Customizing the SharePoint Service
Those who customize their SharePoint deployment tend to also have the highest satisfaction with it. Although that also assumes that they have customized it in a way that is manageable and maintainable, and does not simply paint them in a corner and cause them grief. One might not be as satisfied if they implement their customizations in a way that causes a major limiting constraint or is unnecessarily costly to maintain. One might find customizations that are unstable or cause support headaches are just as unsatisfying. Yet you can increase your satisfaction with SharePoint by customizing it, and you can do this in a way that does not constrain you or add unnecessary support costs.
The chapters in this part focus on factors specific to custom design and development as they relate to governing a SharePoint service. These chapters highlight key strategies and considerations for all the different types of customizations, and they include approaches on how you can design development and testing processes. As I have done in other parts of this book, I will leave the degree of formality or informality of this documentation up to your own discretion to fit with how your organization operates.