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Integrating SharePoint and MS Outlook 2007 – increasing SharePoint solution adoption
If you’re rolling out SharePoint based intranet in your organization, you’re probably anxious to see how your users start using this new solution for all of their document management needs and more. In many environments users have relied on email applications to store and collaborate on their documents for years. In this article you’ll learn how you can take advantage of integration features available in Microsoft Office framework helping end user adoption of your SharePoint implementation.
Early Bird Registration – Last Day!
Considering the vConference April 22, 23 and 24? Check out this video (2 minutes) and find out why we’re doing it, what it looks like. Then, get registered (button below the video) to save $15/discipline! We’d love to see you – and we’ll soon be announcing some great prizes and fun new things about the vConference too. No better speakers, period. No better content, period. No better well, anything. No travel, no added expense, no out of office time. You can’t lose. Check it out here. SQL Server, Business Intelligence, SharePoint and .NET Development – it’s all here. (Early bird discounts expire April 1!)
Managing your SQL Server (and IT in General) Skills
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Sometimes we forget the practicalities that are the reality for so many of us working not only with SQL Server, but IT overall. It’s good to get re-grounded…
Jim wrote to remind of the realities (and majority?) – "I read you note on management and learning this morning with great interest. My situation is different – I am not a dba, I am 95% of the entire IT department at a small private school. I have a person who serves as a hands on tech. He can wire, rebuild hardware and load software but does not understand technical issues so is limited in his ability to help not withstanding his great willingness to try. So, my learning involves Windows upgrades, Active Directory (we are on Server 2003), doing the web and keeping up on that end of life, plus learning the ins and outs of several very specific software packages that come with support, sort of. In the middle is a SQL db along with an embedded MySQL in one of the software packages. Oh yes, did I mention I also teach computers / computer applications to 3-8 grades and serve as the “department head” of the computer department making me in charge of the k-2 teacher. AS much as I would naturally like to be special, I suspect my situation is fairly normal.
The great benefit I have is that summers are “off” meaning this is when I can rewire at a normal pace, clean up systems, install new systems that are planned as opposed to ones that just break. This time can generally be planned. The rest of the year is driven by classroom schedules. In this environment you carefully plot out learning. If there are “courses” or seminars, they have to fall in the summer. The rest of the year, the best I can hope for is one day here and there, and even that is questionable. So learning in small bytes, reading a part of a chapter of material before bed, watching a recorded webinar or video in the evenings, becomes the norm.
Much of what I can accomplish is governed by practicalities rather than desires. For example, as an overall administrator, I took over a setting where all software is installed one system at a time. No centralized process. To move to a centralized process (I am working on learning about centralizing security / virus systems right now) you have to create an ultimate environment that someone else who has limited technical skills can understand and nominally manage.
When I leave, they may not acquire a new IT guy, just a new teacher, and the systems I leave behind will, to a great extent have to manage themselves. This adds a layer of learning needs so it slows down the entire process.
So, yes, Ralph’s comments are very applicable, but much too narrow. You have to invent an extra weekend now and then for the routine stuff you missed in an effort to improve yourself and the systems."
…and here are Neil’s thoughts: "I can sympathize with Ralph’s challenge to stay up with work demands and increase skills at the same time, while still leaving some space in your life for leisure activities. But add on top of that having a wife and 2 children and you realize that there is always the “next level” to having demands upon your time. But there are effective strategies for one to learn new SQL Server skills with only a few minutes here and there to spare.
Most of the time I get maybe 3 uninterrupted minutes at home between questions from the kids and fulfilling the honey-do projects. But it is possible to cram valuable learning in those minutes. I carry with me a tech book I got from the library (it’s a little dated but the concepts are the same and the cost to my boss was acceptable) and when those 3 minutes avail themselves I open to the bookmark and start reading. Whenever the family jumps in the car to go somewhere my spouse gets to drive and I sit in the passenger seat reading my tech book. I can always trade some television time for reading my tech book, heck with the quality of tv programming today I can usually get my fill of Survivor and Celebrity Apprentice and read at the same time. Another way I steal a few minutes is to brown bag my lunch and prop open my tech book and read 10 or 20 pages. I do this 4 days a week, it saves money on lunch and still leaves one day a week to go out with the group and commiserate. The key with the “few minutes here and there” approach is keep up with it everyday. If you get so consumed by your schedule and let 3 days go by without cracking open the book you will mostly likely not retain what you have learned and spend valuable time relearning.
There are also strategies for learning on company time without outlaying any cash. Recently I was extolling the benefits of SQL 2005 partitioning to my boss as a way to solve a database performance issue I was facing. While I could articulate the benefits I had no idea how to actually implement partitioning functions and schemes. My boss got excited about the concept and before I knew it I was tasked with finding out how much performance improvement could be had by partitioning. I had learn how to implement partitioning and run some tests with partitioning to find out how much we could benefit, all with the blessing of the boss.
Sometimes it’s beneficial to take a break from office and hone my skills. There is a monthly developers user group in my area and sometimes SQL Server is the topic of presentation. I make sure to attend the sessions which capture my interest. When you attend a free learning event the boss cannot balk at the price and I keep my Blackberry turned on so that I am available in case a servers melts down while I’m away from the office.
Looking at the big picture it is best to have a plan of what you want to learn before you begin. I created an outline document in Word with all the topics I wanted to learn about. As I learned about each topic to a point where I felt comfortable implementing the concepts I marked it off the list. If you are at a loss where to start, go to the web and search for a course syllabus of a certification prep class. It will contain a list of all the important concepts that a new dba should learn.
Consistently investing a few minutes every day will get you to your goal faster than long marathon sessions that tend to be much farther apart than we’d like to admit."