Let's make SharePoint dirty
...no, I don't mean the triple-ex kind of dirt - go search on Google if that's what you are after.
Back in December (it's the 2nd January and I've already started treating 2006 like it took place a century ago...), Euan Semple wrote a post about why he doesn't like SharePoint - it's too sterile. If business is heading for change (and I agree that it is - see Changing Habits), we need tools that cope with Web 2.0 messiness rather than support traditional ways of working.
When I looked after SharePoint during my days at Microsoft, it was still in nappies and under the radar of serious IT folk. Many of the customers I spoke to were interested in doing 'new stuff', collaborating and sharing knowledge, and wanted a tool that would just get on and do it without becoming embroiled in policies and processes. Enter SharePoint, somewhat lacking in the features department but with pots of paint and hands at the ready.
Now SharePoint finally has plenty of bells and whistles but is no longer in kindergarten. It's all grown-up and wearing a uniform. Customers I speak to now are concerned about document and records management, compliance and governance, scorecards and KPIs. And the serious IT folk are in charge of deployment. Trying to suggest using a wiki instead of a managed document for publishing information usually generates looks of horror or confusion... sometimes both.
I don't want to be too flippant about the serious business of information management - being responsible for compliance is not a fun task - but let's try making SharePoint a little bit dirty. Over the coming weeks, I'll have a go at injecting some Web 2.0 mess into SharePoint's tidy organised world.
Update: related posts