I’ve Received the the 2011 Microsoft® MVP Award for SharePoint

Yesterday, I got the very nice — and surprising — news that I’d been awarded a 2011 Microsoft® MVP Award for SharePoint. I’m seriously honored by the recognition of my work in the SharePoint community. If you’d like to read a bit about the Microsoft MVP program, head over to the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Web site.

Believe it or not, and I’m not blowing smoke here, I haven’t been doing anything that I’ve been doing to try to earn awards, but instead to gain the rewards I get from doing fun, interesting work. Sure, some of those rewards are tangible, like a good income, but many of them are intangible, like the feeling at the end of the day that I’ve helped people or developed a good, solid solution.  I love what I do, which I haven’t been able to say very many times in my career. I’m happiest when I’m learning, and SharePoint, and most importantly the community around it, provides an almost limitless opportunity for learning.

This is an award for what I’ve done in the past, but my reputation is only as good as my most recent project, update to SPServices, blog post, or answer to a forum question. I don’t plan to flaunt this award or even talk about it very much. I want to keep doing what I do and also keep enjoying it. There are some who pooh-pooh awards like this (and I’m occasionally one of them), but I’m happy to accept the MVP award based on my work in 2010 because I’m proud of what I’ve been doing. Now I have to get back to work. There’s more stuff to do.

p.s. Thanks a million for all of the kind words I’ve been getting since this was announced! I’d try to thanks each and every one of you directly, but I’d miss someone and then you’d all gang up on me and call me names.