Whilst at the SharePoint Summit in Toronto this week, the organiser of the Toronto SharePoint User Group (TSPUG) decided to have an inpromptu speaker set. They asked bunch of conference speakers to choose a topic and talk to the user group. This was mine. (PS : Did you know, TSPUG has 7 SharePoint MVP’s! What are they feeding them out there?)
1. Give them a site and walk away.
2. Pilot it in IT and don’t engage any business users then try roll it out.
3. Give training by showing a video or throwing a user manual and walking away.
4. Don’t offer back up support when users have questions.
5. When they do ask for help, tell them to “Google it”.
6. Say : “well it works on my machine”.
7. Give technical answers to queries.
8. Give no details to answers, “it’s fixed”. Really? How and why did it happen?
9. Tell them SharePoint is easy.
10. Fail to communicate.
From left to right : Tony Lanni, Veronique Palmer, Christian Buckley, Richard Harbridge, Owen Allen.
Views from Veronique 
Emile, thanks for the giggle! 🙂 As long as it helps! Good luck out there.
LikeLike
I actually printed this out and posted it in my cubicle, I also uploaded it in our knowledgebase in sharepoint, so my co-workers can feel (hopefull) a twing of guilt. You’ve actually outlined our current environment.
Thank you
LikeLike
I never thought about the 7 MVP thing before! Hah you are right though.
Similar to Kerri’s #11…
A way to make your users hate SharePoint?
Yell at them or get them in trouble for building a solution in SharePoint.
Often the business users will create ‘solutions’ that help solve a problem they have using SharePoint features and functionality. Yes often this solution won’t scale well, and yes often they might make it look like geo cities, or you might shake your head in confusion as to why they built it in a specific way, but the important thing is that they used it to solve their immediate concerns/issues. This should be encouraged and supported in an intelligent way. It’s okay for them to be proud and to help them understand how it can be improved or to help make it more scalable/supportable – but keep the user involved. 🙂
LikeLike
[…] 10 Ways to Make Users Hate SharePoint (Views from Veronique)Whilst at the SharePoint Summit in Toronto this week, the organiser of the Toronto SharePoint User Group (TSPUG) decided to have an impromptu speaker set. They asked bunch of conference speakers to choose a topic and talk to the user group. This was mine. (PS : Did you know, TSPUG has 7 SharePoint MVP’s! What are they feeding them out there?) […]
LikeLike
Hehe, thanks everyone. Great additions there Kerri – too true!!! 🙂
LikeLike
Great “what-not-to-do” tips!
LikeLike
Yeah, I love number 6, use it all the time. I tell you, you don’t see them again 😉
LikeLike
Great post Veronique. Number 2 is certainly why many SharePoint projects fail.Kerri I like your number 12 as well.
LikeLike
Love the post V seen lots of how to engage end users but i have never seen the opposite. Great post.
Dave
LikeLike
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kerri Abraham and Information Worker, Veronique Palmer. Veronique Palmer said: 10 Ways to Make Users Hate SharePoint: http://wp.me/pHhNq-tU […]
LikeLike
Fantastic Veronique, made my day! Have another:
#11 – when you find an end-user who seems to ‘get’ it, do your best to squash their enthusiasm, keep them from the tools that might enhance their knowledge and skill set and be sure to never support a single idea they might have.
OH OH and —
#12 Develop everything in Visual Studio. Bypass ever learning out-of-the-box Sharepoint and be sure to rarely open Sharepoint Designer, since it is a simplistic tool that could never be used in any real world solutions.
AND I can’t resist —
#13 Stay as far removed from the Sharepoint community as possible. Never participate in forums, read Sharepoint blogs, and never seek out Sharepoint educational opportunities like conferences, online training, or webinars.
Love it! Thanks Veronique
LikeLike