Eli Robillard's World of Blog.

Planning SharePoint Solution Packages (WSPs)

erobillard — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:02:00 GMT

SharePoint architects and developers often wonder how best to design solution packages for long-term ease of use, especially through upgrade cycles. In a survey of SharePoint developers I found a range of strategies from one monolithic WSP to hold everything...(read more)

Toronto SharePoint User Group: May 27 and June 17

erobillard — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:04:00 GMT

This is a heads-up about two exciting TSPUG sessions coming soon: next week on May 27 and next month on June 17. Next Wednesday Bill Brockbank ( Navantis ) is leading a set of "Quick Hits"- these are 15 minute presentations by members on a variety of...(read more)

Preview: The practical limits of people and SharePoint

erobillard — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:59:00 GMT

I'm in Montreal for SharePoint Summit 2009, thinking about the session I'm delivering on Tuesday afternoon. The goal is to distill all the useful knowledge that you won't learn anywhere else, or at the very least, not all in one place. And none of it is in existing SharePoint books or articles. At least none that I know of, but I'd love to be surprised.

The abstract (Ctrl-End to the bottom of this page) follows the conventional Problem, Opportunity, Solution, Benefits, Agenda model, but it's probably better to lay the cards out and say "here's what you're going to learn" and the best way to do that is to give you all of my sources here, before the start of the session and long before the final slide cleverly titled "References." And the deck too so you can make notes right on it if you're there. And if you're not here in la belle Provence, well, some of it will make sense without a tour guide but I'll be honest, you'll be missing at least a third of the lesson.

Parts

Sense-making: How to differentiate between and design appropriate action for the simple, the complicated, and the chaotic.We start with David Snowden's Cynefin Analysis and then improve upon it for practical use.
The practical limits of people: Learn the sizes of effective teams, offices and lives, and because of Dunbar's number and related research, why those are the right sizes.
The practical limits of SharePoint: Evolution and sense-making determine how we work. If you accept the premise that IT solutions support people processes through simulation, then it is now important to explore the constraints of the platform we're using to simulate and support the work of people.

References

Allen, Christopher (2004/04), Four Kinds of Privacy.
Allen, Christopher (2004/03), The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes.
Dunbar, R.I.M. (1993), Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (4): 681-735.
Freeman, Jeff (2004), The Dunbar Number.
Kurtz, C.F. and D.J. Snowden, The new dynamics of strategy: Sense-making in a complex and complicated world.
Lambe, Patrick (2007), Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organisational Effectiveness, Chandos Publishing (Oxford) Limited.
Snowden, David, The Cognitive Edge.

My related blog posts

Download

Architecture into Implementation - The practical limits of people and SharePoint (PowerPoint)

With only 15 to 20 minutes to cover each of the three parts, I'm tempted, but will ultimately reject an urge to completely reverse the session and cover the hard limits of SharePoint first. The numbers, the risks and their mitigation are simple, they're what many are coming to see, so we can cover them and move on. From these we can move into the limits and work styles of people, which may seem complex but given the research, we people fit into surprisingly simple buckets for the purpose of solution design. And finally the star of the show, an improved model for sense-making. What is it? It's one of those things where you'll never see the world or its problems quite the same way again. Is 10 to 15 minutes enough to get it? Like anything worth knowing, that should be plenty.

TSPUG Tonight: Workflow, K2 and Twitter

erobillard — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:33:00 GMT

Attendees of the Wednesday March 25 edition of the Toronto SharePoint User Group will navigate the wonders of Document Life Cycle in SharePoint using K2 BlackPearl. Our own Bill Brockbank will verily demonstrate how K2 can be used to manage the governance, authoring and editing of a document library with nothing up his sleeves except K2's BlackPearl. From there Bill will reveal the magic of multi-level approval before deeming a work as final and published. Magical stuff indeed.

Bill Brockbank is a Microsoft SharePoint Server MVP and an experienced Solutions Architect with over 25 years of experience in software and hardware design. With such a wealth of industry knowledge, Bill is adept at envisioning practical solution architectures, problem-solving diagnostics and peer mentoring. At Navantis, Bill focuses on the development of custom applications using the Microsoft .NET framework. Specifically, Bill works in the workflow and Enterprise Content Management space with Microsoft Technologies, Captaris Workflow, K2.NET and SharePoint 2007 (MOSS and WSS).

The opening act tonight pairs Ruven Gotz and Kanwal Khipple in a public demonstration of Twitter, mercifully not entitled SP'itter (yes, the front row will be safe).

