Miserabile, 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, specialis tempus virgam Consultores sicut ipse (as opposed to independents who must normally live in perpetual fear of in-between time 🙂 ). We staff consultants fill this time in various ways: Operantes cum Sales vulgares scribere rogationibus; implens in aliquis vel tergum a persona in hoc aut impar opus; studying; Blogging :). It’s hard to plan more than a few days in advance. At times like this, manus autem mea modico tempore, 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. Tamen, comedetis prandium cum client, eos ad cenam et / vel bibit, buy crustulum in quadrigis, ire in capulus currit, dare / accipere feriae pecto — 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. SED CONTRA, you’re a baby. On day zero, Consultores non scire nomina, the places or the client’s lingo. Most times, Consultores numquam discere omnes.

Cum quae bene, 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, numquam sentientes sunt faciendo.

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, regiminis, Doct, basic contentus genera, etc. et in multis, amounts ad longam, 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, foveant BDC nexus ad PeopleSoft, induxit satis complexu workflow cum SharePoint amet, touched on basic KPI’s and more. A proper phase two would extend all of that with extensive, fere ubique BDC, vere delicatus workflow, denique jubilantionibus et melius quaerere, monumentis centrum, excellere officia et probabiliter maxime, reaching out to other business units. Sed, suus 'non me, and that’s sad.

Fundatur in hoc recenti, 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, utique.

That’s the consultant’s life and all of these little complaints are even worse in a SharePoint engagement. Ut ego scriptum ante, 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, te potest ita multis SharePoint potest auxilium comitatu magis efficiens, nisi tempore, facere melius… but you don’t always get to do them.

Saepius eu ex collegio primum respicere, 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, autem, 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! 🙂

Postremo melancholia mood, Nescio ubi mallem esse (nisi ad calidum litore cum pulchra copia spiritus).

Non expectare ad adepto coepi implemented altera incepto SharePoint project.

(Circa nihil, Vestibulum ipsum scripsi in hac NJ Transit bus. I don’t think I made any friends, but one CAN blog on the bus 🙂 )

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