DR Guide 2007

An interesting opportunity came my way sometime around the summer of 2008.  Steve Pietrek, one of my senior team members at Cardinal Solutions, mentioned that he had been discussing the topics of SharePoint and disaster recovery with John Ferringer, another IT professional in the Indianapolis area.  John was getting ready to co-author a book on SharePoint disaster recovery and was seeking someone to help with technical editing.  Steve mentioned to John that in addition to the SharePoint work I do, I had done disaster recovery work in a previous position.  One thing led to another, and before long I had signed on as the technical editor for the project.

Shortly after writing began, though, problems surfaced and continued to grow to the point of jeopardizing the project.  To make a long story short, things didn’t work out with John’s co-author and I was asked if I’d be willing to jump into the co-author’s chair.  I agreed, and John and I proceeded to burn our candles at both ends for several months trying to make up for lost time.  After a lot of blood, sweat, tears, 4am writing marathons, and countless phone calls (at some rather strange hours) supporting one another, we wrote the closing chapter in the book you see below.

The SharePoint 2007 Disaster Recovery Guide was a first-time experience for both of us, and we are both pretty proud of what we put together.  Our wives were close to killing both of us by the end of it, but we made good on a promise to finish what had been started.  Personally, I learned a phenomenal amount about authoring and the publishing process while working on the guide.  I can say that I certainly have a much greater appreciation for all the effort that goes into writing a book and seeing it through from concept to completion.

The best part of the experience, though, was working with John and finishing the project with not only a book, but a friendship.  Without a doubt, John is one of those guys that everyone wants on their team.  He’s firmly committed to his craft, he has an absolutely solid work ethic, and his technical knowledge is both broad and deep.  He also has a great sense of humor — something that helped keep both of us sane while trying to complete the project.

If you work with SharePoint and want to keep your data safe, grab a copy of the book.  It will be money well-spent.