Spotlight on Bob Mixon, SharePoint Rock Star

With all due respect to James Brown, Bob Mixon may be bucking for the title of "the hardest working man in SharePoint." A three-time SharePoint MVP, Mixon is: the principal owner of Mixon Consulting; a much in-demand SharePoint consultant and speaker; managing editor of the SharePoint Beagle newsletter; and a member of Bamboo's Technical Advisory Board.  Mixon generously took some time out of his busy schedule to sit for the debut interview in our Spotlighting the Rock Stars of SharePoint series.

You're a three-time SharePoint MVP.  What's the most satisfying aspect of being a SharePoint consultant who bears the MVP title?

I thoroughly enjoy working with the community, traveling to SharePoint User Groups and speaking at conferences.  There is a real sense of satisfaction when I am able to help someone with a business problem. 

What's a "typical" SharePoint consulting job like for you?  Do you work with both small and large organizations?

Absolutely, we do work with small and large organizations.  There have been many SharePoint implementations that are in their 2^nd or 3^rd iteration.  Some of these iterations are deliberate and others are as a result of companies not understanding what it takes to gain the greatest value for the business user.  It's a complete paradigm shift for users to move from file shares and local drives to a document management system.  Information lifecycle management, governance, security, scope and context are not something business users have had to think about in the past.

The typical SharePoint Implementation project we work on involves complete lifecycle management including strategy & planning, requirements, information assessment, enterprise information architecture, design, prototyping, development and education.  This can be a monumental task for a company who has never truly implemented an Information Asset Management Solution.  So, Mixon Consulting helps these companies streamline the complete implementation process and produce quick ROI. 

Would you share with our readers your pre-SharePoint technical background?

Oh boy, now you're asking me to age myself!  But here it goes...  I have been in the technology industry for more than 25 years; starting as a developer, moving into project management then business ownership.  My career started in the aerospace vertical, writing embedded system solutions for a division of NASA.  Thoroughly enjoying automation, I then moved into robotics; of the industrial type.  I spent about 10 years working in the automotive vertical, writing software for assembly-line robotics.

I then found my home in information management systems, building solutions of varying types -- everything from database solutions for finance/insurance management, to large Internet-facing sites.  From there, I began to graduate into enterprise system architecture, design and project management.  One of my notable accomplishments during this period was Monster.com, where I led the design, architecture and development team responsible for all back-end accounting systems. 

Given your background, was there a particular trigger event that caused you to direct your attentions towards SharePoint?

Absolutely!  I was involved in numerous solutions that were similar to what SharePoint offered using technologies such as ASP.NET, IBM WebSphere and so on.  These solutions were complex, very expensive and just didn't deliver all of the features business users needed, i.e., decision support.

I started working with SharePoint in 2002, the very first version, and saw the potential right away.  As with any new technology of this type, I knew it would take time to get it right but the pieces were there and it was being backed by Microsoft.

For years, long before SharePoint, we have been looking for ways of delivering feature-rich decision support systems where unstructured data played a key role.  Microsoft SharePoint had that promise!

You formed Mixon Consulting a little over a year ago, and are the Principal Owner of the enterprise.  Can you tell us a bit about how you came to form the company, your vision for the company, and a bit about your partners?

My vision for the company has never changed; we focus on enterprise-class information architecture and proven implementation techniques to deliver business value on the Microsoft SharePoint platform.  I truly believe we have a unique model that is geared towards organizations who perceive information as an asset.  We drive value by thoroughly understanding the business user's contextual needs, then implementing SharePoint solutions in such a way as to guide them into the "true" information future. 

Even more recently than the formation of Mixon Consulting, you launched the Mastering SharePoint site.  How does Mastering SharePoint fit into Mixon Consulting?

Our Mastering SharePoint community site is an integral part of our business model for both training and consulting services.  This community differs primarily because we focus on strategy, planning, enterprise information architecture and design; which are unique in the industry.  We do have administration, operations and development forums; however, these aren't areas where companies and individuals are encountering the greatest problems.  It takes years of effort to truly master enterprise information architecture and the art and science of findability.  This is where our community shines!

We have delivered our Mastering SharePoint series training to hundreds and hundreds of people around the world this year and we want to make sure they have a place to come when business and implementation questions arise.  The same holds true for our consulting engagements - we want a place for individuals to come for answers.

Our community is monitored by all Mixon Consulting staff, and industry experts.

You recently kicked off a series of free webinars on findability in SharePoint, the first installment of which I was happy to attend.  How has the feedback been so far? 

It is interesting to watch the industry as the paradigm begins to shift.  We have almost 300 people registered for this series from around the world and the feedback varies depending on each individual's need and perspective.  If the expectation is to deliver a simple document management solution without consideration for scope, context, quality, sustainability and security, then what you learn in this webinar series may seem like overkill.  However, if one values their information as an asset and truly wishes to change the way their organization uses that information for decision support, then this is definitely for you!

