Will Groups Impact Your Organization?

Ever since Microsoft debuted their Office 365 Groups, focusing initially on the conversational capability within Outlook rather than the underlying architectural changes – which is what Groups is really all about – there have been questions from the community asking if and how Groups impacts how we manage the various workloads in Office 365. The concept of groups presents a new direction for the platform (and Microsoft has corrected the messaging that separates the Outlook features from the Groups platform capabilities). While some may feel like this has been a backwards move for administration and governance,  Groups presents clear insight into the future path of Office 365 – and they will undoubtedly have an impact on each of our organizations as office 365 continues to expand and grow. 

For this month’s #CollabTalk tweetjam I took inspiration from Dean Swann’s post on the tyGraph blog on this topic, and borrowed his post title for this month’s focus: “The Organizational Impacts of Groups.” Spend 5 minutes online, and you’ll agree that this is a hot topic right now with great new content from across the community, including posts and videos from Jeremy Thake, Benjamin Niaulin, the AvePoint team, and more. In fact, the tyGraph team have launched a Groups Survey, with results to be shared in March (please take it!).

As for this month’s tweetjam, you can join the discussion on Tuesday, February 28^th at 9am PST and engage with our panel of experts, MVPs, and community members from around the world as we tackle this topic and share our thoughts and experiences.

If you’ve never participated in one of these tweetjams, it's pretty simple: anyone can jump in and share their thoughts, or just lurk in the wings and absorb the wisdom of the crowd. Either way, it’ll be a TON of content to consume in a single hour. You can follow the live session using the Twitter UI of your choice (Twitter.com, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Twubs, whatever). How it works is that I’ll post a series of questions every few minutes, and people will respond to Q1, Q2, Q3 and so forth with A1, A2, A3, always including the #CollabTalk hashtag with their answers. Feel free to reply as often (or as little) as you’d like, ask your own follow up questions, share relevant links, retweet others, and engage with the audience.

The questions we will discuss during the session include:

1. Are you using office 365 Groups? If not, why not? If so, why?
2. Has the introduction of Office 365 Groups impacted your organization? If so, how?
3. What are your top concerns with Office 365 Groups?
4. What is the future of Groups within the Office 365 platform?
5. How do Office 365 Groups fit into your overall SharePoint strategy?
6. Looking back, what would you have changed about Office 365 Groups messaging, if anything?
7. What can Microsoft change/add to Office Groups to improve them?

Of course, there will be side-questions, side-conversations, and wise-cracking throughout. The dialog is usually thought-provoking but also fun. Participating on this panel are a number of MVPs and experts on SharePoint and Office 365. Of course, this is open to the public, so please join in the discussion!

• John White (@diverdown1964), SharePoint MVP and cto at UnlimitedViz Inc.
• Christophe Fiessinger (@cfiessinger), Office 365 program manager at Microsoft
• Jeffrey Schwartz (@jeffreyschwartz), editor of Redmond Magazine and editor-at-large for Redmond Channel Partner magazine
• Jeremy Thake (@jthake), vp of product technology at Hyperfish
• Ryan Schouten (@ShrPntKnight) senior SharePoint architect and evangelist at ZAACT
• Bob German (@bob1german), principal architect at BlueMetal Architects
• Treb Gatte (@tgatte), Business Solutions MVP, international speaker/man of mystery at TumbleRoad LLC
• Chris Slemp (@cslemp), director of strategy at CarpoolAgency
• Eric Riz (@rizinsights), SharePoint MVP and ceo of Empty Cubicle
• Sebastien Levert (@sebastienlevert), Office365 MVP and specialist in Azure, SharePoint, and O365
• Erica Toelle (@ericatoelle), portals and content manager at Valorem Consulting
• Andrew Connell (@andrewconnell), SharePoint MVP, and founder, instructor, male model at Voitanos LLC
• Jeff Willinger (@jwillie), Office 365 MVP and director of collaboration and social business at Rightpoint
• Dean Swann (@sdeanswann), social collaborator, growth hacker and product manager for UnlimitedViz
• Heather Newman (@heddanewman), co-founder and cmo of ContentPanda
• Tracy Van der Schyff (@tracyvds), Office Servers and Services MVP and manager at GT Academy / GTconsult
• Gokan Ozcifci (@gokanozcifci), SharePoint MVP and IT infrastructure consultant at Neoxy
• Ed Senez (@edsenez), president at UnlimitedViz and TyGraph
• Mike Oryszak (@next_connect), managing director at B&R Business Solutions
• Ben Henderson (@ben3003), solutions specialist at RecordPoint
• Stacy Deere-Strole (@sldeere), SharePoint MVP and owner of Focal Point Solutions
• Kipp Sorenson (@kbes), SharePoint consultant at Soren Innovations
• Fernando Melo (@frmelo21), SharePoint architect and evangelist at Helios Cooperative
• Brian Alderman (@brianalderman), SharePoint MVP, founder and ceo of MicroTechPoint
• Brett Hill (@bretthill), Office365 MVP and manager of technical marketing at Riverbed Technology
• Pat Esposito (@patespoim), enterprise architect at Blue Dog Technology
• Marlee Long (@cardiolog), marketing manager at Intlock
• Eric Overfield (@ericoverfield), Office Servers and Services MVP, founder of PixelMill
• Maarten Eekels (@maarteneekels), Office 365 MVP and cto at Portiva
• Jared Shockley (@jshoq), senior systems engineer with SESIT at Microsoft
• Barry Jinks (@BJinks), founder and ceo at Colligo
• Bo Woronowicz (@boworonowicz), independent consult, president of Office 365 Seattle
• Eli Robillard (@erobillard), SharePoint MVP, musician, fly-fisher, collaboration technology guy
• Jennifer Mason (@jennifermason), SharePoint MVP and director of innovation & strategic solutions at Planet Technologies
• Melinda Morales (@trulymelinda), solution consultant at 3Sharp
• Patrick Curran (@pcfromdc), director, federal group at Planet Technologies
• Rick Garcia (@SilentRick), SharePoint project manager at United Airlines
• Brian Culver (@SPbrianculver), SharePoint MCM and founder, president of Expert Point Solution
• Shyam Oza (@ShyamOza), senior product manager at AvePoint
• Jim Bob Howard (@jbhoward), director, SharePoint practice at JourneyTEAM
• Robert Toro (@SharePointToro), SharePoint practice director at Slalom
• Randy Drisgill (@drisgill), SharePoint MVP and branding and design expert at Rackspace
• Sue Hanley (@susanhanley), SharePoint MVP, portal, KM, and SharePoint consultant
• Erica Toelle (@ericatoelle), portals and content manager at Valorem Consulting
• Liz Sundet (@percusn), Microsoft MVP and director of business relationships at Focal Point Solutions
• and your host, Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Office Server and Services MVP, CollabTalk founder, holder of a +7 vorpal sword, and chief evangelist for Beezy

It should be a fantastic discussion, as always. Don’t be shy — everyone is invited to participate whether or not you’re part of the panel. Jump into the conversation using the #CollabTalk hashtag and share your ideas and feedback. Thanks!