Microsoft Teams Governance

I have been writing a lot about Microsoft Teams Governance recently, as I have been running several workshops with clients and at ProvisionPoint we have continued to enhance our governance offerings. I wanted to briefly recap some of my thoughts and call out some useful content.

The reality of many Microsoft Teams deployments I have encountered is an ever-growing number of Teams, with duplicate Teams or ones serving very similar purposes. There is often a misunderstanding over the purpose for a Team and lack of ownership when a Team is created.

Unfortunately, these problems are symptoms of a broader issue where many organisations have launched into a full deployment of Microsoft Teams without any thought to governance or adoption. I argue that no governance for Microsoft Teams is a failure in IT Leadership.

Asking the right questions

Unfortunately, there is never a simple answer to governance or adoption for Microsoft Teams, Office 365 and IT more generally. Organisations in different sectors will have different security and compliance requirements. There are also differing levels of maturity amongst the users of software like Microsoft Teams.

When planning the approach to adoption and governance for Microsoft Teams, it is about asking the right questions. These can include

• How will you train your users initially and ongoing?
• Will this training include covering governance?
• What are the different roles in a Team and how will you communicate these roles to users?
• When should a Team be created and who can create them?
• Are there different types of Microsoft Team and how are they classified?
• How will avoid information sprawl and manage lifecycle?
• How will you measure and monitor user adoption?
• What will be the support model for Microsoft Teams?

This list is not exhaustive of all the potential questions on Microsoft Teams governance and adoption. However, this selection of questions should make you rethink about an ungoverned Microsoft Teams deployment.

Controlling who can create Teams

One option for managing Microsoft Teams is to control who can create a Team. While this approach has merits, it can often lead to user frustration and the continual growth other tools like Slack. I prefer an alternative option which involves using ProvisionPoint to manage requests for new Microsoft Teams. Each request will include an approval step, which adds that vital validation step which is missing by default in Microsoft Teams.

Consistency in Teams creation

When a new Team is created in Microsoft Teams, all of the settings are enabled by default. It is the responsibility of the Team Owner to change these settings within each Team once they have been created. The result of this fragmented administration is inconsistently in the implementation of governance rules. By using ProvisionPoint, an organisation can ensure consistent application of settings for each Team.

Seek out expertise

It is essential that the correct project team is put in place to implement Microsoft Teams, including a project manager. There must be a clear objective of the project, with defined success criteria. Experienced external expertise should be sought, to ask the right questions about adoption and governance.

Expertise on Microsoft Teams can come in many forms. Melissa Hubbard and Matthew Bailey have written an excellent book on Mastering Microsoft Teams, which includes a section on governance. Many excellent consultants can support the deployment of Teams, and there are software vendors like ProvisionPoint who specialise in governance solutions for Office 365. Finally, there are events like SharePoint Saturday London where you can hear from leading experts about Microsoft Teams governance.