Office 365 Distilled

Steve and Marijn look at Breakrooms and Steve keeps talking team rooms, because hey they are about teams… but he means breakout room of course but let’s blame it on the cold that is screwing up his head. It does get cool when the boys start talking about MS Team meeting roles and advise everyone to plan for the breakout room strategy in the meeting. If you want to find a few extra nuggets check out this Advent episode…

The boys are joined by Basil Hayden for this Advent episode, a suggestion for a Christmas present for anyone that enjoys a wee dram… but of course this is more local to where Steve and Marijn are recording this set of Xmas Advent Podcasts

Versioning is now taken as a default feature, and nobody talks about it anymore. In this advent podcast Steve and Marijn dig down into versioning and ensures we all understand checking out, approval etc.

Looping your Christmas tinsel around the Christmas Podcasts we think about loop and where things are moving… Scrooge promises to be more positive than last time the boys talked about Loop and we take a quick look at how you can start using Loop today with some ideas for the future.

Marijn talks about Shoes, Coa and Sint Klaus's assistants and his childhood memories. He goes on to prove that he is the real scrooge... The boys check out the Speech to text services in the M365 applications with some suggestions for improvements

Out of tune, Tags opens up this advent episode which gets into details about the different tags you can use in MS teams... a Nugget for everyone in this Christmas bauble

Steve gets it wrong again and gives away the secret for tomorrow before the boys talk about the Meeting options, which are now integrated into the applications in public preview.

Marijn becomes scrooge and talks about Planner... Steve tells marijn about Humbugs, and then they talk about repeatable tasks... This is a really cool Golden Nugget that uses the same repeat meeting code to put regular tasks in place for those daily operational tasks. Marijn learns what advent calendars were before you got chocolate or Whisky in your advent daily gift.

The boys are on a Plane to Microsoft 365 Conference... but as they are on different flights they much be shouting! The Planning assistant si discussed with questions answered and ideas that need some testing

Steve gets confused, and Marijn takes the lead as the Boys introduce you to the idea that for December, we will bring you a new Golden Nugget podcast every day... 3-5 minutes and EP600 Finishes with Steve spilling the beans on what to expect tomorrow.

Lots of chat about conference seasons starting and some advice about not going to a conference and missing all the cool stuff because Mobile working never stops.Speaking engagements are discussions from Copenhagen to Vegas, and the boys get hung up on GDPR and admit they know nothing about what needs to be protected and decide it’s a grey area they don’t know anything about.Different types of Governance cover the vast array of applications and content within the M365 ecosystem Before looking at the default governance processes and audiences.Then the boys go old and taste an 18-year-old Whisky from one of the Distilleries in the most northerly part of Scotland. An 18 BalBlair.

Marijn takes the Catalyst IDEA model from Microsoft to the next level looking at D for Design. This is a great way to look at Digital Transformation in your business You are designing a compelling case for change by discussing business and technological impact. During this, you'll quantify the ROI and financial benefits that include revenue growth, cost savings, and employee efficiencies. This phase is about numbers confirming that your Transformation will have value and improvement. Understanding the current costs allows but to understand the scope of improvement through solid numbers... quantifying improvements.

Based on the successful ADKAR Podcast series from Office365Distilled, this workshop by Steve Dalby and Marijn Somers (MVP) looks at the practical sides of Adoption and Change. Focusing on communications and Key messages, Steve outlines the model developed by the boys that give you the tools to plan and build your communications around Awareness and Desire. This model gets you 30% of the way forward in preparing the company for the change.

The boys reminisce about their last months of work and explain the issues, and effectively do what they do best… which is talk… after all, they are sitting at a bar enjoying a relaxing end-of-day drink… Office365Distilled is about two guys standing at a bar talking crap… well this podcast is proving that definition right!Wendy, the dog, is active tonight and wants to get involved…We originally wanted to talk about loop… but Marijn decided he will play interviewer and keep the conversation technical, and we have the Life of a Consultant in action.So Steve tells the world about a current project to introduce MS Teams calling and migrating from SfB and the things that needed attention, and where the project needs to go to support Voice calling. Some strategy discussions about how and what is planned next on the project.Marijn identifies that Steve was using a classic change strategy “Add Crappy Legacy tech to improve desire” The conversation continues, and Steve has worked out that over the last few months, his consultant's head has been in the game more than the boy’s thoughts initially.So welcome to the Marijn Somers live Interview…. Until they swap roles and Steve takes over.Subjects discussed in this EpisodeMS Teams Calling | Moving from Baseline security through Evolution to the ‘Rethink’ | Use of OneDrive in the wrong way | Loop is discussed but in the context of delaysThe future is discussed how long it now takes Microsoft to release new features… ...and eventually, Loop is discussed, which was the original topic agreed upon by the boys and whilst they both love the concept that an active component is available across several applications. Some discussions occur about whether a Fluid File (the file type for Loop) should be saved centrally…And Finally, the podcast is turned over to the Càirdeas 2022 Warehouse 1 edition which turns out t be a very welcome guest

What can go wrong with introducing new features and functionality from the Microsoft365 set of applications?In this episode of Office365Distilled, Steve gives Marijn something to look forward to as he starts the podcast with a howl...Then the conversation turns to a lot of golden nuggets as areas of change risk are identified before moving to look at where people can be forced... or encouraged to do things differently.Enjoy everyone, and maybe we will see you at the MGM Grand in December at the great Las Vegas... the place on earth for conferences...

