Comments on: Complexity bites: When SharePoint = Risk

By: Kim35

Kim35 — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:00:08 +0000

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By: CleverWorkarounds » SBS 2008, Hewlett Packard, WSS3, Search Server 2008 Express and a UPS – Oh the pain!

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:48:07 +0000

[...] a result, I really fear the direction that IT in general is [...]

By: Surviving Microsoft SharePoint - Addressing Risks - The Bamboo Team Blog

Surviving Microsoft SharePoint - Addressing Risks - The Bamboo Team Blog — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:21:12 +0000

[...] The answer isn't to completely lock it down or make it over burdensome. It's about assurance (Culmsee) on the configuration management side, and about leveraging business processes for site and user [...]

By: It’s the little things « Intranettin’

It’s the little things « Intranettin’ — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:52:45 +0000

[...] find it and all will be well. But it does raise the issue of complexity and its pitfalls (See Paul’s post on the subject for more). There are many reasons to be able to do more things simultaneously; also many reasons [...]

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:12:29 +0000

Feel free to use the phrase – it’s not copyrighted or anything.

I like the Globalisation post, but I’ll note that one underlying factor is people’s psychology. Vick’s Das touches on this briefly in one of the quotes where he mentions turf wars. Employees, often managers specifically, completely lose sight of the organization’s goals in the process of competing internally with their colleagues. The goal of any leader should be to set a tone that reminds people that their goal is to compete with other companies, not each other.

The scale you mention makes getting everyone to pull together a monumental task; you’re asking a guy in India to partner (even indirectly) with a woman in Wisconsin to reach a common goal. It’s difficult enough when the boss is setting a tone of collaboration. It’s impossible if management is not clearly leading the way towards a goal.

If I see one purpose to implementing Sharepoint, it’s for management to clearly and universally establish the tone and direction of the organization. Using the communication and collaboration to explain and encourage the work the company does. If they can’t express it clearly, it doesn’t matter what platform they put in , as you note.

By: admin

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:17:59 +0000

Great comment Dan and i loved your last line – thats gold. “Sharepoint can’t save anyone from poor strategic thinking.” – I have to make a post using that title.

As you say, poor organisational maturity always trumps technology. Business leaders who are tech savvy definitely can offer big advantages to their organisation, but what you would call a ‘global manager‘ needs to much more as well.

Tell me what you think of this post where I looked at examples where business leaders did what we all want them to do and I think this does more to bridge the disconnect than to send all business leaders off to SharePoint school

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:07:01 +0000

Coming from the business end of the equation, much of this seems caused by a disconnect between IT and the Business leaders. As you say, the frustration from our side is the seeming inability of IT to deliver, but much of the problem comes from the way we treat IT. We act as though it’s impossible to understand, and we often shut ourselves out of the conversation because “we don’t understand all that tech stuff.” Business also rarely (in my experience) treats IT as a strategic partner; the IT side is just there to make the &^%$ machines work rather than planning & executing alongside.

I guess you get to dump on finance & IT, I get to pile on by dumping on the strategic leadership on the business end. As long as they don’t understand & appreciate the real & sometimes necessary complexity of their IT needs, and they can’t explain what it is they want/expect IT to do to pull the company to success, they’re going to get crap. Overhyped, Overbudget, and overcomplicated. Sharepoint can’t save anyone from poor strategic thinking.

By: SharePoint Fridays: SharePoint’s Complexity Translates To Organizational Risk | Usability Counts, a blog about Usability and User Experience, and Social Media

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:01:01 +0000

[...] Workarounds has a very long but strong post about how the complexity of SharePoint exposes organizational gaps because SharePoint is such a comprehensive platform. Another [...]

By: SharePoint Daily for September 25, 2008 - SharePoint Daily

SharePoint Daily for September 25, 2008 - SharePoint Daily — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:44:15 +0000

[...] the BlogosphereComplexity Bites: When SharePoint = Risk (Clever Workarounds)I think as you age, you become more and more like your parents. Not so long ago [...]

By: admin

admin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:00:26 +0000

Yeah Andrew you have nailed it. When things are complex, and no-one has a full understanding, you have wicked problem potential and risk. I think a lot of SharePoint sites, despie best intentions, have gotten out of hand and a degradation of assurance is the inevitable result.

Interestingly learning theory comes into play here too. I have been to sites where local staff do not realise the seriousness of the risk (unconsciously incompetent and therefore high risk), compared to sites where staff realise its gotten out of hand and need help to right the ship (consciously incompetent and therefore lower risk)