Ongelukkig, phase one of my last project has come to a close and the client has opted to move ahead by themselves on phase two. We did our job too well, as usual 🙂 I’m now between projects, 'n spesiale tyd vir personeel konsultante soos myself (as opposed to independents who must normally live in perpetual fear of in-between time 🙂 ). We staff consultants fill this time in various ways: Werk met verkope folk voorstelle te skryf; vul in vir iemand of back-up van 'n persoon op hierdie of wat vreemd werk; studying; Blogging :). It’s hard to plan more than a few days in advance. At times like this, terwyl ek 'n bietjie van die tyd op my hande, I like to reflect.

I’m almost always sad to leave a client’s campus for the last time. We consultants form a peculiar kind of relationship with our clients, unlike your typical co-worker relationship. There’s the money angle — everyone knows the consultant’s rate is double/triple or even more than the client staff. You’re a known temporary person. As a consultant, you’re a permanent outsider with a more or less known departure date. Tog, jy eet middagete saam met die kliënt, neem hulle uit vir ete en / of vir drankies, koop koekies vir die span, gaan op koffie lopies, gee / ontvang vakansie kaarte — all the kinds of things that co-workers do. On one hand, you’re the adult in the room. You’re an expert in the technology which puts you in a superior position. Aan die ander kant, you’re a baby. On day zero, konsultante ken nie die name, the places or the client’s lingo. Most times, konsultante nooit leer om dit alles.

Wanneer dinge goed gaan, you become very well integrated with the client’s project team. They treat you like a co-worker in one sense, and confidant in another. Since we don’t have a manager-style reporting relationship with the client, the project team often feels a little free to air their dirty laundry. They let their barriers down and can put the consultant into an awkward position, nooit besef dat hulle dit doen.

Consultants often don’t get to implement phase two and that never gets easy for me. I think this is especially hard with SharePoint. Phase one of of your typical SharePoint project covers setup/configuration, bestuur, taksonomie, basiese inhoud tipes, ens.. en in baie opsigte, neerkom op 'n lang, extremely detailed discovery. That’s how I view my last project. We did all the basic stuff as well as execute some nice mini-POC’s by extending CQWP, implementering van BDC verbindings te PeopleSoft, het 'n redelik komplekse workflow met SharePoint Designer, touched on basic KPI’s and more. A proper phase two would extend all of that with extensive, byna deurdringende BDC, baie mooi workflow, verfyn en beter soek, rekords sentrum, blink dienste en waarskynlik die belangrikste, reaching out to other business units. Maar, dit is nie vir my, and that’s sad.

Op grond van hierdie onlangse ondervinding, I think it’s fair to say that a proper enterprise SharePoint implementation is a one year process. It could probably legitimately run two years before reaching a point of diminishing returns. Details matter, natuurlik.

That’s the consultant’s life and all of these little complaints are even worse in a SharePoint engagement. Soos ek geskryf het voordat, SharePoint’s horizontal nature brings you into contact with a wide array of people and business units. When you’re working with so many people, kan jy sien so baie maniere wat SharePoint kan help om die maatskappy meer doeltreffend, tyd bespaar, dinge beter te doen… but you don’t always get to do them.

Ek het dikwels kyk terug na my eerste werk van die kollege, before starting a consulting career 1995. We did get to do a phase two and even a phase three. Those were nice times. On the downside, egter, that means that that would mean a lot of routine stuff too. Managing site security. Tweaking content types. Creating views and changing views. Dealing with IE security settings. Restoring lost documents. Blech! 🙂

Ten spyte van my melancholie stemming, Ek kan nie dink aan 'n plek waar ek wil eerder (behalwe op 'n warm strand met 'n mooi aanbod van geeste).

Ek kan nie wag om te begin geïmplementeer om die volgende onderneming SharePoint projek.

(Na aanleiding van niks, Ek het die meeste van hierdie blog inskrywing op 'n NJ Transit bus. I don’t think I made any friends, but one CAN blog on the bus 🙂 )

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