SharePoint Maturity Model and User Adoption Assessments

1. Bill English, CEO
Mindsharp
UNDERSTANDING YOUR DEPLOYMENT
FROM A MATURITY MODEL AND USER
ADOPTION ASSESSMENT

3. About the Speaker
 Bill English
 11 years as a SharePoint Server MVP
 Author on 14 books (whew!)
 Co-Owner of Mindsharp & Best Practices Conference
 Blog: sharepoint.mindsharpblogs.com/bill
 Twitter: @minnesotabill
 LinkedIn: Bill English
 Email: bill@mindsharp.com
 Current Position: CEO of Mindsharp
 Hometown: Maple Grove, MN
 Latitude: 45.129793; Longitude: -93.47391
 -6:00GMT

4. About Mindsharp
Mindsharp® Purpose
To best understand and deliver the essential
education that our customers need to be
successful.
Mindsharp Vision
To be a strategic partner with our
customers, helping them do more than they
thought possible through the people and
technology they already have.

5. Where is Minnesota?

6. What is Minnesota Known For?

7. July 6-12…

9. BUSINESS-FOCUSED MATURITY
MODEL FOR SHAREPOINT & USER
ADOPTION MODEL

10. Business-Focused Scales
 Adoption Patterns
 Organization Commitment
 Feature Mapping
 Environmental Considerations
 Skills (Competence)

11. September 2011 “SharePoint Adoption: Content And Collaboration Is Just The Start”
Sites And Collaboration Are SharePoint’s Sweet Spots

12. September 2011 “SharePoint Adoption: Content And Collaboration Is Just The Start”
Sites And Collaboration Are SharePoint’s Sweet Spots (Cont.)

13. Start Big
Bottom Up
Top Down
Start Small

14. Adoption Theory
 Adoption occurs through a process in which:
1. A new idea (innovation)
2. Is communicated through certain channels
3. Over time
4. Among members of a social system
 If it’s perceived as a new idea, it’s an
innovation

15. #1: New Idea
SharePoint Adoption

16. Adoption Theory & SharePoint
 SharePoint is a new idea.
 I would submit that each “feature set” within
SharePoint is a distinct innovation opportunity
 Reinvention will cause more innovation on
the application of SharePoint to business
needs and processes

17. Rate of Adoption
 Why are some new ideas adopted swiftly (cell
phones or iPads) and others take decades, if
at all? (Metric vs. Imperial systems)
 There are 5 characteristics of any innovation
that must be taken into account, as perceived
by the individual, if you’re going to
understand the rate (how fast or slow) of
adoption.
 This applies directly to SharePoint.

18. Relative Advantage
 Degree to which an innovation is perceived as
better than the idea it supersedes or is
replacing
 Does not matter if SharePoint has “objective”
advantage. What does matter is if the
individual perceives SharePoint as
advantageous.

19. Compatibility
 Degree to which an innovation is perceived as
being consistent with the existing
values, past experiences, and the needs of
potential adopters.
 SharePoint might be incompatible with:
 Existing ECM systems
 Existing intranet systems
 Existing information flow processes
 Another political ploy by group(s) with turf
issues??

20. Complexity
 Degree to which an innovation is perceived as
difficult to understand and use.
 The quality of relationships and the opinions
within the social system are foundational to
this characteristic
 New ideas that are simple to understand are
more readily adopted.
 This is why “dosing” out SharePoint features
is such a good idea.

21. Trialability
 Degree to which an innovation may be
experimented with on a limited basis.
 New ideas that can be tried on the
“installment plan” will generally be adopted
more quickly.
 “Learn by doing” overcomes risk and
uncertainty
 This is why training is so important to a
SharePoint deployment

22. Observability
 Degree to which the results of an innovation
are visible to others.
 The easier it is for individuals to see the
results of an innovation, the more likely they
are to adopt.
 Stimulates peer discussions
 Leads to re-invention

23. Reinvention & Technology
Clusters
 Reinvention is the degree to which an
innovation is changed or modified by a users
in the process of adoption.
 Technology Clusters consists of
multiple, distinguishable elements that are
perceived as being closely interrelated.
 “Package” innovations are usually adopted more
rapidly, assuming the five previous characteristics
are in play

24. Reinvention as
Personalization
 Reinvention helps adopters customize an
innovation to fit their unique situation.
 Innovations are adopted more rapidly when
they can be reinvented.

