Introduction

SharePoint governance is one of those topics that frequently comes up. Yet, whenever I have heard it, it was always a little ambiguous about what it actually means or what it should include. Documenting a governance “plan” was a common start, but what happens then? There seemed to be tons of resources available that dedicate their attention to governance plans and how to document one, but I found a gap when I looked beyond this and looked at how to put governance into practice.

When I was new with SharePoint administration, I felt the pain of that gap while I tried to figure out where to go next and how to apply some of these standard governance plans in practice. Later, as I moved into consulting, I felt the gaps again with my clients. Where could I point them so that they would have clear direction on what are the actions they need to take to put their governance into practice?

This book grew out of those gaps. It is a collection of my own personal practices, practices I picked up from colleagues and clients, and general practices I have collected over the years. It is a collection of e-mails I sent to advise clients, notes I have captured to record what worked, and lessons learned from where I have faced challenges. I wanted to gather it all in this book to try to fill in some of the gaps and share it all with you. My goal is to give you that missing link for some of those things you need to do and to point you in the right direction for how to get started putting them in practice.

You will notice that throughout this book, I leave the level of documentation you need and the formality of your governance process all as a decision for you. After you choose which strategies in this book fit your needs, I will focus on giving you the tools you need to turn those strategies into actions. I took this practical approach to governance because I believe this addresses the most critical aspect of governance: the things you do that have an impact. Documentation absolutely is important, and I encourage you to generate documentation, but this is not a book on or about documentation. Instead, this book focuses on those practical actions that you can take right away to make a positive difference in your SharePoint deployment.

I take an agile approach to governance, because I like the idea of making subtle changes frequently and applying practical governance ideas as I go, rather than over-invest in a lot of upfront planning that delays realizing any of the potential governance value. You might have a lot of planning and negotiating for certain policies, but you also have opportunities to make subtle tweaks as you go to unlock some of that immediate value.

Governance can be a huge topic and it can be a little mystifying. As we work through this book together, I will attempt to demystify it for you. In the process, I focus on some core governance areas where I walk you through how to take governance theories and transform them into actions. I am excited to have this chance to share my governance experiences with you. Let’s get started!