September 27, 2025 • 15 mins
Traditional SharePoint training fails because it focuses on clicks, not concepts. After two decades of watching adoption stall, I developed something different — The Container Method™. In this episode, I share the story behind this new approach, why it works, and how it transforms SharePoint from a confusing tool into something intuitive and usable.
You’ll hear:
- Why traditional SharePoint training fails and what’s missing
- The origin story of The Container Method™, including the metaphors that didn’t work (yes, even sushi boxes)
- How containers, cabinets, drawers, and labels map directly to SharePoint’s sites, libraries, folders, and metadata
- Real-world examples showing how this model makes everyday SharePoint tasks faster and simpler
- Details of the new Container Method™ End User Course, designed to get people productive with SharePoint in just 60 minutes
If you’re tired of seeing your teams overwhelmed and under-trained, this episode is for you. Learn how to bridge the gap between abstract SharePoint terminology and the way our brains naturally organize information.
Special Launch Offer:
The Container Method™ End User Course is now live at simplysharepoint.com/sharepoint-essentials-container-method. Get it for just $67 during the launch period (regular price $97).
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:09):
Welcome to the Simply SharePoint Podcast.
I'm Liza Tinker, and today we'retalking about something I've
been developing for years, butI'm finally ready to share with
the world.
It's a completely differentapproach to SharePoint training
that actually works.
The container method.
But before I reveal what makesthis approach so effective,
(00:30):
let's talk about why traditionalSharePoint training fails so
consistently.
Why traditional training fails.
Have you ever sat through aSharePoint training session?
The typical approach goessomething like this.
(00:53):
Click here to access your site.
Click here to upload a document.
Click here to share a file.
It's a feature-by-featurewalkthrough that might make
sense in the moment, but as soonas you're back at your desk
facing a real-world scenario,that clarity evaporates.
There are three fundamentalproblems with traditional
(01:14):
SharePoint training.
First, it's feature-focusedrather than concept-focused.
Knowing where to click isuseless if you don't understand
why you're clicking there.
It's like teaching someone todrive by only showing them which
pedals to push withoutexplaining the principles of
driving.
Second, traditional trainingdoesn't account for how our
(01:37):
brains naturally organizeinformation.
SharePoint's terminology, sites,libraries, lists, metadata, is
abstract and technical.
Our brains don't naturally thinkin these terms.
We think in familiar, real-worldconcepts.
And third, traditional trainingoverwhelms users with too much
(02:00):
information.
SharePoint is incrediblypowerful, which means it's also
incredibly complex.
Showing users every featurecreates cognitive overload, and
then they retain almost nothing.
I've seen this pattern repeatfor over two decades now.
Organizations invest thousandsin SharePoint, then thousands
(02:20):
more in training, only to findthat adoption rates hover around
20 to 30%.
Users revert to old habits,storing documents on their
desktops, sharing via emailattachments, creating
information silos, all becausethe training didn't give them a
mental model that actually makessense.
After watching this patternrepeat across hundreds of
(02:43):
organizations, I knew there hadto be a better way.
How had all started?
Well, about five years ago, Ihad a breakthrough moment.
I was conducting a SharePointworkshop for a group that was
particularly struggling with allthe concepts.
(03:05):
I could tell because they hadglazed eyes, looking confused,
politely nodding, but I couldtell they weren't just
understanding any of it.
So I put down my preparedmaterials and grabbed a marker.
On the whiteboard, I drew asimple house.
I said, let's think ofSharePoint as a house.
(03:25):
The house itself is yourSharePoint site.
These rooms are like yourdocument libraries.
So different spaces fordifferent types of content.
Then I drew windows and said,these windows are like your
views, different ways of lookinginto the same room.
(03:46):
I could see the confusionstarting to lift.
People were now nodding, butthis time with comprehension,
not just with politeness.
One participant raised her handand said, So my marketing
materials would go in themarketing room and finance
documents in the finance room.
(04:06):
I said yes, because they werefinally getting it.
So over the next few years, Irefined this approach.
I experimented with metaphors.
Some were better than others.
