Forum Discussion
Microsoft Teams Connect aka Shared Channels Coming Later in 2021
I don't have a problem with that, I do have a problem with their ability to execute.
We could talk all day about how much new technology they have to invent, the reality is, users don't care about that.
I see more and more companies slipping back to Slack and Zoom for external collaboration due to the lack of a quality Microsoft offering in the space.
Do I want it secure first time? Absolutely.
Do I think five years into Teams life we should still be waiting on this? Absolutely not.
My issue with Private Channels was the continued "we are working on it" messages coming out of Microsoft and it was almost two full years from the announcement at Ignite before it was released.
I guess I would prefer if Microsoft didn't announce features until they were ready if they can't keep to their release dates.
/rant over 🤣
Hi Ed_Kenny I understand your frustration waiting for shared channels. At the same time I do not quite see why it is problematic related to external sharing. It is currently possible to share externally from Teams, you just need to define external sharing for the respective team in Teams. For example, If I am running a project with several vendors and partners involved, I would make a project team in Teams where everyone in the project are included, and everyone informed that whatever is shared in the proejct team in Teams is open for everyone who are members. This is a good idea as everyone in the project is delivering on the project together. There might be some documents that are not to be shared with everyone in the project, these can be either shared in private channels or in an internal project and portfolio-team in an internal Teams.
That being said, there might be a situation were I want external resources to see only things my team is sharing with them, or collaborating with them on. In this scenario I could create a vendor team (with external sharing on) in Teams with a few shared channels, for e.g. routines, templates, etc. and then a private channel for each. It is not shared channels, and they would need to switch tenant, still, it is very easy to do this in browser (and add as apps on the taskbar). This would however, resolve the need until shared channels are in place, and get people used to work and collaborate in a smart way in Teams while waiting.
Please share a scenario where you think either or none of these would work?
- BTW, the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook (https://gum.co/O365IT/) has been tracking change inside Office 365 since 2014. We know that Teams is poor at making committed dates (over 40% of their features are late). But other workloads are almost as bad, as we have found out to our detriment.
- I don't work for Microsoft (and never have). I have commented on the inability of the Teams developers to meet published dates in the past (like https://office365itpros.com/2021/07/06/office365-delays-retirements-features/). To me, it's a question of turning marketing into reality. Other companies do the same. It's all about keeping customer interest, and that's what a stream of new announcements are intended to do.
On the other hand, I am aware of what's going on with shared channels and have seen some of the challenges involved in teasing out the details of common sharing scenarios and the controls large enterprises (in particular) insist upon. If Microsoft ships the software and don't meet customer requirements, they fail. If they ship late and disappoint customers, they fail. But maybe less so because they avoid any of the problems associated with potential information leaks.
