Change and Its Wonderful Blessings

This one’s got a bit of nostalgia in it, but it all comes together in the end…

In 2008, I wrote a brief blog post about a change in personal technology that I had noticed over the previous 10 years.  At that time, that blog was branded differently and was using a different web site address.  Even now when I went to revisit that post, I noticed that now there is a contextually relevant Google Ad for a Professional Master’s Program at the University of Washington.  My guess is that if we had other advertising here on this blog that this post would now get similar treatment.

You may be asking how this yields these “wonderful blessings.”  I’ll get to that.  For now a few more examples.

This morning as I was thinking about what I was going to write, I thought about how I used to do that same thinking at coffee shops in college and around town.  So, I thought it might be conducive for writing for me to revisit a coffee shop I had not been to in a while.  Here I sit, by the University of Washington at the University Village Starbucks.  (Well, there may be more than one now.  I’m not sure.)  Goodness, was I in for a healthy dose of change when I walked in!  This store is likely still one of the busiest Starbucks locations in the world and I’m not surprised that they have changed the layout.  I was surprised by looking around and seeing at least 80% of the 68 people using laptops or iPads.  (Yes, I counted.  Hey, numbers are fun for some geeks!)  I’m just assuming cell phones are more than 100% because I’m sure a few of these people have more than one cell phone.  Also, Internet is free here.  Also, the baristas are wearing wireless headsets to relay the order information (inside the store — not in a drive-through).  Also, there are several tables with power outlets easily accessible.  Etc.

As I sit, I’m typing on a Mac that’s running Windows.  I’m even one of those guys that has those crazy stickers on his laptop.  I never thought I’d be that way.  Times change.  Technology changes.  People change.

Okay, that’s change, but what about blessings?

Well, I’m going to list 3 things here that I consider huge blessings, blessings that did not exist the same way prior to some of these changes.

1- Many, if not most of us can work remotely and can telecommute.  This is a *huge* advantage to be able to work where and when there is inspiration, or maybe where the kids are and a diaper change is needed, or maybe at a cabin or coffee shop or friend’s house or office.  Yesterday I learned that when I ordered a part for my motorcycle and went to a local shop here in Washington state to pick it up, the person who answered the phone telecommutes from California.  She had great service and I never would have known except that it somehow came up in conversation with the in person associate at the store.

2- We can better serve the people and teams that we work with.  This may sound like a contradiction to people that may tend to dwell on the increased number of distractions that we have now and the less quality time that some may feel like they are missing with so much more attention grabbing stuff around us.  I can agree up to a point, which comes up very quickly.  It is our responsibility to manage distractions.  Here’s the flip side, the blessing… Because we need to contribute to our teams, we can work in our preferred setting so, so, so much easier now than we ever could before.  This lets us be more mentally available and intellectually available to serve and contribute better.

3- We can find value in more places and we can add value in more places.  There are many more people here at the coffee shop than in my office or home.  This may sound silly, but I think it’s true.  I like to smile and encourage people.  On days like today, there are so many people that I think are happier because we can increase our social experiences due to many changes.  And, we can work in a way that enriches us and brings about better results.

Think about the environments that you want to be in and how you think you may work best.  Are you positioning yourself in those situations?  Are you removing distractions?  I have a co-worker who often works at our office rather than working from home, many times because there are many fewer distractions at the office than when working at home.  I am very much the opposite.  I frequently work at home because I feel like there are fewer distractions there.

How are you or your sales team or business associates able to collaborate on information?  Are they tolerating the systems that they use or are they bragging about them to other co-workers and friends?  (Not that we have to have the most awesome systems, but having good systems helps us “want” in addition to “need” to use them.)

As a business leader, manager or owner, are you able to inspire or encourage better teamwork with the technology changes around you?  Does your team feel the same way?  Have you asked them?

Now for the sales pitch that wraps this all together.

I’ve spent almost 10 years working with SharePoint.  It is not always the best platform and not always the tool of choice, even though I believe it is the best group collaboration and productivity platform of all time.  At J Street, we have worked on many systems, both internally and for numerous clients.  As consultants and developers and project managers and as a team, we think about a lot of the things I’ve mentioned here when we work to find the real requirements for a project.  We strive to interpret pain points and translate them into real needs.

When you or your organization are going through changes, consider the blessings and the rewards as well as the need for adjustment.  Change is not easy on its own.  It takes patience and perseverance.  However, if the process is worked through well and the appropriate respect is given to the stakeholders, the end state is such a blessing.

This is a cross-post from the J Street Technology – Blog.

Engaging in Conversation

By way of introduction, I am Toby Getsch, a Program Manager and SharePoint MCTS here at J Street.  I’m excited to engage in some conversation and start leveraging blogging and social networking more – all while trying to promote and bring awareness to the SharePoint practice and other great services.