At one point, I even tried asushi box and restaurant
metaphor.
Yes.
I used bento boxes as views,different restaurants were
(04:30):
content types.
It was funny.
It worked in parts, buthonestly, I started confusing
myself as much as theparticipants.
If you can't keep your ownmetaphor straight, it's probably
time to retire it.
So that trial and error is whateventually led me to the
(04:51):
simpler, universal concept ofcontainers.
Everyone gets it.
A container holds relatedthings.
Inside, you have filingcabinets, which are your
libraries, drawers, which areyour folders, and labels, which
is metadata.
(05:13):
The transformation wasremarkable.
Training sessions that onceproduced confusion now produced
those wonderful aha momentswhere you can literally see
understanding dawn on people'sfaces.
So what makes this approach soeffective is that it maps
SharePoint's abstract conceptsto mental models that we already
(05:36):
have.
We all understand containers,filing cabinets, drawers, and
labels.
We've been organizing physicalinformation this way for
centuries.
The container method simplyapplies these familiar concepts
to the digital world ofSharePoint.
(06:02):
How the methodology works.
So how exactly does thecontainer method work?
First, we start with containers.
In the physical world,containers are separate spaces
that hold related items.
Your kitchen contains cookingitems, your garage contains
tools and vehicles, and yourbedroom contains personal items.
(06:27):
In SharePoint, containers equalssites.
A marketing container holdsmarketing content.
A projects container holdsproject content.
And a department container holdsdepartmental content.
This simple mental shift fromthinking about sites to thinking
(06:48):
about containers immediatelymakes SharePoint more intuitive.
When someone asks, where shouldI put this document?
the answer becomes obvious.
Which container does it belongin?
Next we have filing cabinets,which are document libraries.
(07:09):
The marketing container mighthave filing cabinets for
campaigns, brand assets, andmarket research.
Then we have drawers, which arethe folders.
The campaign's filing cabinetmight have drawers for 2025
campaigns, 2024 campaigns, andso on.
Finally, we have labels, whichis metadata.
(07:32):
A campaign document might belabeled with campaign name,
target audience, and launchdate.
Here's the really powerful part.
You learn these concepts firstusing the container method, and
then by the end of the course,you know both the intuitive
model and the actual SharePointterminology.
(07:54):
So when IT says site or library,you know what they mean, but you
also have the everyday mentalmodel to guide you.
That bridging of intuition andtechnical knowledge is what
makes this stick.
(08:31):
The first example is for HRonboarding.
Imagine an HR container.
In SharePoint, that's an HRsite.
Inside, you set up filingcabinets, or in SharePoint
language, document libraries forpolicies, training, and employee
records.
(08:52):
Within those cabinets, you mighthave drawers.
That's SharePoint folders forthings like new hires,
contractors, and compliance.
And of course, you then need toadd labels, which is SharePoint
metadata.
And those labels might beemployee type, start date, or
region.
So HR can filter and instantlyfind what they need.
(09:17):
The next example is a marketingcampaign.
A marketing container inSharePoint, which is a marketing
site.
This holds cabinets, documentlibraries for campaigns, brand
assets, and market research.
Inside the campaigns cabinet,the drawers or folders could
(09:38):
separate 2025 campaigns from2024 months.
Then every file gets labeledwith metadata with a campaign
name, product line, and launchdate.
That way, someone can filtershow me your campaigns for
product X in 2024.
Then another example is ofproject workflows.
(10:01):
You would use a projectcontainer, which is a dedicated
project site in SharePoint.
In the cabinets or documentlibraries, we would hold
contracts, design files, andprogress reports.
The drawers or folders separateeach project phase, such as
initiative, design,construction.
(10:23):
And then our labels or metadatatrack things like milestone,
approval status, or risk level.
And when the project wraps up,the entire container or site is
archived as a package so nothinggets lost.
This is the real strength of thecontainer method.
You learn it first with simpleintuitive terms like containers,
(10:48):
cabinets, drawers, and labels.
And by the end of the training,you not only know those
concepts, but also theirSharePoint names, sites,
libraries, folders, andmetadata.
