SharePoint so easy my kids can do it

Any time I write about or discuss SharePoint and I dare mention any of its weaknesses instead of focusing solely on its strengths some SharePoint zealot suffers great indignation at my gall for criticizing the ultimate, perfect technology. (Sarcasm: /ˈsɑr kæz əm/ Noun. 1. harsh or bitter derision or irony. 2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark).

Jim Jones’ Kook-Aid never tasted so good.

However, once deployed, SharePoint is incredibly easy to use for blogging, creating Team Sites, My Profile driven social networking, and general collaboration. It may leave a business user wanting, but it’s so easy to use that virtually no training is ever required for an end user.

It’s so easy to use, my kids can do it; literally.

My grade 5 daughter uses SharePoint 2010, as does the rest of her class, school, and district, to communicate and collaborate with her fellow students, and teachers; she blogs, she networks, she shares documents; all with no training.

If you don’t need to implement a custom design, navigation schema, or integrate non-Microsoft applications, and only need basic collaboration and document sharing, SP 2010 is a brilliant solution (if you can justify the price tag). In fact, SP2010 can do just about anything imaginable, as long as you have the time, money and patience to make it work. It’s not a best-of-breed solution when compared to anything but itself (but it is so diverse that it is hardly comparable to anything else), but it is highly effective when deployed properly. As I’m fond of saying, a successful intranet is only one-third technology, and two-thirds people and process (yes a proper plan is mandatory; nay, mission critical).

Oh and by the way, because of the built-in, or baked-in nature of its’ web content management, templates, and site collection structure, the governance is actually better than most solutions. It still requires some work, and offline standards, policies, and proper stewardship and management, but it’s baked-in governance is about as good as it gets. The rest is your responsibility.

You don’t have to drink all of the Kool-Aid to enjoy some of its flavours…

Read more on SharePoint 2010 intranet requirements and recommendations