We have had some attendees come back and tell us, "you are out of your mind," meaning, there is no way they can take the time necessary to gain this level of information value.  On the other hand, we have many others coming back and saying this is what they are really seeking.

Another interesting observation I have had is the number of companies who have already invested significant sums of budget on the technologies, rolled it out to the business and it failed.  And, by failed, I mean the user (information consumer) had needs and expectations far beyond what was delivered.  I refer to this as the gaping expectation chasm between what technology delivers and what the business really needs.  If you are interested in more on this topic, I wrote an article last month titled Findability: Tools and Technology Alone is not the Answer - Part 1. 

Do you anticipate the findability series to be the first in a series of these free webinar offerings?  If so, can you share some of the topic ideas under consideration?

Yes, we now have the infrastructure and ability to deliver free webinars on a very regular basis; our initial thoughts being 2 times each month.  Our primary focus is on helping organizations truly understand information as an asset, and what it takes to get there.  We will be focusing on governance, functional business requirements, information consumption within the scope and context of business user needs, enterprise search and more!  The best place for individuals to learn of our webinar schedule is on MixonConsulting.com.

Also, since we are on the topic of free webinars, I wanted to let you know about another series we will be starting next month.  K2 will soon be releasing a new BPM/workflow product specifically targeted to "no-code" workflow on the SharePoint platform.  This product is named K2 blackpoint and is available for beta download here.  If you look towards the bottom of the K2 blackpoint site, you will see that Mixon Consulting has been named the premier partner for delivering K2 blackpoint training.  Part of this training model will include free bimonthly webinars.  You will also find this event schedule on MixonConsulting.com. 

This week you're kicking off your first Mastering SharePoint Virtually Live workshops, a comprehensive four-day workshop on SharePoint planning, architecture and design.  Tell us a little about this inaugural series, and about future topics for the Virtually Live workshops.

Actually, this next week (August 12^th through 15^th) will be the second time we are delivering our Mastering SharePoint: Planning, Architecture and Design workshop online.  Isn't it fantastic to have the technology that allows us to deliver this using a model that allows individuals to attend from anywhere in world they wish?  During the past 18 months, we have only been delivering this workshop in a public training facility setting and our customers told us some couldn't do it.  So we listened, and now deliver it both ways, i.e., live and virtually live. 

Backing up a little, let's talk about the SharePoint Beagle newsletter.  How did that come about, and how did you go about seeking out your regular contributors?

The SharePoint Beagle newsletter came about as the result of my wanting to share with the community in another way that lends itself to certain needs.  The industry has taught me people have different needs.  Meaning, some like to surf the Web and others like to have information delivered to their doorstep.

Another concern I had when I started the Beagle was the amount of pure e-mail spam individuals were receiving.  I wanted to deliver a newsletter that was informative and of value to the SharePoint community.  We try our best to deliver "value-add" SharePoint-specific articles and information in every issue.  To be honest, that model has been very successful; we publish the newsletter once or twice each month to thousands and thousands around the world.

The second part of your questions was "how do I come about contributors"?  For the most part, people come to me with articles.  There are many out there in SharePoint-land that have a lot to say and want it published; the SharePoint Beagle is a great medium for that.  So, here is my shameless SharePoint Beagle sales-pitch for the day; if you would like to be published, shoot me an e-mail and let's talk about it; I'd love to hear from you... Bob@MixonConsulting.com.

Let's wrap up with a few questions that we like to ask of all SharePoint experts that we talk to, beginning with what's your favorite feature/functionality of SharePoint?

I like working with the new version of SharePoint, MOSS 2007, because it is a platform for building scalable, feature rich, information asset management solutions.  There isn't another platform on the market that we can deliver such rich functionality to small, medium and large organizations alike. 

Conversely, what do you feel is SharePoint's biggest weakness/drawback?

That would have to be the limited social features such as content ratings, personal tagging and commenting. 

What is your vision of collaborative computing five years from now?

I believe we are seeing a completely new way of working with information; truly viewing it as an asset.  Maybe even the most important asset an organization has.  The future brings to the consumer, the ability to make informed, intelligent, accurate and proactive business decisions based on a holistic view of both structured and unstructured information. 

On your Linkedin page, you list your interests as:  Development, SharePoint, New Technology, Strategic Planning, Architecture, Information Architecture, Taxonomy, Harley-Davidson, management.  One of these things is not like the others ... other than Harleys, what hobbies or interests do you enjoy indulging in when you're not immersed in the SharePoint ecosystem?

Well, I must say, jumping on my scooter and riding is the best way for me to forget about computers and get back in touch with my freedom and Mother Nature!  When I'm not working or riding, I thoroughly enjoy travel and music.  I am an avid guitar player, started when I was 5 years old, and love music of all types.

One thing many don't know about me is my love for aviation.  Since I have never been able to afford a real airplane, I fly radio-controlled airplanes.  I started flying when I was very young and have advanced to what is called Pylon Racing.  The intricate details, new compound materials, engines and fuel systems rocket the racers 200+ MPH and it's a blast to be a part of!