Office 365 Distilled

On this special day of the day, when we celebrate Saint Paddy, the boys taste 4 whiskies while they work out how to measure collaboration.

Happy Birthday to 25 year SharePoint! The boys reminisce and share war stories. They end with an amazing smoky dram.

In this episode of Microsoft 365 Distilled, the boys celebrate Burns Night in true Scottish fashion: with tartan‑level enthusiasm and a whisky that would make even the Bard raise an approving eyebrow.They go hunting for insights in places no one has ever thought to look.The mission?To see whether the timeless wisdom of Burns, actual old-school poetry can shed new light on the ever evolving universe of Microsoft 365. And to everyone’s surprise (including their own), it absolutely does.Expect hilarious interpretations, dramatic readings, suspicious Scottish accents, and philosophical detours that somehow make perfect sense. Along the way, they uncover governance lessons hiding between the verses, collaboration metaphors tucked into the stanzas, and even a few productivity tips disguised as 18th-century poetic flair.It’s part whisky tasting, part literary adventure, part tech nerd‑fest—and 100% Distilled chaos in the best possible way.So pour yourself a dram, warm up your best “Auld Lang Syne,” and join the boys as they celebrate tradition, toast the future, and prove once again that wisdom, like whisky, only gets better with age.

Happy new year everyone! The boys are back and making plans for fun events this year. Marijn hates the fact that Steve is now higher up the CommunityDays speaker board list than Marijn. They reminisce about past events and eventually get on topic: AI doesn't care if your sites are pretty. So how much work do you need to put in to make SharePoint "pretty" for AI (AKA readable)? So what is the ratio for human eyeballs vs AI? The boys finish off with a superb Danish whisky, Skippers Glow, kindly donated by friend-of-the-podcast Kasper Larsen.It all started with this post from Daniel Anderson:https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danielando_sharepoint-in-2026-activity-7410921384069017600-m52B/

The boys discover Jura and their wheel to describe the full range of whiskies. They compare it with different SharePoint elements, techniques and ingredients to put in the cauldron and to make new potions!

Marijn makes a total arse of himself at a whisky tasting. Because why not. The boys are talking about undiscovered gems in SharePoint,which they uncover in an old-school method.

This time, the boys are not alone! Anouck Fierens, co-host of the FusionTalk podcast is joining them for a dada-dram! The talk of tonight? How, and what people think. About technology, automation, communication and change.

The boys talk about Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, Shitsuke. In short: the 5s methodology.After Marijn's session on Marie Kondo, this is another methodology to clean up your content.Whiskies come out, and boy..these are something else!

The boys are at Collabdays Zagreb and talking to Frane Borozan and Danijel Cizek, from Syskit. They are enjoying some Croatian whisky (well, some of them...) and talking governance, AI and life in the beautiful city of Zagreb.

Marijn for once, does something useful (in Steve's house).A new Modern Workplace workshop arises, so that means the boys will be live workshopping (aka pisstaking) around it. Marijn tells his Copilot horror stories. The boys end with such a unique whisky that only 1 bottle exists.

Marijn talks about his new session that is delivering in Helsinki and Oslo. That one is about finding a methodology to handle data, and Marijn chooses the Marie Kondo method. Initially, Steve can't stop laughing about it, but he is won over when Marijn says the magic word (which is not whisky). The whisky is a sherry finished Islay bomb.

"You never listen to me", might be the start of a old fashioned shoot out in the wild wild west. Thankfully, the boys are much more civilized (so they say) and talk about the Frontier Firm. They end with a Kavalan, that has been on the shelve for ages and finally gets opened.Links to the material:2025: The year the Frontier Firm is bornhttps://buckleyplanet.com/2025/08/how-to-become-a-frontier-firm

The boys had it with M365. Done. Dusted. But what are alternatives? If you want to use spreadsheets, run an intranet or collaborate, what are the real serious contenders? Let's find out, and have a great Irish whisky (yes, without an e!!).

When the boys are left alone.. they come up with great ideas. New models for whisky that also work for Microsoft 365? Why not!

The boys are renewed as MVP. But what does that even mean? How do you become one? Would you want to be one? What are the perks? And how much work is involved? And how much whisky?

