BPC: Ben Curry Delivers the 'Top 10 Administrative Bad Practices' for SharePoint

Turning the tables in his afternoon session at the Best Practices Conference, Ben Curry chose to spotlight the "Top 10 Administrative Bad Practices in SharePoint."  Beginning with a definition of a best practice, the engaging co-author of the definitive book on the subject, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Best Practices, said that a best practice: adapts to culture, politics, business, and security; is intellectually simple; aligns with organizational strategy; provides intentional, deliberate practice for a given set of requirements; and is often different between verticals.

Ben went on to define the components of a bad practice as: ignores expert advice; doesn't account for business requirements; directly conflicts with design; and ignores corporate culture.  Warning in advance that he would have more than 10, Ben listed as the top 10 (good as his word, there were actually 11 as it turned out) bad practices, in no particular order:

1. No implementation methodology.  To list just a few of the minimum implementation plan Ben shared: get stakeholders involved; gather requirements; create a project plan; get training; prototype solutions; execute a test plan, and document, document, document.
2. Lack of requirements.  It's crucial to gather requirements for business, technical, performance, and policy.  Defining "need" versus "want" and prioritizing accordingly is a recommended starting point when assessing the gathered requirements.
3. Insufficient training.  Everyone can benefit from training, but it's especially important when initially deploying SharePoint.
4. No governance plan.  Ben listed as a few preliminary governance requirements: backup/restore; usage reports; taxonomy; retention; antivirus; authentication; and versioning.
5. Not using solutions for customization.  Unless you use solutions, it's difficult to maintain consistency, and your maintenance costs can increase dramatically.
6. Insufficient Disaster Recovery (DR) planning and testing.  Even with a comprehensive DR plan in place, it's highly likely that not everything will go smoothly the first time it's put into action, but without any plan in place, well, you don't want to be in that position.
7. Lack of capacity planning and testing.  Because what works for 1 user may not work for 500.  "Plan for the worst, hope for the best."
8. No configuration / change management.  As with DR planning, without it, you're really asking for trouble.
9. Solving every problem with SharePoint.  SharePoint is a tool, and you need to use the right tool for the job.  A few areas Ben suggested that SharePoint probably shouldn't address are: CRM; ERP; time & expense; portfolio management; resource management.
10. No information organization / information architecture.  Because as everyone knows, "garbage in, garbage out."
11. Solving every problem with code.  Ben suggests using out-of-the-box Web Parts as often as possible, and referring to the original business requirements before customizing SharePoint.

Speaking privately after his session, Ben mentioned that his main concern when presenting at the Best Practices Conference is to be sure to address his remarks towards the people in the audience who need to go back to work on Monday and implement what they've learned.  With his clearly presented bad practices (and the even more important flipside - his advice on how to counteract those bad practices) session, Ben provided a roomful of people with a wealth of valuable information, and the very steps they'll need to act on that information when they get back to the office on Monday.  Mission accomplished.