sharepoint: it’s geek to me
DESCRIPTION
Perkins Eastman case study presented at the J. Boye Philadelphia 12 conference by Beth Baxendale. Since our founding in 1981, Perkins Eastman has become a leading international architecture firm. As a knowledge-based firm of nearly 650 professionals in 13 offices worldwide, we rely heavily on our intranet to cultivate and share insights throughout our architectural practice. We launched SharePoint in 2009, and like so many others we have struggled to get widespread user adoption of the new contributive online environment. Over the past year, taking our firm-wide Green Committee as a test group, we set out to make converts. Our breakthrough moment was realizing that terminology, not technology, was what put users off. Making simple adjustments to our geeky technical language, adopting in its place vocabulary more friendly to the user group, helped them connect with their site. For the Green community—concerned with green design and environmentally sustainable architecture—what could be more appropriate than language that conveyed the organic nature of knowledge harvesting and sharing? No longer identified as end users, the group now sees themselves as developers of a profitable intellectual farm rather than the tenants of a restrictive information warehouse. SharePoint is no longer just another in a long line of applications with its own jargon to decipher; it is their acre of land in which to plant insights, lessons learned, and shared resources, yielding a bounty that can be harvested and shared by all. With the language barrier cleared, the group has begun tilling, contributing openly to site development and planning. And some seeds are already going in the ground: they now exchange links, participate in forums, share documents and generally behave in a way that makes it clear this is finally their farm. Want to really leverage the power of SharePoint? Know this: If they build it, they will come.TRANSCRIPT
© 2010 Perkins Eastman Architects, PC
SharePoint: It’s Geek to Me
Cultivating a profitable intellectual farm in SharePoint
9.May.2012
NORTH AMERICABOSTON, MACHARLOTTE, NCCHICAGO, ILNEW YORK, NYSAN FRANCISCO, CAPITTSBURGH, PASTAMFORD, CTTORONTO, ONWASHINGTON, DC
SOUTH AMERICAGUAYAQUIL, ECU
ASIAMUMBAI, INDSHANGHAI, PRC
MIDDLE EASTDUBAI, UAE
The History
1990 = ~30 employees, 1 office 2012 = ~600 employees, 13 offices
Our Tools
Knowledge Resource Team We provide knowledge management for the firm Among our many tools is the firm’s SharePoint-based intranet
ORCHARD ORCHARD is what we call our intranet It is the central source for all internal company information /
communication
The Importance of Knowledge Management in the Architectural Industry
IT only addresses the symbolic processes
Storing of plans, project descriptions, and project photography
Knowledge Management capitalizes on the informal discussions that surround the project
Lessons learned Insights Innovation
The Green Community
Initial Issues
An abundance of emails sent to distribution lists
Authoritative information is lost
Insights are lost
Need for identifying green projects
Need to identify LEED accredited individuals
Need for accessing LEED score sheets
Confusion between SharePoint and the database
“The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sun set. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight.” ― John Berger, Ways of Seeing
Perception has a direct impact on an individual’s motivation and acceptance of
change
People perceive things differently
Language as a barrier
What they hear
Language as a barrier
Tearing down fences
What they understand
Tearing down fences
Explaining the Database
The Database
Acres of land to plant seeds of information
Explaining SharePoint
SharePoint
Sharecropping on ORCHARD
Knowledge Sharing
The Green Community Site
Silos of Authoritative information
Libraries
LEED Certified Projects
Discussion Boards
Green Community Forum
Staff Search
Search for Accredited Staff
Video Presentations
Blended Learning
WebEx Presentations
Blended Learning
Study Guides
Reduction in the number of attachments in emails
Reduction in volume of email
Reduction in shared drive use
Increase in use of intranet
| 15%
| 85%
| 45%
| 85%
Metrics for Project Success
End Users
End Users don’t care what the solution is . . .
They just want their organizational problems solved.
Discover the real, tangible business problem . . .
And propose a solution, even if it is partial.
Step One: Identify needs by asking them how they want their site to work. (let them feel as if they are building it.)
Key Steps
Step Two: Build a site (together) that addresses the needs
Step Three: Call it something other than SharePoint
Step Four: Refer to Web Parts, Wikis, Forums, etc. as something that allows them to make useful connections.
User Group: Sales Team
Developing a language for other user groups
Database Warehouse
SharePoint
Showroom“Sales” Team Site
Store
=
=
=
Become a member of the site development team.
Listen more than you talk!
Engage
Participate in the same way you want your users to participate in the finished site.
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