Recorded live from The Ageas Bowl or, more specifically, the Hilton hotel at the Rose Bowl, Southampton, Hampshire.It sounds like the record sleeve from a 1970 rock album, which is a good description of what Steve and Marijn did on a quiet Thursday afternoon during the Ignite 2022 Microsoft Conference Day at the South Coast Summit. This podcast recorded live was a great success providing the audience that Marijn and Steve sometimes miss when recording in Steve’s office on a Tuesday evening.Check it out as the 100th birthday party edition takes shape, and the audience seems to bring out the worse in both of them, and secrets are revealed about how Offcie365Distilled.com is put together and the huge amount of hours that go into each episode to bring you the magic that is the Office365Distilled Podcast from Marijn Somers and Steve Dalby.

Steve brings together his series of Wee Drams about preparing for Improvement with the final episode called Innovate everywhereInnovation is not always a ‘Giant Step for Mankind’. Sometimes Innovation is introverted and focused on a small audience. We do learn that, of course, M365 innovation is driven by our own User Stories sent to Microsoft and if it is something that the user base needs, then it gets built.We take a quick check on the current status of MS Team changes as this podcast is recorded a few weeks ahead of Ignite 2022, when we do expect some large differences in terms of Mesh for Teams that will be across the enterprise but compare this to a change in Excel (check out EP99 of O365Distilled) that will be for very few people.Not every change is giant... many are small and focused. But it is innovation, and we should be awaiting that something new in our own organisation feels like innovation that has value that needs to be managed as a change.

Microsoft IDEA structure for Digital transformation is supported by a web site and full program documentation. Marijn starts with ‘I ‘ from I.D.E.A., the Microsoft Catalyst IDEA framework.‘I‘ stands for Inspire, and in this wee dram, he takes you through the 4 steps to success with inspiration and understanding of the customer’s expectations for the process, business expectations and what their next step might be.Look to the future and prepare for Marijn’s next Wee Dram on this subject... Design.

These notes will be short because this EP99 podcast is simple and focused on a single subject which for the boys is very rare...Talking about Excel and when excel was introduced to the market and how Steve and Marijn thought they would have a great case for moving people from Excel to SharePoint lists and find that maybe there are not many even no, specific reasons to drive users away from excel to M365 ListsThe session turns out to simply select the best examples of using Excel and M365 lists without saying one is better than the other.... It just shows that even the most experienced and best can make mistakes.Steve keeps asking the hard questions, which lead us to understand Lists more and their roles in the M365 ecosystem. The podcast’s ending is great because Gianni, who won the One Inch Party, sent over a great sample of Aberfeldy 16 year old, which was worth a taste (he also sent over a sample of Cruach-Mhone from Bunnahabhain), all very much appreciated.

The podcast where Steve has a great idea on site names and waffles on without a conclusion.Where Marijn says, ”Sorry, keep going I will interrupt you later” and then “ Hold on and let me continue” and it is decided Marijn can interrupt as much as he likes but Steve has to do as he is told…Our Sponsor Braeburn Whisky for this episode gets a great mention https://braeburnwhisky.com/ The boys start on the Roadmap workshop that defines the order of products that will be released and feeds back to the team what order they will process the project. Roadmap Strategy is required and agreed by the business… then the boys get stuck on questions around what the minimum settings are… and Steve has a Daaa moment when he works out Marijn is right…Governance workshop takes frontstage and arguably the most important as so much is decided within this and getting then documented means you know so much about the project alreadyContent workshops are discussed that incorporate so much decision making… The Elephant in the room ‘ Content Types’ hits the discussion with a few erm and aaass when Steve rounds out what is needed to get started and define the baselineThe content workshop identified so much about the future of the project, migration, Change and Adoption Taxonomy strategy and some search aspects of the project…Portals are mentioned and Wendy wants to get involved… she has something to say… and then Steve puts Marijn on the spot with portals. It is agreed an Intranet is a portal and opens up a bunch of things to decide like audiences, Viva Connect etc. all associated with publishing content…Migration cannot be forgotten so they do list the things that is required to ensure migration takes place… then some workshop around servicing the M365 environment with the helpdesk etc.After tasting Isobel Gowdie a Linkwood 14 year old cask strength whisky from Cask88 https://cask88.com/witches/ Steve finishes with a few thoughts on the Vision workshops and suggests that Marijn is right but only if we accept there are more than one Vision workshops required to make this work and get it right….

We are all looking to achieve value in our work, and M365 provides a great opportunity for the IT team and the end user to redefine the value that technology at a personal level can deliver. This Wee Dram from Steve looks at some of the ways IT and Business can work together to get the best from M365 as it permeates through the organisation. Check out 20 minutes of chat with Steve and see if any of these ideas can add value to your work.