Note: The TSPUG website is down for the moment as we continue its migration and rebuilding.In the meantime, you can check here and at the NLC Blog for monthly meeting updates.

We will resume the meetings in April on the 3rd Wednesday of the month.

If you can make it to tonight’s session, please RSVP asap, so that I can determine how much pizza to order.

Where
2 Bloor Street West on the 12th Floor.

Whence
6:00 to 8:30pm

Whats
6:00pm – Pizza
6:30pm – Q&A
6:50pm – Ruven and Kanwal on Twitter
7:00pm – Bill's Feature Presentation: Manage Document Life Cycle in SharePoint using K2 BlackPearl
8:30pm – Closing and Prizes

To RSVP, please email sibbotson@nonlinear.ca

*Pizza will be provided by our very generous sponsor, Non Linear Creations (NLC)

First Looks: Visual Studio 2010 tooling for SharePoint

erobillard — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:58:00 GMT

Via Soma: Sharepoint tools support in Visual Studio
http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/archive/2009/02/19/sharepoint-tools-support-in-visual-studio.aspx

In the screenshots, note the .package and .feature files, as well as the Packaging Explorer tab on the right. In the example a feature is displayed where there are several elements available in the solution (left), with just the workflow features being selected into “Workflows.feature” (right).

Reminder TSPUG Tonight: SharePoint Solutions and Automating the Build

erobillard — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:23:00 GMT

The topic for tonight was suggested during the most recent Toronto SharePoint camp - How to structure SharePoint solutions in Visual Studio, and automate the build and WSP generation. Building SharePoint Solutions (WSP) is the most painful part of the development process. In this session attendees will learn how to take the pain away for SharePoint 2007 by structuring Visual Studio Solutions for easy management, and by automating the build and WSP creation.

Presented by me, Eli Robillard with corrections, improvements and miscellaneous heckling by Bill Brockbank and you. See you there!

If you can make it tonight, please RSVP (just a formality), so that Susie can determine how much pizza to order.

Location: Nexient Learning @ 2 Bloor Street West on the 12th Floor.

6:00pm to 6:30 - Pizza and people arrive

6:30pm - Q&A

7:00pm – Presentation

8:30pm – Done

To RSVP, please email sibbotson@nonlinear.ca

* Pizza will be provided by our very generous sponsor, Non Linear Creations - non-linear creations (NLC) is a leading web development and IT integrator, helping clients leverage the business benefits of Internet technology to drive traffic, support sales, and achieve a strong return on online investments.

Infusion's Falcon Eye for Surface goes to the Superbowl

erobillard — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:53:00 GMT

This came through internally on Friday from fellow Infusionite Kartik Subramani. Congrats to everyone involved!

About three weeks ago, Infusion was asked to produce a demo of a security application for managing security at SuperBowl XLIII in Tampa Bay this Sunday. Although originally intended as a demo to gain some press for both Infusion and E-Sponder (the solution that Tampa Police uses in their day to day operations), it was such a hit, that the Incident Commander requested that it be brought into the Joint Operation Center, where every security organization from the local police to the [deleted in case this would get anyone in trouble. -Eli] were gathered to monitor the event. The app allowed for real time visualization of incidents as they were reported to 911 and filed by police officers. While I was down there, everything from loose dogs and lost children, to grand theft auto and bomb sweeps were showing up on the map. In addition to having all that information at his fingertips, the Incident Commander was also able to listen to and speak out on to their various radio networks from the Surface [unit].

You can read full details at the following links:

http://www.microsoft.com/industry/government/news/e_sponder_super_bowl.mspx
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/29/microsoft-surface-being-used-to-coordinate-super-bowl-security/

There were film crews from NBC and CBS filming the Incident Commander using the application. I believe the NBC clip was to air this morning [Friday, Jan 30] on the Today Show, or the morning news, but I’m not sure when the CBS clip is going to air.

Big shout out to Lan Nguyen, for his help with developing the application, and to Alex Preston and Trevor Hunter for their guidance during the architecture and design phase.

And while everyone inside Infusion knows that Kurt Guenther is the "godfather of Falcon Eye," now you know too.If you have want to learn more about Surface or have questions about how we did it, you can reach Kartik and the team through the alias: surface@infusion.com.

The Toronto SharePoint Camp Kicked Ass

erobillard — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:16:00 GMT

A giant shout-out to the organizing committee, volunteers, sponsors and attendees of this year’s Toronto SharePoint Camp, what a great day! Chairman Bill Brockbank was pretty raspy (and full of Buckley’s), so I was the “voice” for the opening, and facilitator of the speaker round-table and raffle, but these things don’t happen without great people and planning. Everyone did a great job to be proud of.

