Natalie is the Information Management Coordinator at Queensland University of Technology. She’s talking about collaboration and SharePoint at the University.

Key points:
– Until recently, SharePoint was not managed. It was introduced about 8 years ago, in a single department (under someone’s desk). Got to 9 different SharePoint installations across QUT.
– While SharePoint is going on, there are other really big projects going on – that’s taking up resource and time. Were told to say “wait for 2 years.”
– Natalie had no friends, no authority, no budget – so instead she “made friends.” Had to run the SharePoint migration project.
– Natalie’s QOTD, “In the spirit of lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness, here’s what I did … “
– Key lessons from the migration – (a) define governance in advance, especially roles and responsibilities, (b) maintaint content and get rid of out-of-date things before the migration, and most importantly, (c) formalize a list of contacts as the reference group – to keep informed, to get them involved.
– The community – (a) a one-hour meeting each month – we have the meetings in a lecture theatre, and we can record them and share it with people who can’t come, (b) an online community site in SharePoint – lots of experimentation and trying things out.
– Found that short-term discussion lists were much more effective than one ongoing discussion list. It’s short term, people would contribute, etc.
– How do you balance different user priorities? They created a discussion list for 2011 priorities … and got people to submit ideas, and discuss.
– A good way to develop governance – find peers who have been through the process already, and work with them. Listen to the main concerns, and use this to create the key areas to look at.
– Future goal – getting better at what we’re doing. It’s a journey.