Marijn is excited about his Envisioning sessions to set up the company on a journey. Still, during the discussion, we wonder if it might not get people excited when it could be several months before they get to try anything. So, whilst very important, timing how you communicate the company vision might not be the first workshop you do. However, starting to set expectations at the C-Level and Senior management level might be a good idea.Starting with the infrastructure workshop, they get hooked up in discussions about the naming of tenants (we are still not sure who is correct). Still, the thought is to get the infrastructure workshop completed early on with the right people in the groups. Many decisions at this level define the coming workload.It’s also worth thinking strategically about services, multitenancy etc.Identity and a few others will cause issues like who owns the user’s Admins, AD admins, HR etc., so be prepared and ensure all parties are in the same room.Some words are spoken about the people involved and how they might be upset of losing control to the cloud etc. So, pull in a great partner or Microsoft to ensure all the infrastructure teams have a level of comfort.There is a disagreement (always fun) and Marijn starts Steve thinking about which comes first, the Adoption or Email or Supporting workshop to understand the new way of IT supporting the new cloud servicesRoad mapping is important to understand where you are in the process of changing the company and the way of working and aligning development plans to power platform etc., or if you will remain with existing dev tools.The idea of splitting the Adoption and communications and when to start the personae decisions and special needs so maybe the adoption and change conversation is needed to baseline the governance.Identifying the user-focused people for the Ambassadors and core users is important, but then we need to think about the end user-focused workshops so that become Episode 98...The Whisky plays memory games with Steve after Marijn asks him to dig deep into the memory banks to identify the point when he realised, he loved Irish whisky. That took him to an Irish bar in Rome.A Black Bush 80/20 PX Sherry Cask Reserve, has a good recommendation for a great price with a complex flavour... well worth looking for a bottle

Keeping Change and Adoption Real: The Workshop ... Come and see us live this year...South Coast Summit: October 14th 2022 Tickets:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/keeping-change-and-adoption-real-1-day-workshop-tickets-359518869617M365 Conference – Las Vagas: December 9th Register:https://www.m365conf.com/#!/workshop/Keeping%20Change%20and%20Adoption%20Real:%20The%20Workshop/5553And on the podcast...Steve and Marijn kick off their Summer podcasts with a quick check on their Vacations and a Proud Dad tells you about his daughter obtaining her Degree and the graduation partiesMarijn lists all the injuries he was plagued with on the dangerous holiday park he stayed at in France. Steve did a road trip around the south of England and Wales.The boys have a busy end of the year with presentations and workshops in Belgium, the Netherlands, Copenhagen, UK and USA (Vagas Baby...) Microsoft put Viva Goals into GA this week, so Steve and Marijn start talking about OKRs, the business's implications, and all that you need to prepare for.Goals will allow the organisation to be transparent in what Objectives the board has decided will drive the business forward. Recent statistics from Microsoft show that 77% of the workforce needs more purpose in their work. Viva Goals could be a way to change that statistic to the most positive.Steve considered the old MC server system, which included 3 servers that started with the High-level programs followed by the Projects and then the client tools. You could not create a project unless it was a vital aspect of the program and connected. This allowed a roll-up of the program costs and delivery.The conversation comes to the most significant consideration, which is the fact that to make this work, it requires buy-in from the highest level to the lowest action.Marijn and Steve finish by going Welsh and tasting the Penderyn Hiraeth No8 in the 50 special release whiskies coming from the South Wales distillery in the Brecon Beacons. Steve admits to not being the biggest fan of their standards but this one is lifted above many.

With the possibilities of empowering the business to create their own Intranet site that is based on the same template with Governance built in.Building a SharePoint site for the end user is like buying yourself a new 40th Birthday cigar lighter that is complex and needs a few You Tube videos to ensure you operate it correctly. Your Corporate SharePoint look book might just be the tool to do that.With the opportunities to automate your site creation by the users from the press of a button Marijn extends the concept to consider Governance capabilities that can add variety to the templates enabling both functionality and content protection based on the level of assurance the site requires.

