My Love/Hate Relationship with SharePoint (and Why I Built the Commander Tool)

I've been working with SharePoint for quite some time now—long enough to witness its awkward teenage years and subsequent transformations. I've experienced my fair share of frustrations and have been genuinely impressed by its flexibility.

That’s why I refer to my relationship with SharePoint as a love/hate relationship.

I appreciate its adaptability; it can be transformed into collaboration portals, document management systems, knowledge bases, and even workflow-driven business applications. However, I dislike that its functionality is often hidden beneath layers of menus, ribbons, and cryptic settings.

SharePoint’s Interface Challenge

Back in 2007, I thought SharePoint had made significant progress. Compared to its 2003 version, it felt modern and powerful. However, the more I worked with it, the more I realized that while the capability was there, finding it was another story.

Microsoft tends to scatter essential functions across multiple screens or disable features based on version, licensing, or security settings. There were days when I would be deep into documentation and still couldn't locate the option I needed. Other times, I would unexpectedly discover a useful feature buried within the SharePoint structure.

This inconsistency was quite frustrating.

Reflecting on the SharePoint Designer Era

One tool I found particularly useful was SharePoint Designer. While it wasn't flawless, it at least centralized many of the features that admins and developers needed. You could view site structures, workflows, and data connections—all in one place.

When Microsoft decided to discontinue Designer, the gap became apparent. Suddenly, there was no single, consolidated view for power users, leaving me to piece together multiple interfaces to gain a complete understanding.

Inspiration Behind the Commander Tool

This frustration inspired me to create the Commander Tool.

My goals were to:

• Consolidate the features I frequently use into a single interface.

• Reintroduce some of the familiarity and efficiency I enjoyed with Designer.

• Enhance SharePoint with entirely new functionalities that Microsoft never provided.

The outcome is a tool that accomplishes what SharePoint itself has struggled with: offering a single, powerful, and easy-to-navigate interface that integrates site details, content management, permissions, and knowledge indicators all in one place.

Final Thoughts

My love/hate relationship with SharePoint remains unchanged. I still encounter its quirks, and I often find myself shaking my head when Microsoft hides something useful three clicks too deep.

Instead of merely coping with these frustrations, I took action to bridge the gap—for myself and for others who share similar sentiments.

Ultimately, the Commander Tool is the culmination of two decades of appreciating SharePoint’s potential while disliking its execution—and finally taking steps to address it.