Presentation:Sharepoint and Legal KM
Slides from my presentation on Sharepoint and Legal KM (subtitled “The Good, the Bad & the Ugly”) which I shared during the KM for the Legal Profession conference this week.
I ran the same session twice, with great audiences both times. Indeed, the best part of each was the discussion which followed afterwards. Many firms had stories of the challenges they faced which will hopefuly help those looking at an implementation in the future.
One of most worrying problems came from the people who had Sharepoint selected (and sometimes installed) without their input. Staggering.
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Other issues raised included:
- the complexity of an implementation was not made clear to customers
- the hidden challenges of an implementation can make your project more difficult, late and overbudget.
Of course, we also had some examples of its simplicity and success which I hope people found encouraging.
I shared some links earlier and if people find them useful, let me know and I’ll share some more.
April 25th, 2008 at 4:32 am
Neil -
Thanks for sharing the slides. I love the subtitle.
I think many firms just end up with SharePoint, rather than seeking out other Enterprise 2.0 platforms that can combine with firm resources.
We started with SharePoint 1, migrated to SharePoint 2 and just upgraded to SharePoint 2007. It is cliche in talking about Microsoft products, but the third version finally comes in close to finally being good. As with most Mircrosoft products, an ecosystem of add-ons is developing to improve the product.
It will be interesting to see where it goes.
April 25th, 2008 at 5:16 am
Hi Doug,
The slides are a little less balanced than the presentation & conversations that followed (or at least how I wanted it to be).;
Certainly there were stories in the audience of IT selecting a product without considering the problem & consulting the other stakeholders. I can’t imagine any project in a law firm where that approach would be successful. Given that most senior IT people tend to be 40+ (and should have learnt their lesson by now), I am surprised they have yet to learn the implications of ignoring stakeholders.
On the bright side, there were also stories of where it worked well, and for many, that technology departments will chose it regardless means it’s time to start planning. The “connectedness” will appeal to lawyers, and the Mysites (which I did not speak about) could be used to placate the one or two lawyers who want a homepage that suits their needs exactly.
Cheers,
Neil