The boys try something new this episode. What started as a great idea, turned into a drinking game! Marijn got some great Teerenpeli Finnish whisky samples from Vesa Nopanen (which they always exchange). Every time we drink, we ask a question. Let's see how far they got!

In this episode, the boys talk about migrations in the wild, and the experiences they had. They end with a brilliant whisky from one of their favorite distilleries.

The boys discuss 1 billion SharePoint users, agents and all the other sweet stuff coming out of #M365Conf in Las Vegas. Steve talks about his conference in Amsterdam with Agent 2 Agent experiences. We end with Frey Ranch whisky bourbon.

It is getting hot in here! Not only are the boys talking governance, intranets and whisky, but Steve might not have a lot of clothes on...

The boys start off talking about intranets and Marijn's new gig at Involv. Then they talk about the concept of the decentralized intranet architecture. The whisky today is a Japanese Akashi that is just perfect with Sushi.

OK, we are alte... well Steve is late in publishing this episode... no excuse except travelling to the Microsoft world... but then again this is what this episode is about... if you could change anything about M365... what would your expectations be.

The Boys are back! Marijn and Steve embark on an intergalactic journey through Microsoft 365 in search of the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything—aka their own '42'.From the deep trenches of SharePoint to the swirling galaxies of Teams, Sway, Exchange, and beyond, they explore the quirks, wonders, and hidden gems of the M365 ecosystem. Expect a whirlwind of insights, unexpected discoveries, and the kind of tech wisdom that would make even Deep Thought raise an eyebrow.Join us for a fun, fast-paced, and thoroughly entertaining ride as we unravel the mysteries of M365 and help you find your own '42' in the world of collaboration, productivity, and—dare we say—governance! Don't panic, grab your towel, and tune in!

Steve comes back from Collabdays Miami and tells the story about the 4th revolution that is currently happening in the world.

Well this is a conversation about Intranets that the boys dont start arguing about... too much anyway.

OK, the boys ramble on a bit about the money and about AI. The way we pay for SharePoint and M365 services and new ways to pay for Azure services then budgeting for your SharePoint services changes and increases as you are more successful with Copilot.But are we actually paying more or are things just changes... but then we got distracted... something that happens very rarely for Steve and Marijn... well... OK check it out and enjoy... and maybe get prompted for a few ideas and the odd Golden Nugget...

So, this turned out to be fun after the boys could not get excited about a big single subject... except whisky... but being broke after the holidays cheap whisky became a talking point... then Steves's mum joined the call and AI became a talking about along with a M365 Comparison with many things Whisky... But then the boys got serious and talked about some very nice drams all priced around the 30-50 euro mark that taste like things double the price.

Steve and Marijn record this just before Xmas and decide on 4 whiskies as they have a send-off for Viva Goals recently announced to be deprecated by Microsoft.Check out this episode to find out why we think it has disappeared and if a hole has been left that needs filling more importantly laugh as we work through the last episode we recorded before Snow fell and Santa delivered presents.

Six years ago the boys recorded Office365Distilled 001. 6 years and 155 Episodes ago and talked about Ignited 2018.So the opportunity arose to check out what was announced at Ignite 2018 and compare it to Ignite 2024 which has just happened.So enjoy a little reminiscing of the past whilst looking at the future.

The boys are starting to realise that it is time to get practical and talk about how governance has changed and how they approach SharePoint Governance specifically in todays work of SharePoint, MS Teams and OneDrive and how they approach the subject with Clients.Marijn talked about the underlying ABC pyramid approach with A being for ALL = Intranet, B being about Business = SharePoint sites and C being about Collaboration = MS teams and OneDrive as a location for sharing.The describe how these layers work out in reality and how as consultant it is explained to the customer for them to add their local governance to the different layers… and then we finish the last of the Tikit sponsored whiskies.

OK, so MS Teams gets new way to look at Channels and Chats under a Sectional title. Steve and marijn take a look at the value of such change and go to discussing the value today and potential value tomorrow.A very old Teeling gets a tasting after Tikit for MS teams brings their 3 series to a close with a great whisky

The boys talk to Geoff and Adam, from Tikit by Cireson. Tikit is a helpdesk solution build on Microsoft Teams. We talk about planes, journeys, AI (ofcourse) and much more. They are our whisky sponsors for the episode!