We had well over 200 attendees for 20 sessions delivered by 19 speakers including 5 MVPs representing a variety of specialties. Feedback was phenomenal (here's the first review from the wild) with a lot of comments like “greatly exceeded expectations” and “I can’t believe you guys can offer this for free.”

There were a few benefits we didn’t expect. A Mississauga SharePoint user group has a strong chance of launching with its first meeting in the next 2-3 months. Just as Toronto supports downtown and suburban .NET user groups, I’ve long thought a suburban SharePoint UG would do well. Three people stepped up to lead it, and about a half-dozen people have already volunteered to get involved (comment here or contact me if you want to get involved too). Fantastic!

Several people suggested adding end-user content in either next year's Camp or in our monthly meetings. After a little probing, it seems there are existing Knowledge Management interest groups in Toronto, for example in the public service and among law offices. The best way to get end-users involved will be to “go where they are.” So to meet the need, our user group will start offering a list of speakers and topics geared to end-users and knowledge management.

And there is interest in holding a local SharePoint Saturday. Unlike a mini-conference format these are (near as I can tell) hands-on day-long projects where people show up with their laptops, get assigned to a task and then go off to develop in hives. It sounds like a great idea and even though I’m not fully up to speed on the format, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one spring up in Toronto this year. One again, if you're interested in coordinating or volunteering, comment or contact me and I'll facilitate.

The presentations and sample code are being posted to the site as we receive it. As a bonus, last year's content is still there for the browsing.

One of the topics requested will be delivered at our very next TSPUG meeting on Feb 18: How to structure solutions, and automate the build and WSP generation. Building SharePoint Solutions (WSP) is the most painful part of the development process. In this session attendees will learn how to take the pain away for SharePoint 2007 by structuring Visual Studio Solutions for easy management, and by automating the build and WSP creation. As always you can RSVP by sending a message to Susie. See you there!

Best Free SharePoint Downloads - updated

erobillard — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:36:00 GMT

http://weblogs.asp.net/erobillard/archive/2008/12/13/the-best-free-sharepoint-downloads.aspx

I've added full descriptions to this living post to explain why these are the greatest downloads since O12 itself, it's starting to look like a real resource.

Philosophical question - do you love or hate these posts about such changes (posts about posts)? Are they as annoying as blog spam? Do you visit these pages on a regular basis anyway?

See you all at Toronto SharePoint Camp tomorrow!

Tonight: Toronto SharePoint User Group - We need you!

erobillard — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:15:00 GMT

Come out and warm up with the Toronto SharePoint User Group tonight at Yonge and Bloor from 6 to 8pm, as we hold a Volunteer Night to prepare for the Toronto SharePoint Camp coming up this Saturday. Whether you're a member eager to give a couple hours back to your community, a new member looking for a bunch of great people to bounce ideas off of, a first-time speaker looking for some tips, a seasoned speaker with stories learned the hard way from conferences past, or just in it for the free pizza, come on out!

We know you want to see sessions too, so by coming out and planning the day tonight, we can be sure to accommodate everyone's schedule. Unless your name is Eli or Bill, it won't be an all-day commitment, but we do need your help. If you can't make it to Volunteer Night tonight but want to help out on Saturday, there are spots available for greeters, hallway traffic directors, speaker introductions, and more. Hit the link below to send a quick e-mail to volunteer some time.

And whether your work touches SharePoint or you're just curious, the Toronto SharePoint Camp this weekend will be one of the best SharePoint and knowledge management events ever held in Toronto. We have it on a Saturday so it never interferes with work, and whether you can spend a few hours or the day, you want to be there. Who will you see? We have five, count'em, five Microsoft MVPs speaking, a former member of the SharePoint product team in Redmond, a speaker from the popular Best Practices Conference, and hundreds of years of expertise in twenty sessions on five stages. Developers will go deep on topics like Silverlight, web parts, workflow, and search. Managers and architects will go deep on governance, cultural change, and mind-mapping.

Be a part of it! Lunch will be provided, registration is free, and there is a giant stack of prizes to give away.

[Volunteer for SharePoint Camp!] Tonight, Wednesday, January 21 at Nexient, 2 Bloor West (north-west corner of Yonge and Bloor), 6 to 8pm.

[Register for SharePoint Camp!] Saturday, January 24 at Manulife Financial, 200 Bloor East (north side of Bloor, between Church and Jarvis), 9am to 5pm.

