March 2025 Content Wrap-Up
Selfie with Microsoft EVP Scott Guthrie
You know it was a busy month when you have to go back to your Outlook calendar several times to help jog your memory of what you were doing 2-3 weeks back…
It’s looking like I’ll be on the road, attending an event or two, for at least one week per month for the remainder of the year. To some, this may sound like a lot of travel. With my history, this feels like I am becoming a recluse. I’m not complaining, though. Lots going on, projects heating up, and the online activities keep me plenty busy. For March, the big trip was to redmond, Washington and Microsoft headquarters for the annual MVP and RD Summits. I landed on Sunday morning, crashed the MCT Summit to see friends and grab a free lunch, then head north to see my sister and her family, where I stayed for the week. The Summit Week is always a blur of NDA content (and plenty of session/content ideas), networking, and fun with friends, but I’m one of those people who, by Wednesday night, could not stop thinking about the work I had put on pause. Great experience overall, and, as I tell the new MVPs who I interview on my #MVPbuzzChat series posted every Monday, it’s the best perk of becoming an MVP. I wouldn’t miss it!
For the rest of the month, it was meetings, recording sessions, and live events. A typical, busy month. More of the same in April. And for those keeping count, this post makes it 3 years, 7 months, and 1 day of daily blog posts – with the goal of reaching 5 years. We’ll see if that plan sticks.
Here’s what I generated in the month of March:
Because we’re not talking about AI enough…
So much happening around AI, in general, and Microsoft Copilot, specifically. I’m regularly writing a posts about AI as various news and announcements break, and will continue to do so. I was also a guest on fellow MVP Eihab Al-Nakib‘s podcast to talk big picture about how AI is impacting the modern workplace. Definitely worth checking out!
- Inside the AI Shift: Microsoft, Copilot & the Future of Work – Eihab Al-Nakib podcast [YouTube]
- A Simple Strategy for Copilot Adoption in the Workplace [blog]
- What Would It Mean for Microsoft to Compete Directly with OpenAI? [blog]
The CollabTalk Podcast
I’m really enjoying my CollabTalk Podcast interviews, and have a few in the backlog for the next couple of months. It’s been a while since I had 3 Microsoft-focused guests or topics as I’ve been branching out, and am making some changes to my thumbnails and, soon, to the intro, outro, and music, giving everything a refresh. I’m also preparing to add some sponsors to the show – but there’s room for more, if anyone is interested.
- CollabTalk Podcast | Episode 168 with Joel Oleson [blog | podcast | YouTube]
- CollabTalk Podcast | Episode 167 with Zack Oliva [blog | podcast | YouTube]
- CollabTalk Podcast | Episode 166 with Michael Gannotti [blog | podcast | YouTube]
- CollabTalk Podcast | Episode 165 with Sean McDonough and Geoff Varosky [blog | podcast | YouTube]
MVP Summit selfie with Haniel, Antonio, Vesa, and David
Project Failure Files
Sharon and I are continuing to pump out the 35-45 minute Project Failure Files episodes every Monday morning at 9am Pacific. We’re doing as many live as our schedules permit, and pre-recording others – but you’ll always find us at that time. In fact, our current weekly content calendar is filled through the end of May 2026, and this past Monday, we thought up two more topics to be added. We were approached by our first sponsor, which we’ll be adding soon, and are pointing people to ProjectFailureFiles.com to sign up for our soon-to-be-launched newsletter. I’m also trying to prod Sharon into doing a monthly AMA. Watch for it!
- Project Failure Files: Letting Shadow IT Grow, Ep.41 [blog | YouTube]
- Project Failure Files: Not All Teams Are Alike, Ep.40 [blog | YouTube]
- Project Failure Files: Pushing Your Team Too Hard, Ep.39 [blog | YouTube]
- Project Failure Files: Overlooking Signs of Employee Apathy, Ep.38 [blog | YouTube]
CollabTalk TweetJam
In the evolving model of the CollabTalk TweetJam, the focus has shifted to the panel discussion – but I may have found a technical solution for those who, like me, miss the hashtag feed options before Jack Dorsey locked down the API prior to Elon purchasing the company. I’ve been publishing the questions to X, Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, but even then, engagement is down because the formerly-free tools are no longer free, and people are finding it difficult to participate. The new technology is not free to run, but would give participants a great interface to watch the feed and respond on my tweetjam page, or from their preferred platform. Looking for a couple sponsors to help make it happen.
Guardians of M365 Guardians
Always love talking with practitioners and hearing their real-world stories, as with this month’s guest on the Guardians webcast. Ragnar, Joy and I were joined by SharePoint intranet expert Matthew Burrell from Your 365 Coach.
RD Summit selfie with Steve, Sharon, Zoe, and Joel
Content Strategy
Some new entries in my ongoing content Strategy series, with more in April and May. I’m nearing the end of the outline that I created 3-4 years back, and have expanded over the years, and will soon begin the process of pulling them together and expanding on all of them for my book. I don’t yet have a title, but it’s essentially a book on bootstrapping your technology evangelism / product marketing efforts. I’ll come up with something snappy, just you wait.
- Content Strategy: Implementing Account-Based Marketing [blog]
- Content Strategy: The Power of Competitor Research [blog]
- Content Strategy: The Importance of Performing a Content Audit [blog]
- Content Strategy: Video Search Engine Optimization [blog]
#MVPbuzzChat
Every Monday I publish a new interview with a fellow Microsoft MVP from somewhere in the world, and across every technical category. I was able to grab a selfie with a couple dozen of them at the MVP Summit last month, and plan to update their respective blog posts with those photos at some point in the near future. You know…when I have time.
- #MVPbuzzChat 304 with Karinne Bessette [blog | YouTube]
- #MVPbuzzChat 305 with Anthony Giretti [blog | YouTube]
- #MVPbuzzChat 306 with Sonu Kapoor [blog | YouTube]
- #MVPbuzzChat 307 with David Pileggi Jr. [blog | YouTube]
- #MVPbuzzChat 308 with Alec Harrison [blog | YouTube]
Standalone Articles
With all of the product news, I’m trying to get better about sharing my thoughts and perspective on each. Here are my posts from this past month.
- Copilot + OneDrive = Smarter File Productivity [blog]
- The Death of Microsoft Publisher [blog]
- The Ongoing Challenge of Content Sprawl [Smarter Consulting blog]
- The End of an Era: Microsoft Shutting Down Skype [blog]
- Join the SharePoint Hackathon 2025 [blog]
Music
Still really enjoying going through my catalog and sharing selections from some of my favorite bands. I’m also thinking about collecting all of my AI generated blue plate images and creating a site for them – maybe even a self-published on-demand book.
- Blue Plate Special: Idlewild [blog]
- Blue Plate Special: New Fast Automatic Daffodils [blog]
- Blue Plate Special: Einstürzende Neubauten [blog]
- Blue Plate Special: Ministry [blog]
Blatant Self-Promotion
Only one post talking about me? Wow.
- February 2025 Content Wrap-Up [blog]
And that’s a wrap for March 2025. Already fully underway with April, with several posts already completed and in the queue to go live. Thanks for reading!