OK, the boys finally did it. AI, Copilot, Gemini, etc., get a beating in this very funny episode of O365Distilled. Yes, there was even a little live prompting to see what the phone wanted to say and if it agreed...It started with a very valid article from Computer World Company or a magazine about the slow update of Copilot and ended with the boys checking out if the article was true. Maybe you heard Steve say that he is becoming a bit more of a believer. But anyway check it out yourself and let us know as always what you think... Have fun... but don't forget... The Whisky was truly awesome; Tikit, who sponsored the next episode and supported the show, bought the boys a dram... a first for them... Deanston whisky finished in a Tequila barrel... a very nice dram.

149 episodes of M365 Distilled took place before we arrived at Collabdays Hamburg! All Marijn had to do was get us a room to record in with a few friends. Well, he surpassed himself and got the main hall and a keynote session to record with the truly awesome people of Hamburg CollabDays on 31st August 2024.It was fun with about 100 people, just after the ice cream, the boys talked about AI and specifically Copilot with the awesome title: AI - Bullshit or Hotshit?It is a short episode with guests Sara Fennah and Martin Rovekamp joining Steve and Marijn. The team looks to understand the promise of Copilot and how it might be a little short on delivery.The crowd asks a few questions and Steve goes into lecture mode about how Labels are the way to go about SPO security to get the real value from the Copilot365 licenses.The Whisky, the 150th on the podcast was a lovely scotch distilled in Seattle (the home of great coffee and great technology😊) in the tried and tested scotch methods using Peated barley from Scotland to ensure it is authentic.

Steve and Marijn check out a HBR article (https://hbr.org/2024/08/is-your-organizational-transformation-veering-off-course) that identifies some traits of team that have lost focus and need a little but of a push to move forward.In this podcast they discuss their experiences and drop a few practical ideas of how a team can move forward when energy is low and some ideas on how to motivate the team and have things in place to resolve issues and steps to take to ensure projects move forward in a positive way.When you are rolling out MS teams or Migrating SharePoint sites this podcast might help you spot potential delays or problems with delivery in time to step in and keep momentum to the end results and scope.The boys drink what might become a rare whisky from Mackmara after they recently annouced that they will file for bankrupcy and finding a new buyer to take over the operation... enjoy...

This is the last of the series of podcasts called the apologise series as Steve managed ot catch up with the programs recorded and published so hopefully we are back to 5 days from recording to publishing.Marijn read an article (Microsoft Teams increases collaboration in the modern workplace at Microsoft - Inside Track Blog)… it was not a podcast but real words and it created the idea of a podcast for the duo. Microsoft have been looking at how they can improve collaboration using their own tools and a process that has some alignment with ADKAR. Steve and Marijn talk through the ideas shared in the article and how it can be adopted practically and where it all makes sense. Microsoft use to cool analogies’ that we like and that everyone can use to improve their collaboration in their organisations.And the boys re-christens KevinM as Saint Kevin after drinking this extraordinary Irish whisky the boys take in this episode of M365Distilled

So Marijn talks about indecision and the trouble in deciding on a Twix or not… and missed out on a Peated Yamazaki, depriving Steve of a chance to taste one of his favorite Japanese distilleries. In this second of the Apology series… So Steve, Anouck, and Marijn did Commsverse TV (https://www.youtube.com/@Commsverse/streams ) and in this episode we talk about all the things they learned including the longest and first case of remote working, that FAX is still a big business and ghost calls that Analysing software need to remove to get accurate figures…Speaker bags this year were very funny… and we stole Mark Vale's designer back for the title of this podcast…Check out what the team talked about as the boys look into their bag of Shit and discuss what was the coolest thing for them…

This is the first of a new series of podcasts called the Apology Series… Life has been a little tricky over the last 3 months for Steve with a separation from my long-term partner, not having access to Max all the time and Moving house to the city of Antwerp, so enjoy the catch-up of podcasts in the coming days that we already recorded,,, Welcome to the Apology Series. Make changes Obvious, Easy, and Satisfying from James Clear's book Atomic Habits. The boys are provided with a slide from a conference, and they decide to apply some of James's thinking to a communications project. They then break the gold rule of having 2 subjects per podcast. Will it work? Well, listen in…So James gives us 4 rules and Steve and Marijn want to talk about communications, judge for yourself if you can find all the Golden Nuggets in what turns out to be a very satisfying podcast…We hear about Steve Folding his arms and being all about himself and yes a little cocky, and Marijn being wrong… or is he… only you can judge in this very cool Steve & Marijn discussion…