The Best Free SharePoint Downloads

erobillard — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:26:00 GMT

This post will continue to be maintained to contain the best free utilities and downloads available for WSS and SharePoint 2007. Add your comments and submit your nominations!

Scoping Tools
To "look under the covers" and diagnose tough issues you need a tool navigate directly into SharePoint's object model. The best not only show you what solutions, features, and event receivers are activated everywhere, but also let you dig into the actual configuration settings on each farm, web application, site collection, site, list, and list item.

SharePoint Manager - The first tool to break from the rest of the CodePlex pack by "just working." SPM provides additional power (and danger) by also letting you change each property.

SharePoint Analyzer - The first free scoping tool released by a company (Bamboo Solutions). That doesn't imply it's going to have a better lifecycle than a community project, but Bamboo has a pretty good track record of providing good product and this started off in good shape. And the latest (1.1) supports x64,

Improvements and extensions to the out-of-box features

Starter Kits - Think of the Community Kit not as a tool to create community sites, but as community-supported improvements to SharePoint. So yes, there are great, complete templates for user groups, schools, weddings, and home owners associations, built by people who actually needed, built and used them (unlike the "we'll get you 65% of the way there" Fab 40 demo-ware). But the real gems for the masses are the new discussion, blog and wiki features to replace the anemic out-of-box versions. Head to the Releases page and look in the box at the top-right to get what you're looking for.

Faceted Search - The people responsible for Search did something unprecedented by releasing not just fixes in service packs and the infrastructure upgrade, but significant new functionality. Faceted search is a contribution that didn't make it into the "officially supported" product set, so they pushed it to CodePlex and continue to update and improve it (v 3.1 as of Jan '09). You can read more about it in the team blog (Part I), though the CodePlex page has pictures to see why Faceted Search is so useful.

Scot Hillier's SharePoint Features - Where the starter kits (above) enhance SharePoint's built-in features, these add what was completely missing. The Log Viewer must be the most popular; anyone who's ever slogged through the ULS logs can instantly appreciate it's ability to filter out the bazillion "Preserving template record with size [x], use count [y], key [z]" messages. There are dozens like that - a toolbar manager, task mover, appSettings manager, theme changer, hierarchical views of content types, and more all the time.

Gary LaPointe's STSADM extensions - These extend the command-line STSADM tool with loads of new commands. First, check out the big list of all the STSADM extensions in here, there are over a hundred. Enjoy.

Developer Tools

Visual Studio project templates (STSDEV) - This tool generates projects for all the common SharePoint project types. They're all based on plain old class files, so unlike VSeWSS, STSDEV doesn't require special project types installed to VS to use the projects you create with it. they're also compatible with the next great tool. . .

WSP Builder - So you've bought into SharePoint's great deployment model - everything should be packaged as a SharePoint Feature and SPFeatures should be wrapped up in WSP Solutions. But you'll have to do that by painfully editing a DDF manifest by hand, ugh. WSPBuilder to the rescue! Just point it at a subtree including your deployment files (sorted into .\GAC, .\80\bin, .\12\... anda few others) and bam, instant WSP. I like to add the "/Cleanup false" parameter to leave a copy of the generated manifest where I can see it too.

U2U CAML Query Builder - SQL Server would be hell without it's query builder (and to think the idea had to start with MS-Access), so why write CAML by hand? Thanks to U2U we don't have to. There are a bunch, but this one has a track record of providing good features, a reasonable pace of updates and stability.

Reflector - Lets you see every class, method and property in a .NET assembly (DLL), with the option to translate the MSIL into readable C# or VB code. Not that anyone remembers ILDASM, but this is everything it didn't do and then some. Written by Lutz Roeder and later acquired by Red Gate to (presumably) assure its continued development. Trying to figure out what version is installed to production, but every assembly is still marked 1.0.0.0? Reflector lets you look inside to see the code that's there. Trying to figure out why you've been leaking memory ever since you installed that third party web part? Oh look, they're not disposing of their SPSites. I can't imagine working with .NET without Reflector.

SharePoint for Lunch with Joel Oleson: Thanks Everyone!

erobillard — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:53:00 GMT

I just got back from the Toronto SharePoint User Group's year-end holiday party and it was a pretty excellent experience.