So when IT says we need to setup a new library in this site,
you know exactly what they'retalking about.
And more importantly, you knowhow to use it.
(11:18):
And now for the announcement.
After years of refining thismethodology and seeing its
impact across organizations, I'mexcited to announce that I
finally packaged the containermethod into a comprehensive
training course that's availablestarting today.
I'm beginning with the containermethod end user course, designed
(11:40):
specifically for the everydaySharePoint user who just needs
to navigate, find, store, andshare information effectively.
In just 60 minutes, this coursewill transform how you think
about SharePoint.
You'll learn how to visualizeSharePoint structure using the
container method, how tonavigate around your site, how
(12:04):
to find any document in seconds,not minutes, how to add, edit,
and manage your documents, andall about collaboration and how
to use the different SharePointfeatures to collaborate with
your team.
Just the basics and themethodology to get you started
with working with SharePointquickly and to understand
(12:27):
SharePoint.
And this is just the beginning.
Next week, I'll be releasing thecontainer method foundations
course for those who managedocument libraries and build
SharePoint sites.
This course includes thedifferent types of containers
and how to plan and build them.
You'll be able to choose betweenproject, resource, and team
(12:50):
containers and pick the rightone every time.
You'll learn what libraries youneed and designing metadata that
actually works.
You'll have step-by-stepguidance on building governance
into your structure.
And then in the advancedmodules, you'll actually create
those containers.
You'll set up structures thatscale, add metadata that saves
(13:13):
hours of searching, and applygovernance without drowning in
red tape.
You'll also learn when to usedifferent components such as
content types, document sets,and workflows, and how to create
them.
Think of it like this (13:28):
the end user course helps everyone be
productive tomorrow, and thefoundation and advanced courses
teach you to architect properly,fixing the mess before it
happens.
So it wouldn't be a launchwithout a special offer.
(13:51):
So if you're tired of SharePointconfusion and ready to embrace a
methodology that works the wayyour brain already thinks, check
out the container method and usea course at
simplysharepoint.com.
For the launch period, I'moffering the course at a reduced
price of$67 instead of theregular$97.
(14:14):
Thank you for listening to theSimply SharePoint podcast.
I'm Liza Tinker and I lookforward to helping you make
SharePoint simple, intuitive,and actually enjoyable to use.
Make sure you join me next weekwhen we're staging an
intervention for a SharePointdocument library, which is
buried under final underscoreversion seven underscore really
(14:36):
underscore final dot doc fewdocuments and transforming it
into a clean, simple containeryour team will actually love.
Bye for now.
Welcome to the Simply SharePoint Podcast.
I'm Liza Tinker, and today we'retalking about something I've
been developing for years, butI'm finally ready to share with
the world.
It's a completely differentapproach to SharePoint training
that actually works.
The container method.
But before I reveal what makesthis approach so effective,
(00:30):
let's talk about why traditionalSharePoint training fails so
consistently.
Why traditional training fails.
Have you ever sat through aSharePoint training session?
The typical approach goessomething like this.
(00:53):
Click here to access your site.
Click here to upload a document.
Click here to share a file.
It's a feature-by-featurewalkthrough that might make
sense in the moment, but as soonas you're back at your desk
facing a real-world scenario,that clarity evaporates.
There are three fundamentalproblems with traditional
(01:14):
SharePoint training.
First, it's feature-focusedrather than concept-focused.
Knowing where to click isuseless if you don't understand
why you're clicking there.
It's like teaching someone todrive by only showing them which
pedals to push withoutexplaining the principles of
driving.
Second, traditional trainingdoesn't account for how our
(01:37):
brains naturally organizeinformation.
SharePoint's terminology, sites,libraries, lists, metadata, is
abstract and technical.
Our brains don't naturally thinkin these terms.
We think in familiar, real-worldconcepts.
And third, traditional trainingoverwhelms users with too much
(02:00):
information.
SharePoint is incrediblypowerful, which means it's also
incredibly complex.
Showing users every featurecreates cognitive overload, and
then they retain almost nothing.