OK, we talk about SharePoint and a question that Marijn received about Sorting our SharePoint Shit. You know the scenario, what do you do to help a company that Set up an M365 tenant, opened up SharePoint and made it available within 24 hours... recipe for disaster right... and then they call us in to help sort out the shitIn this episode, Marijn has a plan, and Steve helps him think it through as questions arise about what direction to take to sort three terabytes of content on a Tenant and turn it into a solid, stable collaboration platform.But the Shit does stop there as their whisky involves elephants and is a real definition of a Whisky that you might not easily get hold of... but if you can, then you should.

It started when we discussed how mail is still the prevalent business communications tool and how good or bad it is for collaboration.Unusually for the M365 Distilled team of Steve and Marijn, things went a little sideways to start with but eventually got back on track. OK, maybe going sideways is just normal for us, but why change a good thing?In this podcast, the boys talk about the definition of collaboration, check out the list of best practices to include in the collaboration process, take some statistics about communications, look at all the tools we have available and mash them all together...And like all the other 143 podcasts before it, the whisky at the end makes it all worthwhile and helps you understand that it all does hang together into one aligned program of greatness... and this time, it's an Indian Whisky that performs the alignment duty. 😉

Poland was a blast at Collab days a few weeks ago. Steve and Marijn spend time in this podcast looking at Jenga and how they used to consider governance risk in their workshops.Marijn recaps his SMART goals session, and each subject is finished with a Whisky—of course, two Polish whiskies, to be precise!

The Boys talk about the new gameshow “ IT Depends” which you can find here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcB3Ba6K6N3HMUbt6yVT1Bg and then.... 🎙️ Ladies and gentlemen, fight fans from around the world, welcome to the podcast showdown of the century! Tonight, we bring you a clash of titans that will shake the very foundations of the digital realm! In the blue corner, hailing from the land of traditionalists, we have the undisputed champion of news dissemination, the Sultan of Press Releases, none other than Marijn "The Publisher"!🥊 Marijn steps into the ring with a steadfast belief that the intranet is nothing more than a digital bulletin board, a platform solely designed for the dissemination of news, announcements, and updates. But will his perspective withstand the ferocious onslaught from his opponent in the red corner?🔥 And in the red corner, we have the challenger, the master of efficiency, the architect of productivity, the one and only Steve "The Gatekeeper"! With a fiery passion burning in his eyes, Steve believes that the intranet is not just a news outlet, but a gateway to unlocking the true potential of workplace synergy and collaboration!💥 Get ready for a battle of ideologies as these two formidable contenders step into the ring, each ready to defend their corner with everything they've got! Will Marijn's traditionalist approach to intranet dominance prevail? Or will Steve's vision of a digital doorway to productivity reign supreme?🔔 The bell is about to ring, the tension is palpable, and the stage is set for an epic clash of perspectives! So grab your popcorn, settle into your seats, and prepare to witness history in the making as Marijn and Steve go head-to-head in the ultimate showdown for intranet supremacy! Let the battle begin!

We have a guest who has been listening to the podcast since Episode One “ Gianni Solito “ Gianni uses SaFe AGILE methods for managing adoption and change as we talk through how this model can be used to improve the process of keeping M365Distilled updated and aligned. You can check him out here https://www.linkedin.com/in/gianni-solito-2221561a3/ The Boys talk about the new gameshow “ IT Depends” which you can find here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcB3Ba6K6N3HMUbt6yVT1Bg The boys with Gianni dig down into the roles and process of the SaFe AGILE framework and try to identify the simplicity in what feels like a lot of moving parts.Marijn aligns SaFe Agile to the Fellowship of the Ring headed up by Gandalf in a SaFe role and it Kinda works... all working towards a big picture that they all know about....It seems a long time since we talked about AGILE working and how M365 grows on our podcast as we add in SaFe where we look at Scaling the Agile Framework and finalise the way to look at update adoption and change through the SaFe process. Then we took a breath and drank a whisky from a distillery we had tasted before, but this time it was peated. The Loch Lomond distillery is one of the most beautiful locations for a distillery and the Whisky is the same. Loch Lomond Heavy Peated is a lovely peated dram which Steve does not fully agree with as he takes some time to feel the smoke.Its an area of Scotland that the boys no well and re-live the small road and the experiences with the buses. Driving to Oban along the loch is one of life's pleasures for anyone finding themselves in that area.

