So the Sharepoint project rages on...with very little in-house knowledge of the platform. Programmers, writers, designers, UI team--none of us quite have the background we need to really make Sharepoint sing. So we've been training and reading and working with experts to get it right.
One thing I learned early on and have now seen the true benefit of is that Branding must be an integral part of all phases of design. If your web team is like mine, you know that getting the IT "functional" thinkers to work with the UI "experience" guys can be difficult.
But with Sharepoint, as with any successful web project, all the details should be worked through with the big picture in mind.
You have a new form that needs five new fields? Why? How should they be set up? What controls need to be used to validate the data? All these types of questions should be answered both within the functional capabilities of the team and the platform (i.e. What web parts are we using?) AND within the usability vision of the UI team.
By maintaining a cohesive working environment, nothing will be left behind. Get all of the concerns out and discussed for each functional area of the site at one time with the help of the WHOLE team. Working together allows web parts to be defined, user flow to be established, functionality to be built and branding to be determined all at once so the team can truly see where the project is going and, more importantly, WHY.
Trust this, if you don't consider Branding (which is often the usability portion) through out the process, the end product will not be what the USER expected.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
As the Scope Suffers
It's happened to all of us at one time or another. A great project is pitched that will completely revitalize your website, update old interfaces, enhance old functionality and create a user-centric experience. (JOY!) Then it happens -- a scope is approved that seems to look nothing like the original project concept.
It's tough to swallow for sure. One think that must be considered is what is the ultimate goal of this project and who is the project sponsor -- that is, who is the person running the show and making final decisions on scope? Is that person focused on a goal outside of the user experience? Is that what you should be focusing on too?
It's difficult in a large company to know exactly what the people on top have in mind, especially if the message gets translated and confused on the way down. But don't be afraid to ask the questions and to work to keep usability in the forefront. You may lose today, but hopefully, if you stay on message, you can make changes happen in future project phases.
It's tough to swallow for sure. One think that must be considered is what is the ultimate goal of this project and who is the project sponsor -- that is, who is the person running the show and making final decisions on scope? Is that person focused on a goal outside of the user experience? Is that what you should be focusing on too?
It's difficult in a large company to know exactly what the people on top have in mind, especially if the message gets translated and confused on the way down. But don't be afraid to ask the questions and to work to keep usability in the forefront. You may lose today, but hopefully, if you stay on message, you can make changes happen in future project phases.
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Sharepoint Saga
Labels:
Branding,
Microsoft,
Sharepoint
0
comments
To Sharepoint or not to Sharepoint...
It's a million-dollar question for sure. Sharepoint has gained a lot of momentum, but will it last?
Until recently, I did not know very much about this tool, and I honestly saw it only as a file-storage system. That's because many companies only use it as such, and never truly find out how Sharepoint can be used as an external facing website and internal CMS.
Now that I am finding out about Sharepoint, I find it daunting, to say the least and not the user-friendly solution I'd hoped for.
Bandwagon
Every other company you meet has a "Sharepoint Developer" or a "Sharepoint Branding Expert." Everyone is getting a piece of this colossal Microsoft monster, and why not? Sharepoint offers what might be "easier" solutions to creating intranets and website, yet doing it right takes skill and practice most businesses don't have. But as a small shop, I wouldn't put all my eggs in this Microsoft basket. Take it from CMS Watch, the glory days might not last forever.
Tangled Web
Microsoft isn't making it easy. In a seminar about this topic I asked, "Why is it difficult to find the master CSS file?" The answer, "Because it's Microsoft." And that came from professionals in the Sharepoint game. Even if you finally figure out all the ins and outs, the bugs and cheats, it's likely you will want to upgrade to 2010. Start over...
Branding
So, I take a Sharepoint template, then just drop my logo and styles in, right? Seems easy enough, we've all used templates in one form or another. Well, maybe not like this. Sharepoint templates are controlled by 8,000 (2007) to 20,000 (2010) lines of CSS. You'll have to sort through those to make your changes correctly.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is I'm not convinced that this is the "better" way to make websites. You will have to start with this product then customize it to your needs, often through much headache, cost and confusion. If you already have skilled web developers, stick with that. There is sure to be another big thing soon enough that is better, bigger and more powerful.
It's a million-dollar question for sure. Sharepoint has gained a lot of momentum, but will it last?
Until recently, I did not know very much about this tool, and I honestly saw it only as a file-storage system. That's because many companies only use it as such, and never truly find out how Sharepoint can be used as an external facing website and internal CMS.
Now that I am finding out about Sharepoint, I find it daunting, to say the least and not the user-friendly solution I'd hoped for.
Bandwagon
Every other company you meet has a "Sharepoint Developer" or a "Sharepoint Branding Expert." Everyone is getting a piece of this colossal Microsoft monster, and why not? Sharepoint offers what might be "easier" solutions to creating intranets and website, yet doing it right takes skill and practice most businesses don't have. But as a small shop, I wouldn't put all my eggs in this Microsoft basket. Take it from CMS Watch, the glory days might not last forever.
Tangled Web
Microsoft isn't making it easy. In a seminar about this topic I asked, "Why is it difficult to find the master CSS file?" The answer, "Because it's Microsoft." And that came from professionals in the Sharepoint game. Even if you finally figure out all the ins and outs, the bugs and cheats, it's likely you will want to upgrade to 2010. Start over...
Branding
So, I take a Sharepoint template, then just drop my logo and styles in, right? Seems easy enough, we've all used templates in one form or another. Well, maybe not like this. Sharepoint templates are controlled by 8,000 (2007) to 20,000 (2010) lines of CSS. You'll have to sort through those to make your changes correctly.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is I'm not convinced that this is the "better" way to make websites. You will have to start with this product then customize it to your needs, often through much headache, cost and confusion. If you already have skilled web developers, stick with that. There is sure to be another big thing soon enough that is better, bigger and more powerful.
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