Part 2 – What a day!

Part 3 – Going forward

The Problem

Cross sell component

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Requirements:

A client wants to be able to have a component on a page which can be used to drive traffic to other areas of their site.

The setting of the problem actually had a fairly big impact on the way the day went – we captured some some ideas in the feedback at the end of the day that I will cover in Part 3.

The sessions

Session 1 and 2

During the first two sessions there was a lot of discussion around the problem and ways to solve it, what the scope was and if this provided enough information.  Some teams took the opportunity to question the client (Ben Robb) and ask further details about the problem space.  It was very clear from the way the session went that the people in the room tender to deal with the bigger deployment issues and less on the coding. 

At the end of the first session the teams presented (at this stage just talked through) the solution they had come up with.  It was interesting to see that following this session, and with a move around of pairs each team started to approach the problem in a similar way.  Having gained a better understanding of the problem and seeing real value in one of the presented sessions it made them switch their design. 

Lunch

It was originally planned to do a couple of short presentations during Lunch however the weather was so nice we all walked ‘in single file’ to the a park near the office and enjoyed lunch. We only had a few strange looks as we all queued up to eat!

Session 3, 4 and 5

The original request was for the teams to delete the projects, configuration and settings and focus on the muscle memory in getting things setup. But after lunch people had started to get quite competitive and really wanted to try and do that little bit more and some decided to not delete… (they know who they are)

After each session the teams presented their solution,  it was really great to see how changing the teams around and sharing the knowledge really helped to give people a shared understanding. 

Some of the problems seemed harder than others… like adding web part properties

The final solutions really were very impressive and there have already been some great write ups

Martin Hatch

• RCWP Part 1 – Extending the Search Core Results Web Part
• RCWP Part 2 – Web Part with Ribbon Contextual-Tab
• RCWP Part 3 – Edit Web Part using a Ribbon modal dialog

Wes Hacket

• SPRetreat number one

Retrospective

After the session ended and the demos were done there was a little time to get feedback on the first SharePoint Retreat.  There was some great feedback and ideas on how to refine and make the event better which will be covered in Part 3 – Going Forward.

SharePint

The event ended with a SharePint at the local pub before people headed home.

We are proud to announce the world’s first SharePoint Retreat!

The first event is taking place in London on Saturday 10th July. Don’t delay places are filling up fast with a limit of 16 people.

 

The aim of SharePoint Retreat is to help developers practice the fundamentals of software development, but like all things in the SharePoint community we intend to keep this SharePoint focused, so developers practice the fundamentals of SharePoint development

What is SharePoint Retreat?

The idea is not our own, more information can be found about the original Code Retreat at http://www.coderetreat.com/ – we have just given it a SharePoint flavour. 

It has a simple objective:  provide a day-long event that is focused on practicing the fundamentals of SharePoint development.

Why SharePoint Retreat?

We want to bring SharePoint development to the fore, to make developers want to work with SharePoint and to show that doing SharePoint development does not mean you have forego any plans to become a software craftsman.

How does it work?

A group of SharePoint developers – That means you! - gather at the Retreat with laptop in hand ready to code.

• Problem:  TBC – the problem will be SharePoint related and can vary between Retreats
• Retreat lasts from 9am until 5pm followed by SharePint
• Each coding session will last 1 hour
• Each session coders will pair program

Some rules!

• code is deleted after each session,  its about learning the techniques and not getting code samples
• Encourage techniques like TDD where appropriate
• programming pairs are swapped at each session

on the day

• 9:00 – 9:30 Intro to the day
• 9:30 – 10:30 session 1
• 10:30 – 10:45 retrospective
• 10:45 – 11 :45 session 2
• 11:45 – 12:00 retrospective
• 12:00 – 1:00 Lunch – with brown bag presentations
• 1:00 – 2:00 session 3
• 2:00 – 2:15 retrospective
• 2:15 – 3:15 session 4
• 3:15 – 3: 30 retrospective
• 3:30 – 4:30 session 5
• 4:30 – 5:00 wrap up
• 5:00 – late ShareFood and SharePint

in the sessions

session 1 and 2

The area of SharePoint may be unfamiliar to some people, others may have done something like it before.  The aim of the first two sessions are to allow people to understand how they are going to approach the problem and what the final solution could look like.  Some pairs may try and implement it, others will spike out ideas and try to solve specific challenges.

