Learn how we move fast without breaking things by managing change in SharePoint Online #BRK2297

Session with Zohar Raz (SharePoint Group Manager) and Lincoln DeMaris (Principal Program Manager) how to manage change in SharePoint Online.

Learn how SharePoint is introducing change faster than ever before, while still being extra sensitive to customer readiness and customer feedback. We are heavily investing in our technology to enable organizations to control and prepare for the changes in the experience. Come learn your role in this cloud evolution and what resources we provide to make you successful.

Here are my notes:

Changes to SharePoint Online

Massive updates and new feature have been rolled out to SharePoint Online this year, most changes to the product ever. The list since last ignite is really huge and they come in ripples instead of waves (as for onPrem).

And once they make it out of the lab, it will be tested in multiple stages before it arrives at the first customer (first release ring):

Interesting to see how they roll out updates and implemented “kill switches” – and all that with PowerShell.

Another thing is this slide  -its from a PowerBI dashboard were Microsoft monitors service requests and can react to early feedback:

It looks like more than 40% of all service requests in the first releease ring are because of OneDrive for Business…!!!

Modern UI Philosophy

Change fast and early. Lincoln explained that the goal of the modern UI is to optimize the experience for all customers with the new UI while still having the classic experience available.

The modern document library was rolled out and Microsoft learned a lot.

We got mixed feedback on this (Lincoln)

Oh yes, I can imagine…

Since initial roll out (6th April) there have been rolled out there was a massive wave of feedback.

Things that they wont do anymore:

1. Massive change without upfront notification
2. Roll out to all of the first release customers in one batch
3. Putting a big banner to show everybody that there is a change

Update awareness

The following describes what we should do be up to date and be ahead of the frequent changes :

Provide feedback

Uservoice and the feedback options in the message center are the places to provide feedback.

Questions from the audience

Q: How can we get notified once a feature arrives on my tenant? A: Currently not possible, investigation how to implement a kind of “tenant changelog” are running.

Q: How will breaking changes be announced ahead and how much time will we have to adjust? A: The intention is to give you months if not years to adjust.

Summary

Interesting facts and insights in this very last Ignite 2016 session – keep the updates coming, embrace the change!

Go watch the recording once its available!