Comments on: SharePoint: The good (er…adequate), the bad, and the ugly. http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly Minnesota's Interaction Design, Information Architecture, and User Experience Design Community Fri, 27 Apr 2012 22:37:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: TN_PMP http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/comment-page-1#comment-42493 TN_PMP Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:07:07 +0000 http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-42493 We use SharePoint 2007 in our company for our intranet site. I have to say that my experience is much different. I use it as a tool to help manage projects and it works wonderfully. Unlike other products, I can set up issue tracking list and customize as much or as little as I want to. It's the same for libraries and task lists. Our time keeping software integrates with it as well as our issue tracking software. We have created a one-stop shop. We will be going to Project Server soon and we will be integrating those two as well. What I hate is the project task lists. SharePoint should have never gone there. I can create a gantt chart but when I change my task dates, the dependant tasks do not change. Ugh. Just use Project Server and publish to SharePoint. Of course, SharePoint was never intended to be a tool for creating project plans. Half of the issues with SharePoint that I've experienced come from poor implementations. If implemented properly, with great prior planning, SharePoint can be quite useful. The times when I have had issues, it was with a poorly implemented instance of SharePoint. The arrogance of developers when implementing plays a role in those shoddily implementations. They think that it can just be thrown on a server. Well, it can't. As far as ease of use, even the most technically challenged user can pick it up quickly. That is a big plus when a company wants to roll out an intranet site and not have a lot of training. We use SharePoint 2007 in our company for our intranet site. I have to say that my experience is much different. I use it as a tool to help manage projects and it works wonderfully.

Unlike other products, I can set up issue tracking list and customize as much or as little as I want to. It’s the same for libraries and task lists. Our time keeping software integrates with it as well as our issue tracking software. We have created a one-stop shop. We will be going to Project Server soon and we will be integrating those two as well.

What I hate is the project task lists. SharePoint should have never gone there. I can create a gantt chart but when I change my task dates, the dependant tasks do not change. Ugh. Just use Project Server and publish to SharePoint. Of course, SharePoint was never intended to be a tool for creating project plans.

Half of the issues with SharePoint that I’ve experienced come from poor implementations. If implemented properly, with great prior planning, SharePoint can be quite useful.

The times when I have had issues, it was with a poorly implemented instance of SharePoint. The arrogance of developers when implementing plays a role in those shoddily implementations. They think that it can just be thrown on a server. Well, it can’t.

As far as ease of use, even the most technically challenged user can pick it up quickly. That is a big plus when a company wants to roll out an intranet site and not have a lot of training.

]]> By: Ali Sanaei http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/comment-page-1#comment-25464 Ali Sanaei Wed, 19 Dec 2007 02:28:48 +0000 http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-25464 Thanks, great post with great links. I'm very keen to build up our SharePoint pages with proper validated codes. Thanks, great post with great links. I’m very keen to build up our SharePoint pages with proper validated codes.

]]> By: Phil http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/comment-page-1#comment-13396 Phil Fri, 27 Jul 2007 18:57:08 +0000 http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-13396 A company I'm working for is interested in Sharepoint. We're a Linux shop, but the people making decisions happen to be most comfortable in Microsoft Office. I dread the possibility of going down the vendor lock-in route and ingraining all the workarounds necessary for using MS's software into our business. Friends I spoke with said, "Ooh. Sharepoint is horrible." This came not as part of a religious debate or general Microsoft-hating, but for reasons of UI functionality, design, and interoperability. One suggested <a href="http://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/" rel="nofollow">Confluence</a> as a good alternative to Sharepoint. As we're also looking for issue tracking software that is a bit more heavyweight than <a href="http://trac.edgewall.org/" rel="nofollow">Trac</a>, with which we have been very happy for several years, Confluence is especially compelling because of its ability to integrate with <a href="http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/" rel="nofollow">JIRA</a> (from the authors of Concluence). So far, I'm impressed. I'm not at all familiar with Sharepoint, though, as I dumped Windows about eight years ago. Can someone compare the two? A company I’m working for is interested in Sharepoint. We’re a Linux shop, but the people making decisions happen to be most comfortable in Microsoft Office.

I dread the possibility of going down the vendor lock-in route and ingraining all the workarounds necessary for using MS’s software into our business.

Friends I spoke with said, “Ooh. Sharepoint is horrible.” This came not as part of a religious debate or general Microsoft-hating, but for reasons of UI functionality, design, and interoperability. One suggested Confluence as a good alternative to Sharepoint.

As we’re also looking for issue tracking software that is a bit more heavyweight than Trac, with which we have been very happy for several years, Confluence is especially compelling because of its ability to integrate with JIRA (from the authors of Concluence).

So far, I’m impressed. I’m not at all familiar with Sharepoint, though, as I dumped Windows about eight years ago.

Can someone compare the two?

