A story about my friend Tom and how he discovered a new meaning

Tom is a pretty funny guy to have as a friend. They told me that back in the day, when Tom saw himself as a pure hardcore .NET developer, he used to refer to SharePoint with words like PainPoint and SharePain. Soon he ended up in a team with the task to implement a SharePoint web part that integrates with all existing business systems. I can totally picture him thinking about reassigning when he heard the news, but on the other hand he is a true team player, and he was intrigued by the thought of challenging norms and standards that surrounded SharePoint. Being a smart individual, as he is, his stubbornness proved to be the right choice.

Today he is telling this story over and over again, all about how he managed to prove to both himself and to the team, that it is possible to develop well-crafted software on the SharePoint development platform. He is convinced that TDD, DI, and other cool Agile stuff should be mandatory when developing on the SharePoint platform. Just ask him; he will tell you all about it.

What can Tom teach us today?

Working with a product like SharePoint should not set any limits for design and architecture. It is easy to become blind and not explore alternative solutions. For us it is important to keep an open mind when working with SharePoint and not let the product set any boundaries.

SharePoint is a well-known and established web application platform that has been around for quite some time. Still, it has an unexplored potential – Agile. We want to challenge defined norms and standards regarding SharePoint and show how an Agile mindset together with true craftsmanship can make all the difference.

From our perspective, SharePoint is a development platform that offers tools and capabilities to design and create business solutions that can be integrated with existing systems, tools, and processes. We see SharePoint as a platform that developers can extend and customize to meet specific business needs.