I've seen this pattern repeatfor over two decades now.
Organizations invest thousandsin SharePoint, then thousands
(02:20):
more in training, only to findthat adoption rates hover around
20 to 30%.
Users revert to old habits,storing documents on their
desktops, sharing via emailattachments, creating
information silos, all becausethe training didn't give them a
mental model that actually makessense.
After watching this patternrepeat across hundreds of
(02:43):
organizations, I knew there hadto be a better way.
How had all started?
Well, about five years ago, Ihad a breakthrough moment.
I was conducting a SharePointworkshop for a group that was
particularly struggling with allthe concepts.
(03:05):
I could tell because they hadglazed eyes, looking confused,
politely nodding, but I couldtell they weren't just
understanding any of it.
So I put down my preparedmaterials and grabbed a marker.
On the whiteboard, I drew asimple house.
I said, let's think ofSharePoint as a house.
(03:25):
The house itself is yourSharePoint site.
These rooms are like yourdocument libraries.
So different spaces fordifferent types of content.
Then I drew windows and said,these windows are like your
views, different ways of lookinginto the same room.
(03:46):
I could see the confusionstarting to lift.
People were now nodding, butthis time with comprehension,
not just with politeness.
One participant raised her handand said, So my marketing
materials would go in themarketing room and finance
documents in the finance room.
(04:06):
I said yes, because they werefinally getting it.
So over the next few years, Irefined this approach.
I experimented with metaphors.
Some were better than others.
At one point, I even tried asushi box and restaurant
metaphor.
Yes.
I used bento boxes as views,different restaurants were
(04:30):
content types.
It was funny.
It worked in parts, buthonestly, I started confusing
myself as much as theparticipants.
If you can't keep your ownmetaphor straight, it's probably
time to retire it.
So that trial and error is whateventually led me to the
(04:51):
simpler, universal concept ofcontainers.
Everyone gets it.
A container holds relatedthings.
Inside, you have filingcabinets, which are your
libraries, drawers, which areyour folders, and labels, which
is metadata.
(05:13):
The transformation wasremarkable.
Training sessions that onceproduced confusion now produced
those wonderful aha momentswhere you can literally see
understanding dawn on people'sfaces.
So what makes this approach soeffective is that it maps
SharePoint's abstract conceptsto mental models that we already
(05:36):
have.
We all understand containers,filing cabinets, drawers, and
labels.
We've been organizing physicalinformation this way for
centuries.
The container method simplyapplies these familiar concepts
to the digital world ofSharePoint.
(06:02):
How the methodology works.
So how exactly does thecontainer method work?
First, we start with containers.
In the physical world,containers are separate spaces
that hold related items.
Your kitchen contains cookingitems, your garage contains
tools and vehicles, and yourbedroom contains personal items.
(06:27):
In SharePoint, containers equalssites.
A marketing container holdsmarketing content.
A projects container holdsproject content.
And a department container holdsdepartmental content.
This simple mental shift fromthinking about sites to thinking
(06:48):
about containers immediatelymakes SharePoint more intuitive.
When someone asks, where shouldI put this document?
the answer becomes obvious.
Which container does it belongin?
Next we have filing cabinets,which are document libraries.
(07:09):
The marketing container mighthave filing cabinets for
campaigns, brand assets, andmarket research.
Then we have drawers, which arethe folders.
The campaign's filing cabinetmight have drawers for 2025
campaigns, 2024 campaigns, andso on.
Finally, we have labels, whichis metadata.
(07:32):
A campaign document might belabeled with campaign name,
target audience, and launchdate.
Here's the really powerful part.
You learn these concepts firstusing the container method, and
then by the end of the course,you know both the intuitive
model and the actual SharePointterminology.
(07:54):
So when IT says site or library,you know what they mean, but you
also have the everyday mentalmodel to guide you.
That bridging of intuition andtechnical knowledge is what
makes this stick.
(08:31):
The first example is for HRonboarding.
Imagine an HR container.
In SharePoint, that's an HRsite.