]]> By: Darrel http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/comment-page-1#comment-12754 Darrel Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:49:49 +0000 http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-12754 "Every large company with Microsoft hooks into them seem to love it." I certainly can't speak for everyone, but from my limited exposure I'd say every IT person in a large organization with ties to MS tolerates it as an inevitability. ;o) "I haven’t tried to find things on the server that SharePoint is on, but i heard it’s nearly impossible to find stored documents without using the web interface." That's because nothing in SharePoint is actually stored as files on the server. EVERYTHING is stored in MS SQL. For better and worse. "I’m betting that there are other enterprise wide CMS solutions under development out there who are attempting to do it better" Well, IMHO, all CMS/DMS solutions suck to some extent. When picking a CMS/DMS solution, it's really a matter of 'what sucks less'. Customizing SP sucks. Out of the box, though, the functionality is quite adequate for quick collaboration tools for employees. "Sharepoint is Microsoft’s corporate Trojan Horse. It is a one-way trap into Microsoft’s locked-in world." No argument there. ;o) “Every large company with Microsoft hooks into them seem to love it.”

I certainly can’t speak for everyone, but from my limited exposure I’d say every IT person in a large organization with ties to MS tolerates it as an inevitability. ;o)

“I haven’t tried to find things on the server that SharePoint is on, but i heard it’s nearly impossible to find stored documents without using the web interface.”

That’s because nothing in SharePoint is actually stored as files on the server. EVERYTHING is stored in MS SQL. For better and worse.

“I’m betting that there are other enterprise wide CMS solutions under development out there who are attempting to do it better”

Well, IMHO, all CMS/DMS solutions suck to some extent. When picking a CMS/DMS solution, it’s really a matter of ‘what sucks less’. Customizing SP sucks. Out of the box, though, the functionality is quite adequate for quick collaboration tools for employees.

“Sharepoint is Microsoft’s corporate Trojan Horse. It is a one-way trap into Microsoft’s locked-in world.”

No argument there. ;o)

]]> By: Mark http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/comment-page-1#comment-12697 Mark Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:02:35 +0000 http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-12697 I agree with the following article - Sharepoint is Microsoft's corporate Trojan Horse. It is a one-way trap into Microsoft's locked-in world. http://weblog.infoworld.com/openresource/archives/2007/04/while_you_were.html The rest of us might be much better off using something like Alfresco (http://dev.alfresco.com/). I agree with the following article – Sharepoint is Microsoft’s corporate Trojan Horse. It is a one-way trap into Microsoft’s locked-in world.

http://weblog.infoworld.com/openresource/archives/2007/04/while_you_were.html

The rest of us might be much better off using something like Alfresco (http://dev.alfresco.com/).

]]> By: Bill Bradbury http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/comment-page-1#comment-12692 Bill Bradbury Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:13:16 +0000 http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-12692 Great article. I was thrown onto a Sharepoint project at my last job and hated most every moment of it. My part of the project was to skin it and possible craft the UI. Argh. Tedium. It felt like cramming a square peg in a round hole because the whole world is using square pegs already, and if you Google it they tell you to just keep hitting it with a hammer until it fits. You may not be ecstatic with the results, but the task will be complete. Sharepoint "could" be something so much better, but I think it has a bit of an identity crisis (and a UI crisis). I'm betting that there are other enterprise wide CMS solutions under development out there who are attempting to do it better (or are there? Google ;-) Great article. I was thrown onto a Sharepoint project at my last job and hated most every moment of it. My part of the project was to skin it and possible craft the UI. Argh. Tedium. It felt like cramming a square peg in a round hole because the whole world is using square pegs already, and if you Google it they tell you to just keep hitting it with a hammer until it fits. You may not be ecstatic with the results, but the task will be complete.

Sharepoint “could” be something so much better, but I think it has a bit of an identity crisis (and a UI crisis). I’m betting that there are other enterprise wide CMS solutions under development out there who are attempting to do it better (or are there? Google ;-)

]]> By: Mark Leppke http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/comment-page-1#comment-12686 Mark Leppke Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:21:40 +0000 http://mnteractive.com/archive/sharepoint-the-good-eradequate-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-12686 SharePoint seems to be a necessary evil. Every large company with Microsoft hooks into them seem to love it. While it does have some good features, in my experience it has a very poor document repository. With the typical Microsoft approach of getting you to rely on it, and lock you in. I haven't tried to find things on the server that SharePoint is on, but i heard it's nearly impossible to find stored documents without using the web interface. The front end code is a nightmare, for that reason alone I despise it the most. I get tired of Microsoft's lackadaisical route to adopting web standards. Lastly since it's meant to be a catch all application it's UI seems to be a bit clunky. SharePoint seems to be a necessary evil. Every large company with Microsoft hooks into them seem to love it. While it does have some good features, in my experience it has a very poor document repository. With the typical Microsoft approach of getting you to rely on it, and lock you in. I haven’t tried to find things on the server that SharePoint is on, but i heard it’s nearly impossible to find stored documents without using the web interface.

The front end code is a nightmare, for that reason alone I despise it the most. I get tired of Microsoft’s lackadaisical route to adopting web standards.

Lastly since it’s meant to be a catch all application it’s UI seems to be a bit clunky.

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