This is the link to the Brainstorm Infographic used in the podcast, and at the end of the page is the link to buy a bottle of the great whisky we taste in this podcast, sponsored by Braeburn Whisky.BrainStorm - 33 Ways To Unlock More Software Value.Steve and Marijn took this sheet and pulled numbers from a bag to select random values to apply to the Values sheet provided by Brainstorm Inc. Use Polls: Marijn immediately thinks Dancing Poles and Steve reminds every one of their brilliant ideas to create a Gentlemen’s Club together mode image. Microsoft have just released a new update to make it easier for polls to be included in meetings.Build Activities: Steve Takes this as an opportunity to consider gamification and the various performance scores available from Microsoft. They are all activity-based actions that generate indications that the tools are being used and actions are being taken byExplain Why the Change: Reference is made to the SouthCoast Summit where Steve and Marijn will be running a workshop at this event on Saturday 15th OctoberBring in an Expert: Bring in an Expert or call a friend was referenced and Steve has an opportunity to make his favourite Experts quote (listen to check it out) These people bring in their experience and ability to lead but Steve turns this around a little by saying for a M365 Project The Business are the experts!Be available for Help: Being available is possibly the best way to add value to the business. Steve asks Marijn how he ensures people have access to the resources that deliver success. A single point of contact is crucial for value which can be an email address or a SharePoint site or regular AMA sessions.Learn what your users need: Understand the User stories from a deep dive into the business getting to the coal face and describing what the users want to have delivered that will deliver value. Marijn described an approach used previous with a Mnemonic based on a Spy, in Dutch.Finally, Marijn points out that the value is what the user NEEDS not what IT thinks they want!Digitize Training: Marijn talks about learning pathways and Steve points out that the same courses are available in Viva Learning, so they are available in SharePoint and in MS Teams… Steve shares a few nuggets from Viva Learning and Marijn gets distracted by a ringing phone and cuts off the girlfriend… but I am a witness we are recording.Gather Feedback: It does not matter what the feedback is, just continue to get feedback. Steve suggests that you should kick off as early as possible with a poll before your awareness campaign kicks off to confirmPersonalise your Training: This about sing the Audience features to suggest training across the business. Think about the matrix of Role v Skills so that Managers do not need to know how to create a page, but it would be good for them to understand how audiences work. However, both need to understand pages and how they work.Custom videos or page instructions for the ‘feel’ of the company so that they have customise training branded for the company that feels a little special.Our Sponsor Braeburn Whisky is described and of course Steve and Marijn have invested with Braeburn with 3 barrels between them already to do some cool things with 😊Braeburn provided a 14 year old whisky from the Loch Lomond for us to taste which was truly great peated whisky available from their web site Hill Climb 14 Bottle - Cask 88 not many bottle left.

After Steve looked at Barriers to getting the information in #2 of the Wee Dram series and then was to create Impact in #3 in this episode, we look at Adapting your M365 adoption to maximise value. Business is in constant flow, and we take reference from 3 companies that innovated into different value streams. These examples, whilst mainstream, show that companies change and evolve. Ensuring that your M365 service can support that ensures value for both internal processes that support customer value. Nothing is ever finished in M365 as it changes and upgrades and enables new opportunities for value to be added constantly. So you need a plan! Planning to Evolve is discussed with some examples of user stories that show how to evolve your M365 in an environment of constant improvement. ... and then check out the finish with a quote from Gunny Highway (Clint Eastwood) quote from the Film Heartbreak Ridge!!

After talking about recently attended events we learn that Marijn likes only soft things against his skin, but the boys resist the opportunity for a fun discussion on this fact. They talk about the new news around AD and AAD groups where AAD groups can now be nested.There is disagreement about the copying of profiles and if the AAD groups also get copied across to new users based on another user... Steve thought not and Marijn started to doubt... but from a quick lookup it appears there is a user template option now available and some Microsoft Flows that will not assist in this role.Bon Vivant is Marijn’s new Viva name, which is apparently a thingEventually, Steve and Marijn move on to the subject at hand which is Business Architecture. The idea being it is important to understand the business processes around this architecture and then use M365 architecture to add value to the areas that most need a change or improvement.We take a look at a specific Business architecture working across the business and for the podcast, we tool the Hire to Retire process. We take the various aspects of the process and choose the appropriate Microsoft365 application and tool that best improves that aspect of the process. Nothing is limited as this is after all only a podcast.And of course, neither Steve nor Marijn has to build this so reality can take a side-line. Especially when Steve takes an AI chat that creates an automatic Head-hunter application to go find the perfect candidate.After completing the process, it is time to relax with a whisky from Finland... so we finished the Finish whisky at the end of the podcast: Kyro Rye ruby port.

Division of the implementation of M365 into 3 spaces...Understanding the Need: Our primary communication is speech, it’s the fastest way 2 human beings can exchange ideas, and frustrations and collaborate over solutions.Identify the current risks: Breaking down the processes that are prone to fail or that everyone understands are vulnerable for some reason.Ignore the normal: There are a few traditional ways of delivering M365 but if you want to deliver M365 with value then use everything you have learned to focus on what can Create Impact FasterCheck out Wee Dram EP2 and understand how you need to breakdown barriers to deliver M365 Value

We identify quickly that Marijn is likely to suffer a little simply because of a high-sarcasm level within the evil mind of Steve during the recording. Steve sends his apologies!!Names of Internets got a little time which represents the point about style that the team use for the project. The Style, tone of voice, graphics, and word choice helps set the style of the project, training, look and feel etc. So often the name chosen will drive the style.Some thoughts on how the project is linked to the corporate brand, but the best advice is to have a feel of the corporate branding in whatever style you decide on for the communications and adoption of the project.Navigation gets a good minute or two both on style and importance before taxonomy has a few sarcastic comments that ensures it is not forgotten and an indication that it is important and something that needs to be taken seriously.Returning to the link to the company branding needs to be considered but the intranet and project communications should be aligned to the company style. Steve and not sure about how a company ethos is defined and by who and gets very deep on this wondering who makes the decisions.... Marijn is right in that M365 project needs to work alongside the way the company operates.We do agree on the fact that different companies need a different personality to the project and intranet, we know banks are more serious than a software house etc. Steve does need to let it go... companies find their own level it is not decided by ‘John’ or any team.Marijn hits on the important point that whatever style/vibe/feel you decided on it should be consistent from beginning to the end and a strategy of style that everyone signs up forDon’t let the style take away the main priority that M365 projects are about changing and improving communications and collaborationYou should not forget that you need to balance the audience needs and the company style. Legal people have a different mindset to engineers and marketing and the content is very different ranging from Serious to stories to data sheets. Maybe the pages and terms used on different divisions pages need varied styles.The Boys finish with a very rare whisky from this weeks Fies Ila festival from Islay in Scotland. We are very impressed with this year’s edition from Kilchoman, the Fèis Ìle 2022 Edition.

