Do (Use Site Definitions) Or Do Not. There Is No Try.

Paul Culmsee has authored a series of posts (the pertinent portions are here, here and here) on the whole Site Definition argument (see Joel’s original post here, and a deeper dive into the issue from me here and here) that I’m still shaking my head trying to follow. The gist of it seems to be an intriguing exercise in trying to map out the various opinions on a particular topic (in this case, the use of custom site definitions in SharePoint 2007). He’s using a technique known as dialogue mapping via IBIS (Issue Based Information System) along with Mindjet’s Mind Manager (which I’m still struggling to adapt to after years of OneNote bliss) Compendium to lay out the premise, arguments, counter-arguments and the rest of the convoluted back-and-forth to try and make sense of the issue in a logical manner.

I’m not sure the topic justifies the obvious time and effort Paul has applied to it but the end result is very interesting. As I was reading through it I got to chuckling over the following line:

The final response that I will cover off for now is from SharePoint Yoda, Eric Shupps who writes a really excellent factual based response to the post.

Err…how in the world did the SharePoint Cowboy become SharePoint Yoda? This is could totally change my whole persona at conferences…but where am I going to get Yoda ears that fit under my hat? And how am I going to shrink myself down from 6’5" to 3’1"? My Texas drawl doesn’t map over well to Yoda’s infamous one-liners. Man, I’m really gonna have to practice this…

Seriously, though, Paul’s post does highlight the give-and-take that is often poorly served by the communication mechanisms we have at our disposal (blogs, web sites, twitter, etc.). I’d be interested to see this applied to the TDD argument once I get around to releasing the next couple of articles in that series.

Thanks, Paul. I think…