MOSSy Business

New Medical Condition: SharePointea Sitecollectionfearophobia

chris.mullendore — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:19:57 GMT

You may not have heard of this serious medical condition, but it exists in most people. It is the irrational fear of SharePoint Site Collections (and particularly Self Service Site Creation). The primary driver for this fear is that allowing people to...(read more)

It’s 10pm. Do you know what your server is doing?

chris.mullendore — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:58:29 GMT

It’s really surprising how many people really don’t. They might think they do… but they really don’t… or they don’t take a full inventory of the possibilities. Yes, most of us are relatively good at making some attempt to push scheduled activities off...(read more)

SharePoint Code Acceptance Process

chris.mullendore — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:09:51 GMT

While most companies make sincere attempts to stay as “out of the box” as possible, there comes a point at which custom or 3rd party code becomes necessary to meet the needs of the organization. This is NOT a bad thing… SharePoint is designed to be extended....(read more)

Enable Page Tracing

chris.mullendore — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:41:18 GMT

There are times when you really want to know how your page was processed, what controls were loaded, etc. Well, there’s an old trick that not every developer knows they can turn on… page tracing output. This is easily done, and I like the idea of doing...(read more)

The “but no changes were made on the server?!” Fallacy

chris.mullendore — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:21:34 GMT

We hear this in the field constantly… a server begins experiencing difficulty or somehow acts “different”… and the first thing we hear is usually something along the lines of “no changes were made!” Truth be told, there is only one time when no changes...(read more)

Separation of Roles

chris.mullendore — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:18:08 GMT

We see many instances in which the SQL DBA for SharePoint is the same as the SharePoint administrator, which also happens to be the same person as the security admin, and the support staff, and the etc., etc., etc. Even though we see these roles blended...(read more)

Clarifications: Collaboration vs. Publishing

chris.mullendore — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:59:36 GMT

In SharePoint-Land there are two concepts that people have a hard time separating out: “Collaboration” and “Content Management”. A lot of people like to blend them together, use methods, features, technology, or processes… but the truth is these are separate...(read more)

Right vs. Wrong (not)

chris.mullendore — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 10:47:21 GMT

Someone recently posted a comment about one of my previous blog entries, and their comment in their blog reminded me of a point I’ve been meaning to make for some time: (Cross-posted here ) It's always an honor when someone felt your blog entry...(read more)

Portal Site Navigation Decisions

chris.mullendore — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:38:00 GMT

Equal only to branding, your SharePoint portal navigation structure has one of the biggest impacts on the usability of your site. Done correctly, it reflects how people in your organization work (and how you would like them to work), the importance of...(read more)

The Minimal Full-Deployment Infrastructure

chris.mullendore — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:16:00 GMT

When building your SharePoint environment, your infrastructure should consist of much more than just your production farm. This is the Minimal acceptable farm, and should be considered a requirement of a successful deployment....(read more)

The Value of Effeciency

chris.mullendore — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:13:00 GMT

It's sometimes difficult to justify a significant investment in a knowledge management system... it seems that getting a reasonable amount of funds to properly invest in and deploy a tool who's basic promise is to help people work together better (the...(read more)

What vs. Why

chris.mullendore — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:34:00 GMT

Documentation: Saying the word makes most geeks cringe, cry, or run to the comfort of the datacenter for safety. Aside from hating to write it, there's a perception of "What do I need to document for? I know what I did?!". First answer: No, you probably...(read more)

Closing the Technology vs. Business Gap

chris.mullendore — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:57:00 GMT

I'm Chris Mullendore, a Microsoft Premier Field Engineer focusing on the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server ("MOSS" for those in-the-know) product line. In my prior lives I was Knowledge Manager for one company, and a software developer for another, meaning...(read more)