At the retrospectives each pair will have a few minutes to discuss what they did and any problems they could not solve.

Lunch

During lunch the coders get to sit back and relax whilst the facilitator demonstrate techniques or ideas in a couple of short brown bag sessions.

session 3, 4 and 5

continue with the problem and looking to refine some of the scenarios and techniques.  The aim is to learn and practice techniques that will improve the knowledge and experience of the coders.  If you don’t complete the problem it’s not an issue – if you complete the problem then look for new challenges or refine the techniques.

After the event

Any gathering of SharePoint people and you are likely to find a SharePint – the facilitator will find a suitable venue for people to unwind, drink beer and SharePint – hopefully more SharePoint people will be in the area so that they can brag about the new found talents.

What Next?

If you can be in London on Saturday 10th July 2010, you’re a SharePoint developer and you fancy spending a day with other like-minded people honing you development skills.   Sign up.

This first event is limited to 16 coders – so be quick.  

If you fail to make the first 16, put your name down on the waiting list.   We do ask that people who have signed up but for whatever reason can’t make it please make the space available to others.

How Much?  – Its Free

Best of all this is a community activity,  we are funding this event through sponsorship in order that we can provide the places to coders F.O.C

The sponsors for this inaugural event are

providing the venue and internet access – and Ben Robb

providing the food – and Andrew Woodward

I did know quite a few regulars to the event,  but the great news again is the number of new faces.  SharePoint is really growing fast and wide and the need for information and community is growing with it.

Big Kudos to Matt for organising the event,  Matt has taken on the responsibilities for the South East and London,  to Ben Robb for doing a SharePoint Designer 2010 session  (although as he points out the whole Application Lifecycle Management is still not baked) and for Steve Smith for – umm not sure what Steve did

It was great to see Mike Fitzmaurice there  (this man made SharePoint happen),  and I suspect his presence on the panel was part of the reason the questions and discussion remained in the ITPro and User space.   Myself, Chris O’Brien, Matt Smith and Ben Robb tried hard to put a dev take on any questions where we could.

What I think would go down really well is to take a lead from the Nottingham group and organise focused events,  so we could have a Dev night, Design Night, End User night etc.

I have to apologies (thanks Alex Pearce for tweeting me this when we were in the Pub) – I did not advertise the #SharePint that took place afterwards, It was well attended and with more room than the pub we used to go to but not an ‘official’ #SharePint.

Hope to see you all at an event near you soon.

• Was it well attended?  – Yes, considering the economy
• Were the sessions good?  – Yes,  exceptional as always
• Was the accommodation and organisation good?  – Yes, Mark did a great job again

If you read some of the other (definitely quicker off the mark posts) you will get a feel for the event.

Paul Culmsee – Segways Rock

Laura (@WondaLaura) Rogers – Part 1 – Brilliant Video Interviews

Laura Rogers – Part 2 – Who is that lucky guy – (and not as rumour has it founder of #SharePint)

Zlatan Dzinic – Loud and enthusiastic South African << need to talk to about World Cup Tickets

and many others

So why was BPC such a great success?

I think what really makes the event so successful is the way that everyone just gets on with each other,  there is none of the normal ITPro -v- Dev artificial separation, there is a great mix of people and skills – you could say a great diversity in the attendees and speakers,  to quote the BPC site

Top experts put you ahead of the curve

This Conference gathers the leading authorities to define, describe and set methods that will become industry standard – insights you can gain now to avoid pitfalls, cut costs and gain a competitive edge. Speakers include:

• Microsoft MVPs
• Microsoft Product Team Members
• Top industry executives and authors 
• Leading trainers, consultants and topic experts
• Industry colleagues

Valuable as the speakers are, a conference they do not make,  it is the mix of people that really stand out for me at these conferences, the depth of conversation and debate that take place before during and after the sessions, how people are engaged in delivering real world projects and faced with real world challenges. 