In the first week of any new Job or contract you get introduces to people and teams telling you what is required, and what you need to deliver.Inevitable there is a reason when it has not been delivered before you arrive which means that your specific skills are needed to make it happen. Very often after over 30 years in the consultancy game, Steve finds that what the organisation thinks needs to happen is not what should be delivered. Steve shares his secrets of the first week and identifies Doors and barriers that you will come across but maybe you have not noticed. Doors and barriers are what shape the work you need to do, and your effectiveness in delivering value.Value is important as it balances the money you are taking out of the company, and we always want to ensure the company feels that they get value for money. In this podcast, you will find one or two ideas that will ensure your employer feels that way.

Glasgow summit and Commsverse get a mention Marijn is convinced that MS Teams as a hub is the way to go to the point that he even misses the ‘It Depends’ joke that he keeps mentioning. Steves. Sarcasm is evident throughout the podcast, but Marijn defends it well.The devil is in the detail and Steve is not sure that the app is ready and counters many arguments that Marijn puts in and event Steve is beginning to see some sense but the strategy does need some development and yet again suggests that this conversation is ahead of the time and that maybe the future might deliver the right functionality.It is difficult to argue against the logic that because I spend so much time in MS Teams having access to the applications I need for my job.Steve Starts to think about how it might work, and Marijn identifies some solutions about how to focus the navigation against audiences based on policies for personae groups.Steve is not impressed with this idea and wonders if MS Teams in its current format is suitable to provide Navigation and appropriate functionality to become the true application, Hub. But accepts as a strategy the concept makes sense but wonders if it has the legsThe biggest issue is the current structure because everything is based around teams a Channel to have global access to the app’s navigation seems difficult.Expanding Topics AI functionality might be an answer to draw people across to the apps your team is using and maybe a solution for your team to continue your processes when you go on holiday and maybeSteve throws in left-field questions to ask about UserVoice and cannot remember the name of the replacement. But after the podcast, we remember. We know now that it’s called Feedback Hub which is a Windows Application for reporting improvements.Marijn accepts that this is not a perfect solution and decides that the only perfect solution is Anne Hathaway The boys eventually leave this with the suggestion that this is a strategy that needs testing so why not think about MS Teams as a Hub/platform as you consider an upgrade or rollout of an app and consider if it can be easily integrated into the MS teams and adds value.The finish is from the USA with a very neat Drink that Al Capone once described as “the Good Stuff” Templeton Rye 6-year-old from a small-town distillery in the State of IOWA

Ever thought about your Maker strategy, do you even know what a maker is? Marijn Somers goes solo in this first of many Wee Drams of knowledge built from 15+ years of experience in Microsoft 365 consulting. Compared to Steve he is not the old man of the Office365Distilled podcast team... but he shows in this the first Wee Dram of Office365Distilled that he is mature beyond his years.Join Marijn as he looks at 4 golden nuggets that help you understand and plan for the low-Code development age breaking out across our enterprises. Ho offers considered thoughts on how to set up the culture and community that creates the foundation of Collaboration-Innovation for your organisation

In an age where the employee is such a corporate asset and often the centre of the innovation process from tweaking a policy to defining the R&D of the company... the employee is feeling the power. Many companies are starting to feel the pain of not having folks on-site when they need them. Employees find working from home suits them, but there are times when the team need to be on-site and collaborate face to face.There is a revisit of the pandemic 2 years ago and forced a change in the company working from home meant somehow equipment from chairs to monitors all had to be purchased from home.Today the Way of Working needs to find a way to minimise the changes from home working to Office working and the key attributes of meetings need to be transparent to all employees. Even if it is just about equivalency during the meeting.Change is so important and the K from ADKAR becomes important as we need to help users gain the knowledge and change their perspective during meetings to understand that not everyone is sitting by their side... how many people point to their screen during a meeting and assume everyone else can see their windows As IT we can help the company design their infrastructure to support how the company will deliver a Digital 1st environment.Steve points out that if everyone is equal then unless the company is going to invest heavily not everyone will have the best monitor and camera at home and at the office. So finding the common denominator as the online meeting policy and documenting the expectations and associated training is one way for IT to support the home working policy.Of course, one way to encourage back to work is to ensure the Office experience is better than the home experience. However, that needs to be balanced against the quality of the meeting to ensure it is getting the greatest value for the business. For example, ensuring that people have access to the right knowledge to be most effective.Tool knowledge is key but also a personal understanding goes the differences between Collaboration, Presenting, Brainstorming, and ensuring that everyone knows and understands how to encourage innovation during meetings. In fact, the reality is that the Meeting owners need to plan and ensure the right tools are available for everyone and they know how to use them.AI and Cortana could be a big player using insights to identify who will be in the office and set up meetings to support active projects Martijn drops his golden nugget by stating his perception is that for Hybrid work you need Hardware, policy, the right application and ensure people have digital literacy and understand the technology to move forward. Meeting owners have responsibility for the success of Hybrid meetings.A great Digital First meeting experience is achievable.For this company, we need a digital-first definition to drive policy and delivery of the right hardware.

