Off with SharePoint’s Head? Or, bye Dad?

Jeff-Teper@maryjofoley broke the news this morning that @jeffteper has been promoted. It’s great news for Teper in his continued rise up in Microsoft. What does it mean for SharePoint, the business he takes responsibility for creating?

SiteServer

Teper has been the head of SharePoint since before it was SharePoint in 1995 with Site Server 1.0.

His LinkedIn Profile says

Led the SharePoint business from its inception through growth to a $2 billion business used by 75% of organizations

Teper’s departure from the SharePoint team marks his first separation from the product, ever. While it’s common for Microsoft to move people around within the organization, it’s notable that he’s one of the few that have been with SharePoint since the beginning.

This raises a lot of questions in my head and I’m sure it does for others as well.

Is removing the head of SharePoint a metaphor for a decapitation of the product? We’ve seen a continued de-emphasis of the brand in favor of Office 365 first and more recently OneDrive for Business.

Maybe it’s just a normal part of a product’s lifecycle. The child no longer needs the parent. He may be setting an example. Is it time for all of us to consider stepping away from SharePoint? If nothing else, it’s a good time to consider broadening options.

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