EP 128: @ESPC with CoreView: The view improves when clouds collide

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.

12 Juni 20221h 5min

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.

4 Juni 202227min

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

29 Maj 20221h 3min

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

23 Maj 202222min

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.

14 Maj 20221h 9min

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...

5 Maj 20221h 5min

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!!

16 Apr 20221h 5min

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.

6 Apr 20221h 1min