NOTE: This method of estimation does require some level of experience with SharePoint

SharePoint branding is no small undertaking.  I have been through many of these projects and have quoted even more and over time you begin to get very comfortable with the elements that constitute a page in SharePoint.  Each one of these elements must be considered when trying to determine the scale of your project but once you have mastered all the pieces you can used them to your advantage to more accurately quote a project and break down your work into parts that are much easier to digest.

In order for this method to work for you, it’s necessary that you have enough experience with SharePoint to estimate how long it might take you to build each one of these items.  It also requires that you understand design process.  The list of required deliverables for a SharePoint branding project is not long and not rocket science but you need to understand how the design process will wrap around these deliverables and how much time must be allowed for these activities.  read more…

SharePoint is a widely used web and intranet platform across all industries and while there are many people out there who are SharePoint Experts in one form or another, I find the branding community is still quite small.  My theory is that being really good at branding SharePoint requires a unique mix of design skill, development savvy, usability chops, consulting acumen and an extraordinarily high tolerance for pain.  Okay, that last one is just me poking fun at the platform.  For those of us who have made a career of branding this wonderfully complex product, the challenges can be extreme but the potential rewards are great.  read more…

I spend a lot of time talking about users.  What is the user doing?  What does the user want?  What would make users more apt to use the tools? How can we increase the productivity of the user?  SharePoint is designed to be user centered which means if the users don’t like it or understand the value of it, it’s going nowhere. But how to you get employees engaged?  What is the secret to a vibrant intranet?

I have always been a huge advocate for the SharePoint Training and Support program.  I firmly believe that to have a successful environment you cannot deploy SharePoint without a clear support program in place that puts the power of SharePoint in the hands of users.  In previous SharePoint TAO posts I have mentioned the three G’s; Governance, Guidance and Groundwork.  In this series of posts I intend to expand on some of these principles and give you the blue print for a successful and sustainable SharePoint environment that will be heavily adopted and increase user productivity in measurable ways. read more…