Ok after 2 rehearsals for Episode 90 Steve and Marijn get started talking about Japanese TV shows, the location for the 100th episode the whole conversation turns towards the processes of creating a Workforce... sorry workflow!The boys work through the different stages in creating a workflow that starts with The Talk. The point where the business describes what they expect to happen and how it will improve their business process. The list includes decisions on Audience, triggers, lifecycle, compliance, and planning all before a no-code ‘drag-and-drop’ box has been moved on the screenConversation provides some ideas on how to define the governance for the creation of a workflow and understanding how you balance IT support for business created workflows... and then they drink a great Deanston finished in a Bourdeaux Wine barrel MMmmm...

Mickey Mouse takes the front of the stage on EP89 with a business diagram that looks at Collaboration (face) Content (right ear) and Communications (left ear). The model identifies the core functionality of Content, Collaboration & Communication with the key tools being Exchange, SharePoint Online and MS Teams.Steve uses the word Personae and Marijn wonders if he is ill. Steve has not always been a believer in the default view about personae but in this podcast, he explains that like a complex whisky there is value in personae when the audience value is understood. He goes on to explain this is described as Focused Usability where the Personae has the Desire (aka ADKAR) because you have identified the specific value they will get from MS Teams or SharePoint Online when combined with Exchange. Collaboration, Content and CommunicationsThe example discussed is to only allow the personae who need sites to have the rights to create sites.And right in the middle of this Steve’s mother calls, Wendy Barks and Marijn must drag us back to his golden nugget from this week’s podcast!!Marijn re-iterates the value in NOT giving everyone the rights to create sites… for example not having to train the personae who do not have rights to create sites.Viva Insights tells Steve that he responds quickly to emails and Marijn asks if that is a thing… then they get to discuss what you can do in 6 minutes!The conclusion is that defining policies around when to use a Site, Group, MS team or yammer group depends on the business need. However, this is a variable in that the personae obtain different values from the M365 toolset depending on the Baseline governance that drives each of the services.If you get the Awareness and governance by Personae right, you are already halfway to setting up the Desire by identifying the value in the product.The boys drink the Lagavulin 8-year-old created to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Lagavulin distillery by John Johnston in 1816… and they like it a lot!!

Chats are shorter because they already have context but for emails, you often must provide the context so that people can understand the message.Policies do need to be thought through about external access for Chats. MS Teams and channel chats are OK as invitees are created as external users but not for Chats.Marijn outlines the email problems with emails and the problems of losing control and treating the email string as a conversation instead of having… a real conversation.Worth thinking about email as evidence of a decision made. Chat can be less instinctive without the context, but the story of an email has a little more depth to describe the decisions being made.Chat has some risks as it is not always so easy to see who can read the messages like in Email but of course, if we were all open and honest it doesn’t matter.Chat tends to work the right and left side brains with great creativity tools.Change program is required to drive a Chat 1st Mentality All the old rules apply across Chats as they do for emails, so CAPITAL LETTERS do mean I am shouting and to respond quicker than an email process. Marijn and Steve sound a little disappointed with the Jura 7 wood they taste at the end of EP87 but they are not, this was a very deep whisky with great notes at the end.

These are the links to the things we found cool in Barcelona.Braeburn Podcask https://open.spotify.com/episode/3CTjSOEP9QZpfkAa8358d1 Kate took us to a few new Bars and was a fabulous host visiting 4 great places https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/1757637Kates first choice was Dr. Stravinsky: https://www.worlds50bestbars.com/the-list/dr-stravinsky.html But we found our spiritual home here at La Whiskeria: https://www.facebook.com/lawhiskeria which became our Barcelona home from Home

On Monday your team delivers on the change and confirms their ability to deliver change based on the knowledge they have learned. The boys talk about ways to help confirm people are on the right track and suggest creating a community of success. Marijn quotes ‘something he read’ that it takes 21 days to drive change and 90 days to change the old habits. It potentially gives you a timeline for this stage of the ADKAR model. Bribery is discussed, OK a bonus system where savings are identified as part of the change and fad back into the bonus system. Bottom line is that people who have learned and delivered change can easily revert back to the old way of working unless you remove the old way and reinforce the new way to keep the people positive and happy.

Having the ability to change or do something is about proving yourself. Knowing something and delivering something is different. In a setting such as Adoption and Change management, the proof is in the delivery. Where the Individual provides that have the Awareness, Desire and knowledge but now prove their ability through delivery. The boys point out that we cannot finish and move to the R – reinforcement if the Individual has not delivered the change. Demonstrating the ‘Ability to Change is the Definition of Done when you are Maturing the Ability

Knowledge as training is discussed in a way that ensures people are ready for the change, what they need to do and prepare for. It is easy to describe knowledge as training, but you need to bring in the desire to want to learn. After making users enthusiastic for change then a holistic learning program shows the organisation’s commitment to supporting the change.

