I hate to ask yet another question about learning SharePoint but I've been clicking around for what feels like forever and am not satisfied. It seems to me that all sharepoint training falls into 4 categories:

1. IT - 27 ways to install, configure, backup, and secure SP
2. Developer - How to buy SP so that you can write your own software and tell people that it is SP
3. Microsoft - How to plan the planning committee to plan the SP deployment planning strategy
4. Marketing - How to use the meta-social-tagging-myportal-social-cms feature new in SP 2010!!!

While I have no doubt that these things are all wonderful, they don't reach me where I am. I have SharePoint Server 2010 setup and running - maybe not optimally configured or 100% secure, but functional. I also have a handful of users who are demanding services, like managing shared resources within their department.

I do not doubt the value of planning but if I cannot get a solution deployed within the next week, by myself - no committee unless you want to come help - SP is going in the trash. We're not going to invest in training, planning, or consulting until the product has proven its usefulness somewhere. People need to kick the tires and see it solve a real problem - their problem, not Contoso's or AdventureWork's.

What I am looking for is a problem-based training approach that shows me how to provide simple solutions for common problems - like resource management (for a small office, not a multi-national conglomerate) using the provided out-of-the-box components. The ToC might start:

1. Your First Site
2. Creating a new page for your site
3. Introduction to the built-in webparts
4. Displaying data from a list on your page
5. Graphing your data
6. Using a calendar for resource sharing ...

I've seen the links from

• sharepoint designing question (which has a great link for branding)
• What is something I should to to help me to Learning SharePoint?
• Getting Started with SharePoint 2010

and while I'm going to bookmark them for later use (if there is a later) I would really appreciate something that will help me get a useful page up within a few hours.

Thanks. I know that if any group can find the off-the-beaten path material, it is this one!

I hate to ask yet another question about learning SharePoint but I've been clicking around for what feels like forever and am not satisfied. It seems to me that all sharepoint training falls into 4 categories:

1. IT - 27 ways to install, configure, backup, and secure SP
2. Developer - How to buy SP so that you can write your own software and tell people that it is SP
3. Microsoft - How to plan the planning committee to plan the SP deployment planning strategy
4. Marketing - How to use the meta-social-tagging-myportal-social-cms feature new in SP 2010!!!

While I have no doubt that these things are all wonderful, they don't reach me where I am. I have SharePoint Server 2010 setup and running - maybe not optimally configured or 100% secure, but functional. I also have a handful of users who are demanding services, like managing shared resources within their department.

I do not doubt the value of planning but if I cannot get a solution deployed within the next week, by myself - no committee unless you want to come help - SP is going in the trash. We're not going to invest in training, planning, or consulting until the product has proven its usefulness somewhere. People need to kick the tires and see it solve a real problem - their problem, not Contoso's or AdventureWork's.

What I am looking for is a problem-based training approach that shows me how to provide simple solutions for common problems - like resource management (for a small office, not a multi-national conglomerate) using the provided out-of-the-box components. The ToC might start:

1. Your First Site
2. Creating a new page for your site
3. Introduction to the built-in webparts
4. Displaying data from a list on your page
5. Graphing your data
6. Using a calendar for resource sharing ...

I've seen the links from

• sharepoint designing question (which has a great link for branding)
• What is something I should to to help me to Learning SharePoint?
• Getting Started with SharePoint 2010

and while I'm going to bookmark them for later use (if there is a later) I would really appreciate something that will help me get a useful page up within a few hours.

Thanks. I know that if any group can find the off-the-beaten path material, it is this one!