First to thank our meeting sponsors: Quest Software and Nonlinear Creations for picking up the lunch tab; that was an unexpected but much appreciated holiday surprise. And thanks again to Quest for bringing Joel to town! After a few logistical hurdles at the restaurant, Joel presented a thought-provoking and insightful talk on SharePoint governance, and eventually we let him eat too. There were no less than 5 MVPs in attendance - myself, Reza Alirezaei, and Bill Brockback representing SharePoint, and Rob Windsor and Ed Musters representing VB and C# respectively. There were also a number of local luminaries and past user group speakers including Ruven Gotz, Jason Bero, Ali Kheradvar, and Kanwal Khipple (apologies if I've missed anyone, let me know). Put those names together and that's probably half the speaker line-up of the SharePoint Camp!

It was a great room to be in.We welcomed some new faces, and there were a lot of great questions and discussion all around. We waited a little while for the food (and apologies to those who had to leave sooner) but once it started it was like a never-ending flow of dishes from the kitchen.

I'd like to give an extra special thank-you to the Toronto chapter of "Collaborators Collaborating for Collaboration," also known as the people who make TSPUG meetings work: Bill Brockbank and Susie Ibbotsen, this group continues to exist because you exist. You're the best! Also thanks to our sponsors and all those who provided facilities, catering, speakers, publicity, prizes and photocopiers in 2008 including: Nexient, Microsoft, ISPA, Wrox, INETA, Cyberplex, Infusion Development, Nonlinear Creations, Navantis, SharePoint Buzz, Ideaca, ObjectSharp and MindSharp.

Our January meeting will be a pre-SharePoint Camp volunteer meeting where we'll be stuffing the goodie bags and sharing tips to any first-time (or returning) speakers. That's January 21 at Nexient (NW corner of Yonge and Bloor). All are welcome to attend!

[Photo: Rob Windsor, Reza Alirezaei, Joel oleson, and Eli Robillard]

Happy Holidays,
Eli.

TSPUG "SharePoint for Lunch" with Joel Oleson, this Friday!

erobillard — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:33:00 GMT

Joel Oleson joins the Toronto SharePoint User Group this Friday at 12:00 noon!

Where: Spring Rolls, 693 Yonge Street (near Yonge & Bloor)
When: Friday, December 12, 2008 from 11:50 to 1:30
What: A holiday lunch, a great presentation, discussion, some catching up, and prizes!

Seating is limited to 40, and to keep it simple but raise the quality bar for the holidays, we're aiming for a flat $15 cover charge for lunch and a drink. Depending on sponsorship the actual contribution may be less, but it certainly won't be more (thanks to Quest). This is a great chance to meet one of the most respected, knowledgeable people in the SharePoint universe!

If your lunch time is limited to an hour, there's no problem leaving a bit early (though you may miss out on the prizes), but this is why we're asking people to arrive a little before 12 so we can get settled and

Space is limited, so please RSVP to sibbotson@nonlinear.ca. If you RSVP but cannot attend, please let Susie know so someone can take your place. See you there!

The Best Books for SharePoint Developers

erobillard — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:34:00 GMT

Customers often ask "what are the best books for SharePoint programmers?" and while there are a few good lists (like AC's) none contain all my favourites so I'm starting fresh.

Essential Books for SharePoint Development

These are the standard books that make any shelf complete.

Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, by Ted Pattison and Dan Larson.This is the best book for any developer starting out with SharePoint, and one of the best references to have around even after you know what you're doing. Once this book helps you understand WSS, you'll have a sound foundation to either go deeper or go beyond outside WSS into MOSS.

Professional SharePoint 2007 Development, by John Holliday, John Alexander, Jeff Julian, Eli Robillard, Brendon Schwartz, Matt Ranlett, J. Dan Attis, Adam Buenz, and Tom Rizzo. I'm a contributing author so I am biased, but this is the best book on developing MOSS solutions. Topics include SharePoint architecture, building a developer machine, using enterprise search, BDC, records management, web content management (including custom field types, site columns, content types, and , online forms, workflow, and the report center. My full review is here including links to sample chapters, the source code and forums to ask the authors questions.

Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development, by Andrew Connell. This is the best book for developers working with Publishing Sites. "WCM" describes the features that have to do with using MOSS for public web sites and intranets (internal web sites). It's also a really well-written book with great examples that every SharePoint developer can learn from. Topics include: site columns & content types, search, content deployment, and workflow.

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Wrox Box. Now this is cool - all of the Wrox titles that are on my list in one box, plus Real World SharePoint (which may not be essential but it's still a really good book, below).

Code Complete (2nd Edition), by Steve McConnell. Not SharePoint specific, but probably the best book on development for any platform. If you want to be a better developer than you are and only read one book, this is the one.