I think the reason the Best Practices Conferences are so successful is noted in a book I was told to read by Paul Culmsee,  The Practice of Adaptive Leadership by Ronald Heifetz.  Where Heifetz talks about how

it is specifically about change; builds on the past rather than repudiating it; achieves organizational adaptation through continuous experimentation; heavily relies on diversity (i.e. talents, skills, experience, and perspectives); ensures that new adaptations significantly displace, re-regulate, or rearrange whatever is defective, obsolete, or irrelevant; and usually requires both time, patience, and persistence

Although the book goes on into greater depth this statement sums up for me why the Best Practices Conferences are successful.

• Diversity of talents, skills, experiences and perspectives
• Willingness to displace or rearrange defectives processes
• Time, patience and persistence

All of the qualities needed to be successful in deploying SharePoint and all active participants in the conference.

And on a lighter note,  if there is one best practice I took away from BPC, one that you all can try at home today – Beer!

Yes that’s right Beer is THE best practice and I can safely say that there was a lot of this Best Practice undertaken during the conference.

What’s the reason for my delay you may ask?

In part because I have been busy, but the main reason is that I will be in the Reston area a whole week before SharePint will take place and thought what better opportunity than to do a bit of a local tour to see which venue really stood out as a great SharePint venue.

Here is what I do know:

SharePint will on Tuesday 25th August – starting around 7pm till late

Here is what I want from you:

Help me to find the ideal location for the SharePint – Best Practices DC 2009 Edition.
Mapping potential venues, please add your recommendations.

Perhaps we can make this a tradition,

The pre-SharePint tour – In Search of the Venue

If you want to keep up with what’s happening and want to join the search follow me @andrewwoody,  @sharepint or search for #sharepint on twitter.  To help us get a feel for the numbers and to warn the bar please add a +1 comment to this post,  include your twitter name if you want.

Sessions:

Session 1 – Understanding the relationship between IIS/Web Applications , SQL, SSP’s and Site collections – Steve Smith

In this session I will explain the logical relationship in the SharePoint Architecture and show you some usefull tips when creatng and managing them.

Session 2 -

Business Information and MOSS 2007 – Creating Interactive Dashboards using PerformancePoint Server – Mark Macrae

Start time – 6.30

Finish – 9pm then to the pub down the road

Break in the middle with Pizza and drinks

Location:

ID-Live offices, Strelley Hall, Nottingham. NG8 6PE

For directions and and to sign up go to the SUGUK site.

And to round the evening off in great style, the first Nottingham SharePint.

The Broad Oak

Main St., Strelley, Nottingham, NG8 6PD

in San Diego.  As expected a number were to be found in the hotel bar.   If you want to catch up will all of the buzz search for the twitter tag  #SPBPC.   For those travelling in the location is great,  Sun is just rising and from the hotel room i’m overlooking the 18th hole of the Torrey Pines course, with views out over the sea.  This really is going to be a great event,  Ben Curry has done a brilliant job of getting top speakers.  This is not an Introduction to SharePoint, this is for people who know it, have deployed and what to get the most from the platform.

On a less technical note it’s count down to the SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night San Diego Best Practices Edition.  Haven’t signed up yet,  put your name down here so the La Jolla Brew House knows how much beer to get in

Haven’t signed up yet,  put your name down here so the La Jolla Brew House knows how much beer to get in

Grab a copy of one of these great new logos that were designed by Sam Dolan of Pink Petrol

With black text 472 x 151

With white text 472 x 151

I promised to give Sam a bit of love for kindly doing the these great logos, if your looking for someone to do some customisation’s for your SharePoint branding I recommend you have a look at some of the great designs that Sam has in his portfolio.

Attending the Best Practices™ SharePoint Conference in San Diego in February?  Have some questions you thought about after the sessions, or were too late to ask?  Want to just hang out with fellow SharePoint geeks?  or just looking for some friendly company to share a few pints in the evening?

Keeping the tradition going there will be a SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night event on Tuesday 3rd February at La Jolla Brew House around 7pm till you’ve had enough.

Location: approx. 6miles from the Hilton (directions) – there will likely be a few taxis heading down so worth matching up with people.

Plan on coming?  If you’re undecided check out the galley of other events at La Jolla Brew House!

Please RSVP by leaving a comment on this post.

Like the new SharePint Logo?   Take your pick from these designed by Sam Dolan.