Inside, you set up filingcabinets, or in SharePoint
language, document libraries forpolicies, training, and employee
records.
(08:52):
Within those cabinets, you mighthave drawers.
That's SharePoint folders forthings like new hires,
contractors, and compliance.
And of course, you then need toadd labels, which is SharePoint
metadata.
And those labels might beemployee type, start date, or
region.
So HR can filter and instantlyfind what they need.
(09:17):
The next example is a marketingcampaign.
A marketing container inSharePoint, which is a marketing
site.
This holds cabinets, documentlibraries for campaigns, brand
assets, and market research.
Inside the campaigns cabinet,the drawers or folders could
(09:38):
separate 2025 campaigns from2024 months.
Then every file gets labeledwith metadata with a campaign
name, product line, and launchdate.
That way, someone can filtershow me your campaigns for
product X in 2024.
Then another example is ofproject workflows.
(10:01):
You would use a projectcontainer, which is a dedicated
project site in SharePoint.
In the cabinets or documentlibraries, we would hold
contracts, design files, andprogress reports.
The drawers or folders separateeach project phase, such as
initiative, design,construction.
(10:23):
And then our labels or metadatatrack things like milestone,
approval status, or risk level.
And when the project wraps up,the entire container or site is
archived as a package so nothinggets lost.
This is the real strength of thecontainer method.
You learn it first with simpleintuitive terms like containers,
(10:48):
cabinets, drawers, and labels.
And by the end of the training,you not only know those
concepts, but also theirSharePoint names, sites,
libraries, folders, andmetadata.
So when IT says we need to setup a new library in this site,
you know exactly what they'retalking about.
And more importantly, you knowhow to use it.
(11:18):
And now for the announcement.
After years of refining thismethodology and seeing its
impact across organizations, I'mexcited to announce that I
finally packaged the containermethod into a comprehensive
training course that's availablestarting today.
I'm beginning with the containermethod end user course, designed
(11:40):
specifically for the everydaySharePoint user who just needs
to navigate, find, store, andshare information effectively.
In just 60 minutes, this coursewill transform how you think
about SharePoint.
You'll learn how to visualizeSharePoint structure using the
container method, how tonavigate around your site, how
(12:04):
to find any document in seconds,not minutes, how to add, edit,
and manage your documents, andall about collaboration and how
to use the different SharePointfeatures to collaborate with
your team.
Just the basics and themethodology to get you started
with working with SharePointquickly and to understand
(12:27):
SharePoint.
And this is just the beginning.
Next week, I'll be releasing thecontainer method foundations
course for those who managedocument libraries and build
SharePoint sites.
This course includes thedifferent types of containers
and how to plan and build them.
You'll be able to choose betweenproject, resource, and team
(12:50):
containers and pick the rightone every time.
You'll learn what libraries youneed and designing metadata that
actually works.
You'll have step-by-stepguidance on building governance
into your structure.
And then in the advancedmodules, you'll actually create
those containers.
You'll set up structures thatscale, add metadata that saves
(13:13):
hours of searching, and applygovernance without drowning in
red tape.
You'll also learn when to usedifferent components such as
content types, document sets,and workflows, and how to create
them.
Think of it like this (13:28):
the end user course helps everyone be
productive tomorrow, and thefoundation and advanced courses
teach you to architect properly,fixing the mess before it
happens.
So it wouldn't be a launchwithout a special offer.
(13:51):
So if you're tired of SharePointconfusion and ready to embrace a
methodology that works the wayyour brain already thinks, check
out the container method and usea course at
simplysharepoint.com.
For the launch period, I'moffering the course at a reduced
price of$67 instead of theregular$97.
(14:14):
Thank you for listening to theSimply SharePoint podcast.
I'm Liza Tinker and I lookforward to helping you make
SharePoint simple, intuitive,and actually enjoyable to use.
Make sure you join me next weekwhen we're staging an
intervention for a SharePointdocument library, which is
buried under final underscoreversion seven underscore really
(14:36):
underscore final dot doc fewdocuments and transforming it
into a clean, simple containeryour team will actually love.
Bye for now.
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