Office 365 Distilled

This is the link to the Brainstorm Infographic used in the podcast, and at the end of the page is the link to buy a bottle of the great whisky we taste in this podcast, sponsored by Braeburn Whisky.

BrainStorm - 33 Ways To Unlock More Software Value.

Steve and Marijn took this sheet and pulled numbers from a bag to select random values to apply to the Values sheet provided by Brainstorm Inc. 

Use Polls: Marijn immediately thinks Dancing Poles and Steve reminds every one of their brilliant ideas to create a Gentlemen’s Club together mode image. 

Microsoft have just released a new update to make it easier for polls to be included in meetings.

Build Activities: Steve Takes this as an opportunity to consider gamification and the various performance scores available from Microsoft.  They are all activity-based actions that generate indications that the tools are being used and actions are being taken by

Explain Why the Change: Reference is made to the SouthCoast Summit where Steve and Marijn will be running a workshop at this event on Saturday 15th October

Bring in an Expert:  Bring in an Expert or call a friend was referenced and Steve has an opportunity to make his favourite Experts quote (listen to check it out)   These people bring in their experience and ability to lead but Steve turns this around a little by saying for a M365 Project The Business are the experts!

Be available for Help: Being available is possibly the best way to add value to the business.  Steve asks Marijn how he ensures people have access to the resources that deliver success.  A single point of contact is crucial for value which can be an email address or a SharePoint site or regular AMA sessions.

Learn what your users need:  Understand the User stories from a deep dive into the business getting to the coal face and describing what the users want to have delivered that will deliver value.  Marijn described an approach used previous with a Mnemonic based on a Spy, in Dutch.

Finally, Marijn points out that the value is what the user NEEDS not what IT thinks they want!

Digitize Training:  Marijn talks about learning pathways and Steve points out that the same courses are available in Viva Learning, so they are available in SharePoint and in MS Teams… 

Steve shares a few nuggets from Viva Learning and Marijn gets distracted by a ringing phone and cuts off the girlfriend… but I am a witness we are recording.

Gather Feedback:  It does not matter what the feedback is, just continue to get feedback.  Steve suggests that you should kick off as early as possible with a poll before your awareness campaign kicks off to confirm

Personalise your Training:   This about sing the Audience features to suggest training across the business.  Think about the matrix of Role v Skills so that Managers do not need to know how to create a page, but it would be good for them to understand how audiences work.  However, both need to understand pages and how they work.

Custom videos or page instructions for the ‘feel’ of the company so that they have customise training branded for the company that feels a little special.

Our Sponsor Braeburn Whisky is described and of course Steve and Marijn have invested with Braeburn with 3 barrels between them already to do some cool things with 😊

Braeburn provided a 14 year old whisky from the Loch Lomond for us to taste which was truly great peated whisky available from their web site Hill Climb 14 Bottle - Cask 88 not many bottle left. 

After talking about recently attended events we learn that Marijn likes only soft things against his skin, but the boys resist the opportunity for a fun discussion on this fact.  They talk about the new news around AD and AAD groups where AAD groups can now be nested.

There is disagreement about the copying of profiles and if the AAD groups also get copied across to new users based on another user... Steve thought not and Marijn started to doubt... but from a quick lookup it appears there is a user template option now available and some Microsoft Flows that will not assist in this role.

Bon Vivant is Marijn’s new Viva name, which is apparently a thing

Eventually, Steve and Marijn move on to the subject at hand which is Business Architecture.  The idea being it is important to understand the business processes around this architecture and then use M365 architecture to add value to the areas that most need a change or improvement.

We take a look at a specific Business architecture working across the business and for the podcast, we tool the Hire to Retire process.  

We take the various aspects of the process and choose the appropriate Microsoft365 application and tool that best improves that aspect of the process.  Nothing is limited as this is after all only a podcast.

And of course, neither Steve nor Marijn has to build this so reality can take a side-line.  Especially when Steve takes an AI chat that creates an automatic Head-hunter application to go find the perfect candidate.

After completing the process, it is time to relax with a whisky from Finland... so we finished the Finish whisky at the end of the podcast: Kyro Rye ruby port.

Division of the implementation of M365 into 3 spaces...

Understanding the Need:  Our primary communication is speech, it’s the fastest way 2 human beings can exchange ideas, and frustrations and collaborate over solutions.

Identify the current risks: Breaking down the processes that are prone to fail or that everyone understands are vulnerable for some reason.

Ignore the normal: There are a few traditional ways of delivering M365 but if you want to deliver M365 with value then use everything you have learned to focus on what can Create Impact Faster

Check out Wee Dram EP2 and understand how you need to breakdown barriers to deliver M365 Value

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 for

Don’t let the style take away the main priority that M365 projects are about changing and improving communications and collaboration

You 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. 

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.

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 legs

The 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 maybe

Steve 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

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

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.

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 screen

Conversation 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...