As always the start is about our travels and community speaking events was from Miami to Bremen we talk about Tetsi flies and the rule of ‘Don’t look at the Boob’ when Steve knew it was the answer to another memory problem…The Boys talk about the new gameshow “ It Depends” which you can find here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcB3Ba6K6N3HMUbt6yVT1Bg After 15 minutes of community talk the boys went around the world… Ami Diamond posted a great LinkedIn article comparing M365 to the new wonders of the world. It was so cool that we decided it required more in-depth expertise from Steve and Marijn.https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7159248067244765186?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7159248067244765186%29So maybe this is AKA Jules Verne “Around the M365 World in 80 minutes”.So, enjoy the humour of Steve and Marijn as they discuss Ami’s great post… check it out.Listen to Steve try all the tough words from around the world as we describe the output from the post and add a bunch of disrespect and fun…Then eventually the podcast gets technical as we bring in the M365 bits and break down the article from AMI.Enjoy even if the Chat GPT analogies are weak, the humour is good supermarket listening.Then we drank a whisky, I know a surprise right? This was something interesting: a special bottled edition of the Edradour distillery from 1st fill Oloroso casks out of the smallest distillery in Scotland. Dark and a powerhouse of flavour.

Imagine that you have 5 days to migrate a small company to M365 from Google Docs… What would you start with, Apps, Email MS teams, Power platform… when the Boys put together the plan and decided what goes first…And a few things to catch up with... Marijn as a Seamen, Life is about the basics first and complexities later and of course... CoPilot gets everywhere

In Short... the boys look at what is on the roadmap and mix them in with some of their own ideas that might not be true... can you work them out 😊 We look at some of the great new innovations due and a few ideas that maybe should be put in place. Before tasting a whisky we come clean about which are from Microsoft and which are from the awesome imaginations of Steve and MarijnFinally, Brian sent over a great whisky to taste, The Glendronach Parliament, 21 years old, which is a very Sherry Whisky, but from Oloroso and Ximenez barrels; what do you expect? The finish is awesome, and the water drop brings in so much pepper it changes the drink.

Merry Christmas to every listener of M365, although we suspect that you will not listen to this before the 24th Dec, Monday's celebration day... but if you are listening to that, please accept the Best wishes for Xmas that Steve and Marijn sing as Episode 137 of M365Distilled kicks off.The boys give themselves 10 categories to find their best of the best for 2023... Check out what Steve and Marijn decide on the best Conference or speaking location, their best community contributor and, of course, the best Whisky they have drank this year.They discuss episodes, guests, Golden nuggets and the best Microsoft releases and upgrades. Before thinking about their funniest 2023 moments, sessions they have listened to and finally the best titles.Ever wondered how they choose the best title... when listen in and check it out.Finally, Marijn dips into his whisky shelves and selects the Tullibardine 288 to taste on the podcast, and they find it delicious and very mature whisky with depth and satisfaction.

The Boys are back after a hectic time at Lisbon and ESPC where they created 9 podcasts from the CoreView stand @ESPC so this is a kind of recap of the people we met and included on the podcast created from the CoreView standWe talk about AI and how it might be adopted, we talk about working lifestyles and finding time to think and workout strategies and solutions. We talk about 2 great whiskies, yes we break the rules and do 2 whiskies as we have a truly relaxed conversation...

The last episode at #ESPC and we are here once more with Kas! This time we bring Jasper Oosterveld on board as a guest! He talks about business cases for Copilot and the issues of rolling it out just for testing.

Final day at ESPC, which means it is time for a little round up of all the goodness that was spread on day 2. We have Chirag Patel on, the man with many 3letter acronyms on his title and good friend of the pod to talk about all the cool stuff he has seen. We talk community, community and some community!