A Rolling Stone Gathers No MOSS
September 10, 2008 – 8:44 amI attended a 3-day class on Sharepoint 2007 this week. Lots of info, but in the end, design and governance (the political aspects of IT) are the main hurdles of implementation in a law firm. Who is going to determine What gets seen by Whom? Access and editing are simple tasks in the environment, but when you have a few hundred owners of the organization, the discussion of rights to do those things gets a little dicey.
While driving home yesterday, my father in-law called and asked if I would stop by to help with a project on his front porch. He’s repairing the awning, the beams are rotted and need to be replaced. He rigged a temporary cover and needed me to help him place it over the front door — a ply wood board, a shingle roll tacked on with roof nails. He drove his pickup into the front yard and used it as scaffolding to install the cover.
What does my father in-law’s front porch have to do with Sharepoint? Tools and materials are needed to achieve a desired outcome, but somebody has to design the project. And manage it.
I like MOSS. I think it (or similar environments) are the future of the corporate world. But it is merely the frame for the work, a tool. We need to be careful not to communicate to legal professionals that technology does the Work. A technology rollout that does not factor in the people management aspect is likely not to succeed.