Steve and Marijn continue their journey of shorter discussions on ADKAR focusing on this session on Desire. Within the spirit of Barcelona high on the boy’s mind, this episode is based on the ideas from the Barcelona tapes but finished in Marijn’s front room. Make sure you catch the Postscript at the last minute when Marijn encapsulates ADKAR it is very cool

In this first “Matured” episode, Steve and Marijn go deep on the ADKAR process, taking the first A – Awareness (we didn’t have to look that up, we promise!!) and discuss the why, what and how to make this first step a success when rolling out Microsoft 365. Filled with examples and experience, this is adoption content matured for you to enjoy (responsibly).

In this short form podcast we are talking about the 5 components that make up the ADKAR methodology: What they are, what you need to do, what we think is necessary here and how to measure if you are on the right path. This will serve as a base for our next "Matured" episodes, in which we will look at each of those components in depth.

In this short form 18.50 minute podcast, Steve and Marijn talk from experience about 4 principles to enhance collaboration: Digital affinity, a good adoption process (that also includes the technophobes), tools that have baselined governance and a feedback mechanism for improvement.

Coming to you live from the beach in Barcelona, Steve and Marijn are trying to wrap their heads around first principle thinking. They talk about Primero Principios (PP) and the cause and effect reasoning to get to the core beliefs about a product. Of course Marijn is trying to overcomplicate things.

The first step is to define the migration strategy that ensures you have the User Story associated with the content, locations, and final resting places so that everyone understands the plan that will take several months.Marijn points out that not migration is a migrating strategy and one to consider, although not migration leads to come complexity on the roadmap.Stave points out that the tools are not about Migration, and they agree the scope is about moving active content from the old technology and location into the new Cloud-based storage toolsMigration strategy has at one end just a Lift and Shift scenario, so the data stays in the same structure but in a new location. At the other end of the scale, is to move the content and add it to a fully configured Managed Content architecture built on SharePoint, MS Teams, OneDrive as example locations.Plans and communications are a key aspect of the planning… plan and communicate it well.In simple terms, we decide to Move this document from here to there. Then the complications start where these questions need to be answeredDo the users know where the documents will be placed?How do they share contact after the migration?What files will cause issues, Macros, file links, OneNote filesWhich options the have least risksIS the definition of s simple migration just getting the users to move it themselves??Often the migration strategy starts with ‘Who is going to migrate the content’ Once it was agreed that the podcast is about their experience then users cannot lead on M365 but should provide some great user stories.The Project Team define the Migration strategyEvery organisation will require different aspects of the migration strategyStart thinking about Migration strategy at the same time as you plan how your tenant will be structureDo users follow or stay with the content, even if you roll out SPO and MS teams will users start using them if the content is not migrated.Marijn and Steve work differently around migration and adoption and they work out how many ways are there of making tenants work across the enterprise.Migration is about archive because the average document is only receiving focus for 3 months and we need a migration strategy that can deliver now.Steve disagrees with Marijn’s approach to migration which makes for interesting conversations for 2 guys standing at a bar talking crap!!Before drinking a wonderful Japanese 12-year-old whisky the boys quote Charig Patel whose statement suggested that you Know-Your-Data (content) is very profound to know what content will add value after the migration.Finally, after trying to close the conversation with a quick comment from Nikki Chapple who identified the need to de-duplicate the content before migration. Steve Points out that defining the conditions against which you judge duplicate data is difficult

Starting with a conversation about music and movies Marijn and Steve suddenly realise that it is supposed to be a technical podcast with a dose of whisky… not film music.As they realise this and move across to the podcast subject of looking at the Back-to-Basics of data in SharePoint online.Steve pushes listeners to think about how they process data and make it available as data.From a Change and Adoption basis, we teach how to manage documents when we need to decide on the form that the data is stored before just falling into the habit of using excelThe Value of the data we can use every day is reduced greatly when it is stored (and lost!!) in an application like Excel.Statistics around which applications focus on document and which focus on data was taken and it was roughly equal. But we do not teach and explain the management of information and knowledge in the same proportion.We wonder how much data is lost inside the documents we plan on migrating or the documents we are creating and uploading to SharePoint.Going back to basics for lists means looking to keep your data in data format whilst working out how you can publish it as a port and document.The boys realise that they also need to change and focus more on lists and only on documents when it makes sense. Preparing for the future use of the data will become a value in the future.New Microsoft tools mean that you can present list data as Panels and great page data. The famous whiteboard gets a Name: PATTI which gets very rude very quickly, so the boys decide on PADDI as it holds pads of paper. It now delivers more structured divergenceA warning is discussed that whilst there is the value of thinking about content data, over content documents, simply because lists are more granular.Steve surmises down the rabbit hole about creating virtual contracts creating from a bunch of re-usable items which are in fact data defining another blurred line between documents and data. “It’s a good job nobody else can here this great idea” To sum up - Don’t just focus on the content separate the data at the source, beware of the rabbit hole because more decisions are needed around access control. PowerApps and Power BI are a tool that can turn around your company’s perspective on their content.Steve and Marijn consider how much knowledge is lost when Data is stored inside content.0The boys drink Deanston Virgin Oak whisky which is one of the boy’s favourite distilleries featured on their Whisky@ease channel on YouTube. No-fuss just great whisky is a great description of the Deanston product.The round-up at the end of the podcast brings out the key thoughts that generate a few thoughts about how to approach the overall contract and data strategy across the change and adoption plans.