Good Books for SharePoint Development

These have great moments, but for whatever reason are not essential.

Real World SharePoint, by many SharePoint MVPs. People say that Wrox books feel like they're written by too many authors. This one turns that into a positive by providing 15 article-like chapters by the people who know these topics better than anyone else in the world. Intro by Mike Walsh (guru of the SharePoint newsgroups), branding by Heather Solomon, BDC by Nick Swan (BDC Metaman anyone?), web part development by Jan Tielens (creator of the SmartPart), security by Adam Buenz, forms-based authentication by Stacy Draper, workflow using both .aspx pages and InfoPath forms, IRM, upgrading from 2003 to 2007, and workflow using both .aspx pages and InfoPath forms. If any of these topics are for you, chances are it's the best content on the topic you'll find.

Refactoring, by Martin Fowler. Like Code Complete, this book is not about SharePoint but it will make you a better developer. Read it first, this second.

Honourable Mentions, or books I haven't read but hear good things about.

I won't provide Amazon links because I haven't done my homework, but these are easy enough to locate.

Microsoft SharePoint: Building Office 2007 Solutions in C# 2005, Scot Hilier. Scot's a great writer but I intentionaly avoided this book when I heard he had a section on building a developer machine, because I didn't want to be tainted while writing mine. And I never got back to it, I really should.

Workflow in the 2007 Microsoft Office System, David Mann. I used to say it was the best book on SharePoint workflow, but there's another one now so I can't be sure anymore. David's sharp, and the topic is in-demand so this is worth a look if you're going deep.

To be continued (and actively updated). . .

Tell me about any other SharePoint development books I should know about, or send over a review copy (use the Contact link to request an address). I do work through these as deeply as possible before writing about them, so allow some time to absorb their greatness. If I really don't like something, I'm not likely to rip it publicly and any less-than-great contributions will still generate publicity and interest as a user group raffle prize. I do realize that this list is (today) biased to just a few publishers and those authored by SharePoint MVPs, but i do believe this speaks to the quality of the MVPs and the apparent ability of Wrox and MS Press to consistently bring us into projects. These pedestals are not forever, they are targets for the next wave to take aim at. Have at it!

Secret Strategies for Successful SharePoint at the Toronto .NET User Group, Dec. 9, 2008

erobillard — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:50:00 GMT

'Tis the season for hardcore SharePoint. I'll be doing a presentation for the Toronto .NET User Group with the understated title: Secret Strategies of Successful SharePoint Projects. This is a two-part session on designing knowledge management solutions and then implementing them in SharePoint. We'll discuss taxonomy design, infrastructure design, the mapping of knowledge domains, common mistakes, the practical limits of SharePoint, the practical limits of people, and field questions from the audience. It's going to be an exhausting bunch of fun, hope to see you there!

From the announcement:

When? TUESDAY December 9th, 2008, 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Where? WE HAVE MOVED!! MISSISSAUGA CONVENTION CENTRE at 75 Derry Road Mississauga, Ontario, L5W 1G3 (near corner of Hurontario St - Hwy 10).

Is this meeting CATERED? NO CATERING FOR THIS MEETING. NOTE ABOUT FOOD: Our current budget for the remainder of the year DOES NOT allow us to cater food for this meeting. ANY COMPANY - would you consider being a food sponsor for a given meeting? If so, please contact Ed Musters!

6:00 p.m. - Meet and greet! Arrive early! Great Prize give aways!!

6:30 p.m. - Opening Remarks from the User Group President

6:45 p.m. - Secret Strategies of Successful SharePoint Projects. How to turn diverse requirements into great deployments from design through release, with respect to: team skills, farm topologies, site and navigation taxonomies, and site composition, all within the confines of SharePoint's practical limits. And in the second half we'll really blow your mind!

8:00 p.m. - Wrap up and Prizes!

HOW TO REGISTER:

We prefer you register on the web at http://www.torontoug.net. There is NO COST to attend.
PLEASE we need your registration if you are going to attend! We need to be able to properly plan according to the attendance.
If you are a member, please Login! If you are not yet a member, click "Register". There is NO COST to join.
If you have logged in or just signed up as a new member this DOES NOT automatically sign you up for the event!
Please go to the "User Group Events" section, and click on the "Read More" to see the event details. You will see the "Click here to register" link.
If all else fails, please contact Ed Musters at 416-817-3330 and leave a message. The Toronto .NET User Group currently has over 4,000 registered members, making it one of the largest in North America! Thank you to all for your tremendous support.