25. Adoption: Start
Small, Bottom Up Top Down
Start Small
Start Big
• Relative Advantage: Show
how the solution eases pain
• Compatiblity: “Work up”
• Complexity: KISS, “Dose”
• Trialability: Training, Sandbox
• Observability: Learn/deploy in
groups
Bottom Up

26. Adoption: Start
Big, Bottom Up Top Down
Start Small
Start Big
Simplicity is Paramount. High visilbility leads to additional
conflict. Emphasize Relative Advantage and Compatibility.
Keep Complexity at Bay. Plan for Reinvention. Dose out in
clusters, if possible.
Bottom Up

27. Adoption: Start
Small, Top Down Top Down
• Likely a “pet project”
• Focus on point solution
• Emphasize compatibility and
complexity
• POC = Trialability
Start Small
Start Big
• Internal report = Observability
Bottom Up

28. Adoption: Start
Big, Top Down Top Down
• Relative advantage &
Compatibility have been
decided at top layer
• Solution may be complex
• Overcome resistance with
Trialability and Observability
Start Small
• Training on other three
Start Big
Bottom Up

29. #2 Communication Channels
SharePoint Adoption

30. Communication Channel Basics
 The nature of the information exchange
relationship determines the conditions under
which a source will or will not transmit the
innovation to the receiver and the effect of
such a transfer.
 Mass Media
 Personal
 Interactive (Internet)

31. Like it or not…
 Most people depend mainly upon a subjective
evaluation of an innovation that is conveyed
to them from other individuals like
themselves who have adopted the innovation
 Adoption is mainly a social process based on
interpersonal communication relationships

32. Homophily vs. Hererophily
 The transfer of ideas occurs most frequently
between people who are similar or
homophilous.
 A common problem: communication of an
innovation occurs between people who are
heterophilous.
 Best: homophilous on most variables, but
heterophilous on the innovation.

33. Communication
Top Down
• Grassroots may become “lost” • Grassroots may become “lost”
in the explanation of relative in the explanation of relative
advantage, compatibility and/or advantage, compatibility and/or
complexity for a SharePoint complexity for a SharePoint
adoption. adoption.
• Best to have management use • Best to have management use
Start Small
Start Big
others who are more others who are more
homophilous to “make the case” homophilous to “make the case”
Heterphilous and homophilous will
• Homophilous is high, so
need to be understood the larger
observability and compatibility
the divergent groups across which
should be high too.
SharePoint is being deployed.
Bottom Up

34. #3 Time
SharePoint Adoption

35. Time Matters
 Three Parts to the Time Element in the
Adoption of an innovation:
 The Innovation-Decision process
 The “innovativeness” of an individual to adopt
compared to others in their social system
 An innovation’s rate of adoption, measured by
sheer number of members in the social system
who adopt over a given time period.

36. Innovation Decision Process

37. Adoption Groups

38. Innovators: Venturesome
 High degree of mass media exposure
 Like new stuff because it is new
 Seek out new ideas
 Wide interpersonal networks
 Cope with higher levels of uncertainty
 Willing to accept certain levels of setback in
order to move forward
 Gatekeepers to new ideas in the organization

39. Early Adopters: Respect
 Highest degree of opinion leadership
 Serve as a role model (Observability) for
others in the following categories
 Help trigger critical mass when they adopt
and innovation
 Respected by their peers
 Embody successful, discrete use of new ideas
 Decrease uncertainty about new ideas for
later groups

40. Early Majority: Deliberate
 Roughly 1/3 of the population
 Seldom hold opinion leadership positions
 Connected to both Early Adopters and Late
Majority members makes them an important
link in the adoption process
 Take their time – extend time period
 Deliberate over adoption
 Willing to adopt, but never lead in that
process.

41. Late Majority: Skeptical
 Roughly 1/3 of the population
 Adopt due to peer pressure and/or economic
necessities
 Most uncertainty needs to be removed before
they will adopt – Trialability and Observability
are important components

42. Laggards: Traditional
 Many are considered isolated in one way or
another from the social system
 Point of reference is the past
 Suspicious of new ideas
 Adoption lags far behind awareness
 Must be certain the new ideas will succeed
 Fairly impervious to peer pressure
 Usually economic forces that drive them to
adopt

44. “Quickness” of Adoption

45. Avoid the Hype Cycle

46. #4 Social System
SharePoint Adoption

47. Understanding social systems
 The social system defines the boundaries in
which adoption occurs
 Norms are established behavior patterns for a
social system.
 Some norms can be barriers to adoption
(Compatibility and Relative Advantage)
 Opinion Leaders influence others’ attitudes and
behavior
 Opinion leadership is earned based on
competence, accessibility and conformance to the
system’s norms

