It’s true: The John Cleese of SharePoint governance and architecture, Paul Culmsee, will be my guest this May 12–13 as he brings his SharePoint Information Architecture Master Class to Toronto! The CleverWorkarounds blogger and Seven Sigma impresario recently reached out to me on Twitter to see if I’d be interested in having a Canadian leg of his spring tour stop by – of course I agreed!
I’ve known Paul for several years through blog exchanges, and if you don’t know who he is you really should read some of his classic blog posts on governance and architecture such as Why Do SharePoint Projects Fail? and Things Your Mother Never Told You About SharePoint (which featured the classic IKEA closet organizer metaphor for structuring SharePoint content). Paul brings a really refreshing, common-sense (and often hilarious) approach to understanding why SharePoint is so great at letting us really mess things up quickly, and how we can wrestle control back into our hands with some good ideas around governance and architecture.
When I was working with MCS, this was a Numero Uno concern for every enterprise: They all knew they needed to structure their SharePoint portals to take advantage of its content management and information architecture features, but often didn’t know where to start. The internal guidance from Microsoft, while a good start, was quite dense, abstract and sterile and always needed to be hacked to fit the organization. More often than not, I found myself relying on Paul’s blog posts to help shape the advice I would give customers – often to great effect.
This is why I am so thrilled to have Paul bring his talents in-person to Toronto – it’s an incredible opportunity for Consultants, BAs and Architects to benefit from his experience and interact with him in a small venue. I’m hoping to restrict the class to no more than 30 attendees.
I’m working on confirming a venue, which I am working to keep in the downtown core so as to make it easily accessible by the widest range of folks. A site is being set up to handle bookings (approx. $1600 CDN for two full days of classes, a manual and Paul’s undivided attention) and provide more info on the itinerary. Stay tuned as I will be releasing these details very soon! Here’s a sneak peak of what to expect!
SharePoint Governance and Information Architecture Master Class
A Golden Opportunity for Two Full Days of Real World Examples, Knowledge and Techniques
Are you a Business Analyst or SharePoint Architect who needs to deal with the hard question of "Will users use the system?"
Have you tried SharePoint and failed (thus experiencing the pain and need for which it is named) ?
Are you a Strategic Management Consultant or anyone who is looking for something where so far, the published material hasn't quite done it for you up till now?
Are you an IT Manager who genuinely wants to hear real techniques behind abstract concepts like "user engagement" and "buy-in" ?
Most people understand that deploying SharePoiont is much more than getting it installed. Despite this, current SharePoint governance documentation abounds in service delivery aspects.
However, just becuase your system is rock-solid, stable, well-documented and governed through good process, there is absolutely no guarantee of success. Similarly, if Information Architecture for SharePoint was as easy as putting together lists, libraries and metadata the right way, then why doesn't Microsoft publish the obvious best practices?
In fact, the secret to a successful SharePoint project is an area that the governance documentation barely touches.
This Master Class pinpoints the criticial success factors for SharePoint Governance and Information Architecture and rectifies this blind spot. Paul Culmsee's style takes an ironic and subversive view on how SharePoint Governance really works within organizations while presenting a model and the tools necessary to get it right.
Drawing on inspiration from many diverse sources, disciplines and case studies, Paul Culmsee has distilled the "what" and "how" of governance down to a simple and accessible, yet rigorous and comprehensive set of tools and methods that organizations, large and small, can utilize to achieve the level of commitment required to see SharePoint become a successful part of your enterprise.
Registration Details Coming Soon!