1,619 articles and 12,125 comments as of Monday, July 5th, 2010

Thursday, April 29, 2010

I STILL don’t know JACK about SharePoint

The Wizard of OzI had the pleasure of sitting on several panels at the Experts Conference in LA this week, and I have to say, I Still don’t know JACK about SharePoint.

After attending the SharePoint 2008 Conference in Seattle, I wrote an article out of frustration. “I will never be Joel Oleson” was my attempt to see where I fit into the SharePoint Community. That article was a turning point for me and EndUserSharePoint.com because it helped clarify for me how I could participate in the SharePoint Community.

Joel laughs when I include this as part of my introduction to my sessions… “Hi, I’m Mark and I don’t know JACK about Sharepoint!”, but it’s really not a joke. One of the panels I was on included Joel, Dan Holme, Ben Curry, Michael Noel and Bill Baer. What in the world was I doing on that panel?

That’s when I had another of those clarifying moments: My place in SharePoint is as a community builder and a connector. I’m being included in the panels during conferences not because of my knowledge of SharePoint, but because of the connections I’ve made in the SharePoint Community. I know who’s doing what when it comes to Power Users and Site Admin content. I’m willing to play around in the presentation layer, poking and prodding people like Marc Anderson, Laura Rogers, Christophe Humbert, Christina Wheeler, Michael Greene, Alexander Bautz, Jason MacKenzie, Peter Allen, James Love, Jay Simcox, Jim Bob Howard and others to develop solutions for SharePoint Power Users.

I feel kind of like the Wizard of Oz, hiding behind the curtain, showing off what can be done through the work of others.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter if I know SharePoint or not. What matters is I know people who speak the language of SharePoint Power Users and EndUserSharePoint.com can be used to expose that content to the people who need it most.

Joel says I’ve learned to “dance with SharePoint”, his way of saying I’m willing to move and flow in any direction instead of fighting to put it in any particular niche. I say that dancing with SharePoint is finding a way to fill up my dance card with people I’d like to have a conversation with, people who see the value of participating in the SharePoint Community by exposing solutions that are available to everyone.

So let’s continue to dance a bit. I’ll keep moving as long as the real experts are willing to provide the music for SharePoint Power Users.

Sincerely,
The Wizard of OzPoint

 

Please Join the Discussion

3 Responses to “I STILL don’t know JACK about SharePoint”
  1. DailyCreative says:

    A valuable role indeed and excellent point of view. In fact, I would argue that you ARE SharePoint. Afterall, SharePoint is the means to bring content and community together. Congratulations.

  2. akram says:

    I am reading EUSP more then any other blog or website. Your contribution toward End User is better then any one else.

    You can’t be Joel Olsen but you are a Marksman of SharePoint when it comes to EndUsers like us.

  3. Jay says:

    Mark, it’s nice to have a place where we can share our experiences, lessons learned, opinions and pain points. Thanks for bringing it all togather and facilitating that effort. It’s absolutely invaluable to the community and provides those of us that do have something to share a platform we might not otherwise have.

    I would also mention that it’s pretty flattering to be mentioned with the group you listed. Some very, very talented folks there.

    Thanks to all of them and to you. Everyone keep up the outstanding work!


Notify me of comments to this article:


Speak and you will be heard.

We check comments hourly.
If you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!