Author: Kerri Abraham

WANTED – List Maker:  Adventurous self-starter with a sincere interest in improving processes and creating a more satisfying work environment.  Computer skills should include a basic understanding of how to send email and concepts of copy and paste.  Creative problem solving and organizational skills a plus.  Those with a fear of change need not apply.

Several years ago in a feeble attempt to impress a family member (software engineer), I was boasting about the wonders of Sharepoint when he callously stated “You know Sharepoint is nothing more than a bunch of lists.”  I was absolutely appalled!  Lists!?  I wasn’t just making lists; I was making a difference in how staff got their information.  We were working more efficiently.  This was far more important than creating lists; THIS was revolutionary!

It wasn’t until I began training new end-users and sharing my tricks and tips that I realized he had been right all along, I am a list maker.  Lists of related bits of information, lists of tasks to be done, lists of dates on a calendar, lists of people to contact, and links lists, I made them.  Listings displaying everything from minute classification rules to extensive training materials.  Some lists I made solely to use in other lists.  Records of key productivity data listed as performance indicator reports; that was what I was doing. Since I have no developer, IT, or database background this was all quite a revelation to me!

Lists are easy!  There are many tutorials out there with instructions of how to make a Sharepoint list.  Where it gets tricky is being able to see the information as it relates to the process and classifying it into lists that make sense to the team.  The fact is that most information naturally falls into lists, but what about the odd bits like those stuck to the computer monitor on sticky notes or hidden away in emails?  What lists do those fall into? 

If the initial organization of the site falls outside your comfort zone, ask the team for help.  Using a group exercise based on the principles of card sorting or affinity diagramming is a great way to get people thinking about their information.  Scale the exercise to fit the team size and information needs.  Ask the participants to bring a list of their daily tasks to the meeting, more specifically, what competencies are needed to do the task, and ask them to be thinking about what information they store to get the task accomplished. This process may also reveal redundancies in work that can be addressed through the simple act of sharing knowledge and ideas.  As the list building progresses and the topics are grouped, define the role of the content experts by asking them to contribute their knowledge. A task list can be used to document what information is planned for the site, who is assigned to each topic, as well as monitor the progress of the site build.  It can also serve as an important piece in future training/new hire orientation.  The more members of the group who take an active role in helping create information, the easier it is to gain acceptance and adoption.  Start with the area that is considered the team’s weakest and tackle it first.  It is important to include the group through all the stages of the process so they can begin to visualize the end goal of building a team site that will store all their information in one centralized location.  Rember change is hard, and there will be opposition, but if the end product (your lists) are good and solid resources, they will get used. 
  
Now you may be thinking, surely it takes more than a basic skill set of being able to send email or copy and paste?  Skill set matters little as long as there is desire.  The building blocks of getting started are very simple, and there is a plethora of tutorials to follow, but mastering the techniques takes some practice.  The first thing I emphasize is playing with views of lists, learning to filter and group related information, but also testing out how powerful multiple views of the same list can be to help the end user quickly identify the information.  In the beginning it is a great idea to test every list style, adding in all the columns and systematically taking them away to see what happens. 

The best way to learn is by experimentation.  Even if you don’t plan to use it, take the time to learn what it does.  One way of testing in live without obstructing anyone’s access is to create a dedicated ‘Test’ web part page.  Since web part pages can go relatively unnoticed in document libraries, they are ideal sandboxes. 

Even though I still can’t see Sharepoint as just “a bunch of lists,” nowadays I find a great deal of satisfaction as a list maker.  So whether you think of it as creating a website, developing web parts, building apps, creating content types, or simply making lists, the results are the same;  the team benefits. 

Author: Kerri Abraham

Kerri Abraham is the Revenue Cycle Sharepoint Coordinator at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Converting Sharepoint enthusiasts one information worker at a time, she is leading the charge to win end-user adoption through the creation of extensive training materials and knowledge capture. Introduced to Sharepoint in 2006, but holding a dedicated Sharepoint support role since 2008, and brand new to tools like Sharepoint Designer, she focuses entirely on out-of-the-box solutions.