The Workplace Architecture Guidance (WAG) process that we use defines six phases that you can follow to architect a new workplace. Your aim is to identify the key processes in your customer’s business and to identify how these processes interact. It is important to remember that processes, by their very nature, are constantly evolving. The challenge then is to architect a SharePoint solution that is flexible enough to be used and evolved repeatedly in changing environments.

Figure 1 below shows the six phases in the WAG process. Each phase is made up of one or more steps. The six phases are described in the posts that will follow in the next few days (and maybe weeks!), with samples to help explain some of the key steps in each phase.

Figure 1: The WAG Process

Overall, developing SharePoint solutions using the WAG process is a more agile and iterative approach than the traditional, waterfall-system development processes and therefore a high degree of trust is required from both parties. With the iterative approach, you do less very detailed project planning and estimation up front, but you engage in a longer-term relationship with your customer. You deliver the overall work and project management solutions in smaller, more manageable chunks, with each iteration delivering incremental yet real value.

Management of customer expectations is critical. It is very important that the customer understands and buys into the iterative nature of the delivery process. In Phase 1, the Workplace Architecture phase, you define as much as you know that will be required – the overall workplace - but in the Strategy and Planning phase, you break the workplace into manageable chunks (i.e. iterations). The customer must be involved in deciding what is included in each iteration. Therefore, the customer is then only expecting a subset of the overall workplace in each iteration and knows that you will be back to deliver more. The iterative nature of the process and the expectation of a longer-term relationship between you and your customer must be emphasized during the project negotiations and setup.