matter
Sandbox solutions
 Primitive implementation of apps
Focus on client-side dev

23. SP2010 Was Truly V1
23
 Replaced Shared Service Provider
(SSP) with Service Applications
 Tighter Office integration
 Vastly improved Search
 Client side scripting
 Web Services

24. SP2010 Was Truly V1
24
 PowerShell
 Integration of 2 distinct products
developed by 2 different teams
 SP2010 brought Server / Foundation
branding
 Relevant name – finally !

25. Adult (2013)
25
Service applications blown out
 Workflow
 WAC
 Search
 Distributed Cache
SP social arrived
 Quickly left the party (Yammer)
Forms are back ?

26. Who cares about the past?
26

27. SPToday
27
2 products diverging (again?)
 SP2013 v O365
 SP2016 will catch up to O365 partly
 Cloud first
 Mobile first

28. SPToday
28
Is an on-prem implementation still required?
 In 2003 our view of the "cloud" was this:

29. SPToday
29
“I think we're going to live in a hybrid world for a
number of years to come and ... folks that have been
in this industry for a while get that and are under no
illusions that hybrid is going to be the reality for a lot
of established businesses today and it's just what
we're going to be dealing with for some time.”
- Chris Johnson, Group Product Manager Office 365
Microsoft Cloud Show E034

30. Hybrid: The New Paradigm
30
Why? (many reasons)
 Customers want new features
 Only available in the cloud
 Customers can't upgrade
 Because of their customizations
 Many can't even migrate
 Some are still on 2007 even though
mainstream support has ended
 Data residency issues

31. SPFuture
31
Jeff Shuey predicted (2011) :
“…there will be a boom in solutions that look
nothing like SharePoint does today. SharePoint will
reach it’s true potential when it becomes intrinsic
and invisible to the applications we use every day.”
- AIIM, “The Future of SharePoint (and Windows
7 Phone)”

32. SPFuture: Today’s Problems
32
SP is huge
 Does many many things
Unwieldy deployments
 Content Sprawl
 Fancy fileshare
Very customizable

33. SPFuture: Today’s Problems
33
Interface is cluttered
 Difficult to learn
 VisualSP (Asif Rehmani)
Needs to be controlled
 Governed & Scoped

34. SPFuture: Prescriptions
34
Ought to become even more modular & robust
 Search
 WAC
 Enterprise Social
 Workflow
 User Profile Service

35. SPFuture: Prescriptions
35
Needs to do less to be more
Microsoft tried to
 Build the world
 Shift the paradigm (metadata)
 But the world wasn’t ready for it
Is Microsoft doing this again with Cloud?

36. SPFuture: Customer Tips
36
“Which best practice today is tomorrow’s deprecated feature?”
- Mark Rackley
If Microsoft signals that something is going
away avoid it (if possible)
 Exchange Public Folders
 SharePoint Designer
 InfoPath
 Farm & Sandbox Solutions

37. SPFuture: Customer Tips
37
The Golden Rule:
 Custom-lite
 OOTB-heavy

38. 38
What does this mean for
the business,
administrators,
& developers?

39. SPBusiness
39
“If it doesn’t meet a business requirement, don’t
do it.”
- Ant Clay

40. SPBusiness
40
Examples of non-aligned requests from
the business
 Move search box to the left 20px
 Make SP look unlike SP
 Don’t call it “SharePoint”

41. SPBusiness
41
Difficult product to explain
 Is it software?
 Is it a platform?
 Infrastructure?
 Applications?

42. SPBusiness
42
What does SP do well? Not so well?
 Lots – too many items to list
 Best way to find out is to
play hard and fail fast

43. SPBusiness
43
How can SP solve business problems?
 It can’t. Like any system, it doesn’t work without
human intervention.
 No silver bullets

44. SPBusiness
44
My 6 year old thinks SharePoint should be more like Minecraft
 Keep it SIMPLE !

45. SPAdmin
45
“Life’s great when you’re a server admin”
- Unknown

46. SPAdmin
46
SP IT Pro’s are not redundant
 Why? Hybrid
Administration is crucial
 Many moving parts
 Everything is connected

47. SPAdmin
47
Admins need strong dev skills
 #1 reason = PowerShell
 High-level understanding of SP dev:
 Technologies
 Techniques

48. SPDev
48
“The number one mistake a developer can make is
opening Visual Studio before investigating what
can be done out of the box.”
- Mark Rackley

49. SPDev
49
Devs are not redundant
 Despite cloud limitations
 Many new client-side
opportunities
Development is crucial even though
 Farm solutions are disappearing
 Sandbox solutions are deprecated
 App model is still wobbly

50. SPDev
50
Devs need strong Admin skills
 Lots of moving parts to track
 How does everything work together?
 Devs need strong SP knowledge
 To avoid re-creating the wheel

51. SPBusiness/SPAdmin/SPDev
51
Working together to build powerful experiences for users

52. Why Collaborate?
52
What happens when Devs, Admins, and
the Business don’t work together?
 Mess
 Confusion
 Zero goal-alignment
 Delays
 Hostile workplace
Working together isn’t easy, but it’s worth it

53. Playing Together
53
Dysfunctions of a Team
1. Status & Ego :: Focus on Results
2. Avoid Accountability :: Promote Standards
3. Lack of Commitment :: Increase Engagement
4. Fear of Conflict :: Resolve Conflicts as they arise
5. Absence of Trust :: Promote Trust & Vulnerability

54. Playing Together
54
Trust is something that:
 We ought to give freely to others
 We should expect to be earned (from others)
 Can be gained through vulnerability

55. Playing Together
55
Beyond Trust commit to being:
 Transparent
 Willing to engage
 Able to call people out
 Eager to set high standards
 Results oriented

56. Recap
56
 Recognize competing interests
 Attempt to resolve the differences
 Observe the product’s development
 Work to follow & adapt

57. Questions / Reflections
57
Phil Greer
philg@ca.ibm.com
Phil.Greer@outlook.com
@getSPphil
www.skspug.ca
@skspug