Aligning SharePoint to Business Goals: Don't just say it, do it!

Aligning SharePoint to Business Goals:

Don’t just say it, do it

Paul CulmseeMichal Pisarek

Improving Collaboration for 16+ Years– Mission: To enable enterprises to simplify, optimize, and

secure their collaborative platforms– Delivered award-winning administration and migration

software since 1994– Over 2,000 global customers

Dramatically improve the management of SharePoint

– Innovative products that improve security, scalability, reliability, “deployability”

– Making IT more effective and efficient and lower the total cost of ownership

Focus on solving specific SharePoint problems (Administration & Migration)

– Coach enterprises on SharePoint best practices– Give administrators the most innovative tools available– Anticipate customers’ needs– Deliver best of breed offerings– Stay in lock step with SharePoint development and market trends

AXCELER OVERVIEW

(c) Seven Sigma Business Solutions 2010

• Owner - Seven Sigma Business Solutions (Perth)

• SharePoint architect and agony aunt• Sense-making practitioner and

facilitator for large scale complex projects (non IT)

• Certified Dialogue Mapper

o T: @paulculmsee o E: [email protected] B: www.cleverworkarounds.com

Paul Culmsee CISSP, MCSE, MCT, MCTS

mailto:[email protected]


• Founder – Dynamic Owl Consulting • SharePoint MVP• Microsoft SharePoint VTS• SharePoint Analyst

o T: @michalpisareko E: [email protected] B: www.sharepointanalysthq.com

Michal Pisarek, SharePoint MVP

mailto:[email protected]


Basis for this session…

SharePoint Governance and Information Architecture Master Class(Aligning SharePoint to Business Goals)

February 6/7th 2012 Vancouver, Canada

www.spgovia.com

As delivered in

London, Dublin, Seattle, Hong Kong, Singapore, Auckland, Sydney, Utrecht, Brisbane, Wellington

Proudly sponsored by

http://axceler.com/


• SharePoint governance and successful delivery is just as much art as science.

• Practitioners need:o Deep product expertise and technical skillo Deep understanding of the softer side of

SharePoint delivery.

• Guess which one we suck at?

Setting some context…


Acknowledgements

“f-Laws are truths about organisations that we might wish to deny or ignore –

simple and more reliable guides to everyday behaviour than the complex

truths proposed by scientists, economists, sociologists, politicians

and philosophers”Management f-LAWS: How Organizations Really WorkRussell Ackoff and Herbert

Addison


THE MORE COMPREHENSIVE THE DEFINITION OF “GOVERNANCE” IS, THE LESS IT WILL BE UNDERSTOOD BY ALL

f-LAW 1


Governance originates from the Latin word “to steer”.

FACT!

Latin: gubernatio (“‘management, government’”), Ancient Greek kubernesis, "steering, pilotage, guiding" < kubernao, “‘I steer, drive, guide, pilot’”).



Governance is the means to an end

Key takeaway

You do not need to over-define it to understand itBy working to achieve a shared end in mind you are

governing!


Key takeaway

Do all participants understand what the end in mind looks like?


f-LAW 2

THERE IS NO POINT IN ASKING USERS, WHO DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY WANT,

TO SAY WHAT THEY WANT

Corollary: There is even less point in thinking that you already know what they want


Knowing vs. Learning

Cognexus Institute www.cognexus.org


Knowing vs. Learning

Cognexus Institute www.cognexus.org


Key takeaway

For a problem that is novel or requires learning for participants, they will examine potential solutions

just to explain the problem

Each instance of examining the solution will impact the understanding of the problem


Key takeaway

• Expect fluid requirements• Expect scope changes• Involve stakeholders • Expect resistance and pullback• Plan for prototyping• Be adaptable

• Do not penalise people for their learning


THE PROBABILITY OF PROJECT SUCCESS IS INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO THE

TIME TAKEN TO COME UP WITH A MEANINGFUL KPI

f-LAW 3


What project is this?


WHAT PROJECT IS THIS?


DIVERGENCE – MULTIPLE FUTURE STATES


Key takeaway

If you cannot tell me the difference made by implementing SharePoint, how can anyone

else know the difference?

