About
About the SharePoint Dude:
The SharePoint Dude is an enthusiast of Microsoft SharePoint and related products. I spent 11 years at Microsoft, doing technical support, knowledge base writing, and pre-sales. Most recently, I was an Information Worker Solution Specialist, focused on providing collaborative solutions through the use of Microsoft’s Office Suite (i.e. Office, SharePoint, InfoPath, OneNote, Project, Visio, etc.).
After Microsoft, I went to work for a local Gold Certified Partner as a Portals and Collaboration Consultant. I spent about a year there and moved on to work for a former customer of mine in the Financial sector.
Currently, I work as the Collaboration Systems Manager for a Financial Services company in the Mid-Market segment.
Over this time period, I have had the very unique opportunity to have been the Manufacturer/Vendor, Salesperson, Service Provider, and Consumer. This gives me a unique perspective on how these products and solutions are sold, serviced, and used in the real world.
I have since, used that knowledge and experience to help develop my own Agile-type of methodology, specifically designed for portal planning and deployment. Like other methodologies, this is a concept and a process. However, there are two elements that distinguish the PORTAL Method from other Agile methods:
- There is much more documentation. Most Agile methods are just that – agile. They tend to adjust on the fly and to accommodate for certain things (depending upon the Agile process’ proposed method).
- The PORTAL Method is specifically designed for a niche purpose – creating successful portals.
For more information on the essence of The PORTAL Method, please see my introductory post on The PORTAL Method.
Please note: This method is not a technical “how-to” on SharePoint. It is a conceptual process, to keep your project organized, on-track, and well-documented. It is designed to make the process easier for novices, or small teams to handle with greater ease and fewer resources.
I do not claim to be the foremost expert on SharePoint, or to be able to answer all of your technical questions. I’m just a guy with resources and an opinion. I do not claim to be a foremost expert on any one of the products mentioned above (though I do have a fair bit of expertise in these areas). I’m here to share my knowledge and experiences with the world, in the hopes that they may be of use to some of you. Most of the information is provided for free and only intended as a “brain dump”, so I can sleep at night without thinking about SharePoint. 
I hope you enjoy the site. Please stay, browse, contribute, and return! I will be updating this site frequently from this point, forward.
Sincerely,
The SharePoint Dude.
The SharePoint Dude is an independent publication and is not affiliated with, nor has it been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft® Corporation. Microsoft® and SharePoint® are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.