48. Opinion Leaders Count
Don’t Ignore Them
 More exposed to all forms of external
communication
 More cosmopolitan
 Generally have higher socio-economic status
 More innovate (compared to others in their
social system)
 At the center of the interpersonal
communication networks within the social
system

49. Social System
Top Down
• Authority innovation-decisions • Authority innovation-decisions
Start Small
Start Big
• Collective innovation-decisions Optional innovation-decisions
Bottom Up

50. Scale #2
ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

51. Commitment
Top Down
• Commitment usually based on
• Commitment by single authority global, strategic needs.
or very small group of • Unusual to have SharePoint
individuals defined as strategically
• Make their project “shine” to necessary by CEO
Start Small
gain credibility to move bigger • Know your place. It’s usually not
Start Big
here.
• Must be some level of
• Team or Department level
commitment by the
commitment.
organization to enable system-
• Work to find Top Down/Start
wide usage of SharePoint
Small pet project to move up
features
• Work to generalize adoption to
• Bear in mind – you have higher
move bigger
visibility than you think
Bottom Up

52. Other Indicators of
Organizational Commitment?
 Champion at VP level or higher
 Funded, approved budget
 Hire/fire authority
 Clear connections between strategy, goals
and SharePoint
 Have both bottom up and top down support

53. Scale #3
FEATURE ADOPTION

54. Several Main Points
 Do not try to align feature adoption rates
across all features.
 Best to measure maturity based on
fulfillment of clearly articulated business
requirements
 Global use does not indicate maturity
 Correct use of features to support business
requirements, strategic goals, etc… is how
maturity is measured

55. September 2011 “SharePoint Adoption: Content And Collaboration Is Just The Start”
Sites And Collaboration Are SharePoint’s Sweet Spots

56. September 2011 “SharePoint Adoption: Content And Collaboration Is Just The Start”
Sites And Collaboration Are SharePoint’s Sweet Spots (Cont.)

57. Other Notes on This Scale
 Lack of use of any given feature might
indicate maturity in the Enterprise
Application Architecture (see later slides)
 Slower than anticipated adoption may be due
to
 Longer adoption periods within social groups
 Lack of adequate education (trialability)
 SharePoint hype led to dissonance and rejection

58. Scale #4
ENVIRONMENTAL
CONSIDERATIONS

59. Adoption hindered when…
 Lack of
 Core Ideology
 Core Values + Clear Purpose for the Organization
 Long-Term Vision
 Clearly articulated short-term mission that is
derived from the long-term vision
 Little connection between vision, mission and
strategic plan
 Written business requirements that translate
purpose and vision to an operational-level plan

60. (cont.)
 Lack of ability to resolve conflict at higher levels
within the organization
 When governance is thought to be created rather
than derived from risk and compliance
assessments.
 When there exists redundancies in your enterprise
ECM architecture because no one has done a
gap/redundancy analysis with a view to
articulating where Sharepoint starts and stops

61. Truths You can Count On
 Gaps and/or immaturity in your business
model or in those holding positions in your
business model will hurt and potentially
reduce the “maturity” of your SharePoint
deployment.
 CEOs generally don’t care what software
platform is utilized. Get over it.
 Work with who you can.

62. One Final Truth
 The maturity of your SharePoint deployment
is a direct reflection of the maturity and
function (or dysfunction) of your
organization.

63. Contact Information
Bill English
7767 Elm Creek Blvd, STE 220
Maple Grove, MN 55369
bill@mindsharp.com
www.mindsharp.com
@minnesotabill
LI: Bill English
FB: Bill English

64. Connecting
SharePoint
Technology End Users
• Cost Effective – More people trained = reduced cost per user
• On Demand – Fits into everyone’s busy schedule
• Constant and consistent training throughout entire organization
• Quizzes and UserVersity* Certifications promote results-based learning
Demo lessons available online or you can request
10 free fully-licensed lessons from:
Marketing@Mindsharp.com
*Install in SharePoint or LMS

65. WheresHarveyNow.com
Win a Free Mindsharp Class
1 Free Class Will be Given Away Monthly!
Up to a $2995 Value
Visit WheresHarveyNow.com for details, photos, and interactive map

66. Follow Us
http://facebook.com/Mindsharp-Education
http://twitter.com/Mindsharp
http://linkedin.com/company/Mindsharp

67. Upcoming Webinar Topics
Visit www.mindsharp.com for:
Free Webinar Series Information
Free Resources
Upcoming Events
Current Class Schedule