SharePoint 2010—it’s different! And if you’re an end user, people for whom a SharePoint MCP comes only before "vandalize the office" in their list career goals, it’s really different. You spent 5 years understanding how to program a VCR and now your kids text you and it’s hard enough to comprehend their messages, let alone figure out the sequence of buttons you need to push to respond!

Now your company has upgraded to SharePoint 2010 from 2007 and “sink or swim” is their idea of training. You’re starting to think sinking is a good idea because bothering to learn your way around new technology is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

A mnemonic I tell my customers is: If it was on the right, it’s now on the left; if it was at the top, it’s now at the bottom. Of course there are some exceptions—for better or worse the Quick Launch managed to hold its ground in the left sidebar—but on the whole the mnemonic is pretty accurate.

But that navigation skill will only steer you so far. You may know that Microsoft makes games (and with the advent of Kinect, perhaps the ultimate weight-loss solution?), but did you know that they made a game for your office’s Office? I would advocate that everyone, even the self-titled Microsoft Office Oligarchs of your Organization, take some time to play Ribbon Hero. It’s an add-in for Office 2007 or 2010 that challenges you to complete real-world usage scenarios using the context-sensitive Ribbon UI. Not only will it improve your proficiency and efficiency with navigating the Ribbon it will also introduce you to a bevy of very cool Office features you likely did not know existed.

Although Ribbon Hero works with only four Office applications, your experience will translate easily to using, exploring, and, most importantly, understanding the Ribbon in other Microsoft products, such as SharePoint & Project 2010 where the new UI has only been introduced.