Even if you can, how do you know that everybody else sees it the same way as you?


f-LAW 4

MOST STATED GOVERNANCE OBJECTIVES ARE PLATITUDES – THEY

SAY NOTHING BUT HIDE BEHIND WORDS

Corollary: Most governance platitudes simply reflect the broader project platitude


An Olympic class platitude…

“The Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence"


The platitude indicator

If you cannot reasonably disagree with an objective, or measure it, then it is a

platitude

“Most corporate mission statements are worthless. They often formulate necessities as objectives; for example, "to achieve sufficient profit." This is like a person saying his mission is to

breathe sufficiently.”

Russell Ackoff


“Collaboration will be encouraged”

“A best-practice collaboration platform”

“It’s a SharePoint project”

For Example...


A non platitude example

“To produce high-quality, low cost, easy to use products that incorporate high technology for the individual. We are proving that high technology does not have to be intimidating for noncomputer experts.”

Apple Mission Statement (1984)


SharePoint non platitudes

We are proving that through better information management, we can improve our customer relationships

without over-burdening our staff”

“We are proving that we can grow the organisation while reducing email volumes, centralising document storage and

making the system a pleasure to use”


Key Takeaways

A platitude is like a mirage. It looks like a goal, but in reality it is nothing

Platitudes delude us into thinking that we have an end in mind when we actually do not

Don’t confuse the means with the end. Always ask what difference the means will make, rather than trying to come up with a universal definition for it (f-law 1)


Ensure a shared understanding of the problem among all participants

“The ‘Holy Grail’ of effective collaboration is creating shared understanding, which is a precursor to shared commitment”

Jeff Conklin

One “best practice” to rule them all


Key takeaway

The only way to converge to a solution is to achieve a shared commitment among participants

The only way to achieve shared commitment is a shared understanding of the problem among

participants

This is the essence of governance


• Sensemaking tools and methods are out thereo Gamestormingo Mapping

IBIS, Kapitola Pathway, Mindmaps, Concept maps

o Visual Facilitationo Open space technologyo Problem structuring methods

Breakthrough Thinking, Back of a Napkin, Dialogue Mapping

But how???


Gamestorming to Shared Understanding


• A clear compelling vision is a must to succeed with SharePoint

• Simply asking users ‘So tell me about your Vision for SharePoint’ isn't going to work

• How do you balance reality with imagination to create that future state?

Creating a Vision


• Asking yes or no questions that don’t allow any expansion:o “Do you want to be able to search?”

• Asking technical questions:o “Would you like to create workflows when

SharePoint is implemented?”

• Not asking a diverse range of stakeholders

The Bad Ways


• Allow participants to express the future state in their terms and language

• Allow participants to explore alternative future states without any constraints

• Encourage collaboration to achieve Shared Understanding and Commitment

• Balance Innovation and Chaos

A Better Way?


The Cover Story Game

• Cover: Tells the story of their big success• Headline: The substance of the cover story• Sidebars: Interesting facts about the story• Quotes: Quotes from potential end users of the solution• Brainstorm: documenting initial ideas (this is important!)• Images: Supporting the content with illustrations


• Groups of 4-6 people• Give each group a poster• Around 30 minutes (be strict)• Review each teams work to determine composite

shared vision• Can use other techniques to

then rank and prioritize

Running the Game


The Kapitola Pathway


• Concept map with three major nodes:o What: Whatever you are trying to doo Why: Why is this needed?o How: How are you going to do this?

• Better than reams of documentation• Depending at which node you are looking at it will

change• Draw to the left

o Why are we doing this?o Unpacking the underlying purpose

• Draw to the righto How are we doing this?o Explicit and measurable objectives

Overview












• Another simple visual but super powerful technique to use

• So much information in a very consumable format• Anything you can fit on a napkin is better than a

book of documentation

The Kapitola Pathway


Learn more…

SharePoint Governance and Information Architecture Master Class(Aligning SharePoint to Business Goals)

February 6/7th 2012 Vancouver, Canada

www.spgovia.com

As delivered in

London, Dublin, Seattle, Hong Kong, Singapore, Auckland, Sydney, Utrecht, Brisbane, Wellington

Proudly sponsored by

http://axceler.com/