Graphicalwonder - Shane Perran's SharePoint Customization Blog

I agree. There isn't enough plain, simple, general, entry-level "user" education. As a consultant that uses SharePoint and sees the HUGE benefits "if" an org can adopt and actually use it - I would love to have more educated users be able to leverage it.

I think general user education would help.

I don't think it will become popular until it is viewed as "simple" and "obvious." For entry-level users, IMHO, it's not close yet.

I have a different take on this. I have posted general user info out there and it was met with little interest. If you think about the audience, if these people go check out blogs, it is going to be about whatever hobby or interest they have, not necessarily what technology they have to use (at work at that). Our SharePoint Intranet has been up for nearly a year and just last week I got an email saying, oh I didn't realize our intranet was SharePoint. Users don't always know or care what the technology is. If users have an issue in my organization, they go to the support desk. I have posted canned demos of how to do stuff in SharePoint for these end users (create a library, a list, etc) and they have been viewed very little. So little in fact I have dropped making any more.

Valiant thought, but materials like this may only appeal to a very small audience. I wish that wasn't true.

Good points Shane and Toby! The way I see it there are two ways end users are going to get the information they need for using SharePoint.

1. They will go out and look for it themselves. This may be via web or it may be via books etc... In order for information to be effective for them it should be broken up into usage scenarios and language they understand and can relate to. Unfortunately the percentage of end users that are going to take this step is small since a) they are not as passionate about the cause as some of us that are more involved in the implementation and business decision to role this out and b) they probably will not find much information as you pointed out since the focus is usually more on topics that are not of interest to them (development, administration, customization, etc…)

2. The other way end users will receive information is that person / people responsible for rolling out or delivering SharePoint to their organization should supply the information and training to them in a way that is useful, simple and relevant to the end users. If administrators / implementors could easily find helpful guides, user manuals, best practices for user adoption and training materials - they would be more likely to pass them onto end users. The problem is that in many organizations, he or she that is responsible for implementing the technology...isn't very good at preparing end user instructions or documentation (or more likely just plain doesn't have the time to).

Essentially that is where I see the need in the community existing for more teamwork and a repository of information that is centralized and categorized for all users and stakeholders of SharePoint. That way all our individual efforts can mean more.

That's where I see our virtual user group (SharePoint Nation) coming into the picture btw.

Check out my MSPRESS SharePoint Step By Step book:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/7241.asp

It is directly targeted to this audience.

I found this discussion whilst searching for this very type of information.

As an non-technical end-user trying to educate other non-technical end users I am totally with you on this Shane!

I'm desperate for any free tips I can share with the others within my organisation. I am starting to compile a list of good free resources for this audience on my blog.

However, as there is basically nothing out there I only have one to share with you all: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/demos/wss/launcher.htm