Steve is not confused by his dyslexia of saying this is episode 67 at all, it might be down to the Uncle Nearest the boys shared as a winter warmer after coming in from the cold.All this before talking about M365 Chicago, mentioning Commsverse https://www.commsverse.com/ again in June same place, and Steve and Marijn turn up on a few of the social photos on the web site.Steve tries to explain to Marijn why his view on Internet is a little screwed and has changed over the years and yes Steve gets difficult (surprise surprise) trying to drill down on the importance of the Intranet and why relevance is so important as a solid source of truth.Content architecture becomes a key part of the Intranet scope so that relevant information is delivered to the right people. A key decision is needed to decide if Content is pushed or pulled but only if after you have defined the company content architecture.Its important to ensure that you have a great content taxonomy of content so that what arrives is relevant to the user viewing the page… One page about health and safety but it delivers the relevant H&S rule based on where I work and what I do. A user should not have to search for a specific Safety information sheet when the Intranet knows what I do and where I work.Marijn brings back the model for content management as A, B C and now adds D. in a model that looked like a Whisky StillScope of an Intranet is defined without reference to internal communications.A new approach to publishing is required and audiences are well defined to cover languages and culture.The Intranet is about content driven by a growing number of technologies that create the Intranet and can simplify access to relevant content based on the role and location of the user.The mechanics of an Internet are briefly discussed on how easy it is put together a Hub sites and a few connected sites. But the real work is about ensuring the right people see the most relevant information.Yammer gets a good mention because of its ability to provide funnels of information well deliveredFinally, the boys return to Goa. This time a none-peated version from John-Paul. Finally Steve and Marijn touch on Push and pull of information through the Intranet.

Marijn and Steve fail miserably to define content types with a complex 'deep' example first time around but eventually Steve talks about his favourite subject ‘naked Chocolate’ and once you hear this you get a simple definition about what a content type is.The basics are covered to talk about re-usable metadata and then move across to the value of being able to identify specific content across large number of sites. Steve gets pedantic (surprise surprise) about how CT’s are synchronized and copied as a separate object with a link and the value of this in search.Emphasis is placed on the importance of planning content types as an architecture as part of the information architecture across the enterprise. Marijn asks a question about how the hierarchy of content types work and when should a content type be created as a new top level or latch into an existing structure.Marijn starts to take on the role of question master to add some structure to the review of Content types to ensure the right information is available.Content types are going through a re-birth like classic pages when to Modern pages. This means that some of the existing functionality is removed whilst the rebirth of the concept is modernised.The boys taste a South African whisky created from Corn that surprising enough they like and enjoy.

Marijn and Steve open their Christmas presents from Microsoft and peek of what’s cool and what’s cooler. They touch on the complexity of collaboration, the growth of Adoption and the fact that Compliance is the ugly Christmas sweater that is a little nerdy and growing more complex. Marijn talks about Socks and Beanies with fairy dust on as he talks about the gift if the Microsoft List before discussing if he would walk around with a Scrotum beanie label on his head. Conclusion is that Lists are cool and going to sub-zero levels of coolness.Then Big Peat makes us both smile with a Kick in the balls!! Finally, Steve must be told by Marijn to stop because this podcast can go on and on so don’t stop at the Whisky some cool stuff at the end you do not want to miss… so many cool presents.Steve and Marijn open their Christmas presents for 2021Is MS Teams trying to do too much, its more navigate than content… the one App to rule them all.Marijn has a new consultant tag line “Its manageable” Is Loop the answer to the complexity of MS teams UI trying to get you to everything…Steve decides that his new 2022 Lego characters will be the personas for the 2022 adoption program.Compliance gets a good going over with Steve talking about Auto-Auto-Auto equals expensive and more expensive but cool, very very cool… and complex so work for consultants well into the 2020’sWe had to feel the pain of going through Microsoft strategy of the modern pages, libraries and lists to get to a point where Microsoft can now bring out rapid functionality development on Forms, Lists, Power Platform etc.Stream for SPO must be the present you save until last because you have more to gain from it. Video still needs to become a medium that the average Joe uses every day. But the new functionality coming out like comments live in the video, and transcripts are back after missing for some time.Steve sent the last podcast through the transcript service and Marijn gets transcribed as Moron 😊 At the final present on Stream, Steve adds in some pixie dust and starts to imagine some of the cool stuff Microsoft could do which includes auto editing a 30-minute meeting to a 5-minute video and including the emotive expressions to identify the important items or the heavily discussed items in the meeting.Finally Big Peat is tasted, and the boys conclude about how big and complex M365 is becoming and almost impossible to track and be the expert on everything.