To get started, we’ve done a few things to open up the dialogue.  We’ve turned on comments here on this blog and will be monitoring them to make sure your input and feedback and conversation is heard and you know that it is valued.  On each blog post we’ve enabled both Facebook and Twitter buttons for you to share/tweet about the post.  We’ve added J Street Techand CartGenie Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.  (@JStreetTech and @CartGenie)  We’ve integrated some more social links in various other places.  And, we’ve also enabled a mobile browsing format so you can use your favorite mobile device and still have a great viewing experience.

Any time an organization makes some changes like this, there can be a variety of results.  One thing we’re aware of is that it increases your access to us.  We have to take that in with everything else going on, and also try to engage in it.  Please know that we’re working hard to provide excellent service.  To that end, we’d like to request that you continue to use the regular channels for support requests.  Those are linked here and available at JStreetTech.com.

In short, we are definitely listening!  And, now we want to spread the J Street love in more places.

Thanks for your time.
~Toby

Stay tuned!  And, let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see me write about.

There are many paths to select from, and you may struggle to find the one that works for you. However, the one that keeps coming back to solve your problems and make your life better and absorb your disorganized state of being… that’s the one that you’re likely to end up sticking with. Hello SharePoint 2010!

V1 was cool. (SharePoint Team Services)

V2 was improved. (Windows SharePoint Services)

V3 was brag-worthy. (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server)

V4 has both mass appeal and cult following, both common and dramatic entrance and both depth of story line and pointed action moments. It’s like totally, astoundingly awesome! (Microsoft SharePoint 2010)

Shameless Plug: I work as a Program Manager and SharePoint MCTS at J Street Technology.  We do SharePoint.

SharePoint 2010 reaches RTM!

Today we reached an exciting engineering milestone- the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) for Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010!

RTM is the final engineering milestone and a major achievement for all of the internal teams who worked so hard to get to this point. As tirelessly as our engineering teams worked, we would never have reached this milestone without incredibly active participation from our customers and partners. More than 5,000 organizations and partners have worked with us on rapid deployment and testing of the products, and the feedback that we’ve received from all these programs has shaped a fantastic set of products that I’m sure our customers will love.

Our Volume License customers with active Software Assurance (SA) on these products will be one of the first to receive the 2010 set of products. They will be able to download the product in English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Dutch via the Volume Licensing Service Center starting April 27. Other languages will be available on a rolling timeline. Customers without SA will be able to purchase the new products through Volume Licensing from Microsoft partners starting May 1.

Earlier this year we announced that we will officially launch SharePoint 2010 to our business customers on May 12 with a virtual launch. Our virtual launch will allow people from around the globe to participate in our launch by going to http://www.the2010event.com. Stephen Elop, President of Microsoft’s Business Division, will deliver a keynote as part of the virtual launch, and the virtual launch site will showcase product demos, customer and partner testimonials, and interviews with product managers and executives, and we hope this will give you another great way to explore, learn, and get excited about the 2010 releases.

On behalf of the SharePoint team, I want to thank all of the customers and partners who have helped us reach this milestone. We look forward to continue learning from you and all the great things you will do with our products!

-Jeff Teper

Corporate Vice President, SharePoint Server, Microsoft

I work at J Street Technology, Inc. and we do SharePoint.

http://www.JStreetTech.com/SharePoint

“J Street Technology, headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, is pleased to announce SharePoint capabilities, allowing us to help small, medium, and large organizations leverage the SharePoint platform to improve business productivity and efficiency.

Heading up this initiative is Toby Getsch, a Program Manager and SharePoint MCTS with extensive experience deploying, installing, and configuring SharePoint for numerous organizations across a wide range of industries. Toby’s experience with SharePoint dates back to the early 2000’s and he has continued working with all sizes of organizations, from small businesses to large multi-national corporations.

Adding to his SharePoint-specific experience is more than a decade of IT leadership, consulting, advising, and project work. With a particular passion for planning the right strategy and execution, his experience with various engagements fits very well with J Street’s growing SharePoint expertise.”

I’m really excited about this opportunity and I can’t wait to rock and roll!  (Yes, I’m talking about SharePoint and rock and roll!  They do go together.)

What is SharePoint?  Check out this video.

What is Rock and Roll?  Check out this video.

And, if you don’t see some of my idea of fun and humor in this post, that’s ok.  SharePoint has excellent security trimming so that only the right people see the right things, even in search results. 

Here are the the most recent SharePoint updates.

MOSS: October, 2009 Cumulative (download)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974988

Need help with these?  Inetium (my employer) folks do his for a living.

UPDATE: Here’s the official Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog post.

http://www.inetium.com/aboutus/events/Pages/SharePoint-Conference-2009.aspx

#Inetium, @Inetium, #SPC09

MOSS: (August, 2009 Cumulative)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973399

Need help with these?  Inetium (my employer) folks do his for a living.

SharePoint in Plain English

This is another nice video by Common Craft.