Office 365 Distilled

Steve and Marijn have a wide ranging talk background dancers, events, colonoscopy, their Scotland travel with Scottish Summit, whisky, episode 200, visiting their own whisky barrels, AI in SharePoint, Claude and they end with a taste of Marijn's daughters whisky barrel, a Linkwood that is now 5 year old but already amazing to drink!

Steve takes his bag of shit to the SmartBytes evening and talks about the gifts that AI has brought us. They end up with a very good household-name dram.

The boys put on their harness and see how they can govern AI. 

The boys take a leap of faith when discussing AI.. Where will it lead to next?

Ducktails - woohoo!! The boys are talking about the random spawning of ducks in Steve's house, conference travel, new website url's they bought and Steve's changing jobs. The whisky of the episode? The Ledaig Castaway - which turns out to be superb!

Marijn got fanmail, a user that had a real usecase and was looking how to tackle a problem. So the boys become cunts - I mean consultants and do some live consultancy!

The boys start off with an AI created intro, Marijn gets winded up about the use of "and honestly" he sees everywhere, Steve talks about lady gardens, but they are interrupted by a ruckus on the street. Thank goodness there is a Danish Dirty Bastard!

The boys have a whisky-infused talk about AI use cases, share fun stories and have 4 different English whiskies throughout the episode.

Marijn came back from MVP Summit in Seattle, but can't say anything, because NDA! The topic changes in what AI can do for you, and why people are the secret ingredient for AI success! They end with an American whisky "Straight Triticale Distillarium".

On this special day of the day, when we celebrate Saint Paddy, the boys taste 4 whiskies while they work out how to measure collaboration.

Happy Birthday to 25 year SharePoint! The boys reminisce and share war stories. They end with an amazing smoky dram.

In this episode of Microsoft 365 Distilled, the boys celebrate Burns Night in true Scottish fashion: with tartan‑level enthusiasm and a whisky that would make even the Bard raise an approving eyebrow. They go hunting for insights in places no one has ever thought to look. The mission? To see whether the timeless wisdom of Burns, actual old-school poetry can shed new light on the ever evolving univ...

Happy new year everyone! The boys are back and making plans for fun events this year. Marijn hates the fact that Steve is now higher up the CommunityDays speaker board list than Marijn. They reminisce about past events and eventually get on topic: AI doesn't care if your sites are pretty. So how much work do you need to put in to make SharePoint "pretty" for AI (AKA readable)? So what is the ratio...

The boys discover Jura and their wheel to describe the full range of whiskies. They compare it with different SharePoint elements, techniques and ingredients to put in the cauldron and to make new potions!

Marijn makes a total arse of himself at a whisky tasting. Because why not. The boys are talking about undiscovered gems in SharePoint,which they uncover in an old-school method.

This time, the boys are not alone! Anouck Fierens, co-host of the FusionTalk podcast is joining them for a dada-dram! The talk of tonight? How, and what people think. About technology, automation, communication and change.

The boys talk about Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, Shitsuke. In short: the 5s methodology. After Marijn's session on Marie Kondo, this is another methodology to clean up your content. Whiskies come out, and boy..these are something else! 

The boys are at Collabdays Zagreb and talking to Frane Borozan and Danijel Cizek, from Syskit. They are enjoying some Croatian whisky (well, some of them...) and talking governance, AI and life in the beautiful city of Zagreb.

Marijn for once, does something useful (in Steve's house).A new Modern Workplace workshop arises, so that means the boys will be live workshopping (aka pisstaking) around it. Marijn tells his Copilot horror stories. The boys end with such a unique whisky that only 1 bottle exists.

Marijn talks about his new session that is delivering in Helsinki and Oslo. That one is about finding a methodology to handle data, and Marijn chooses the Marie Kondo method. Initially, Steve can't stop laughing about it, but he is won over when Marijn says the magic word (which is not whisky). The whisky is a sherry finished Islay bomb.

"You never listen to me", might be the start of a old fashioned shoot out in the wild wild west. Thankfully, the boys are much more civilized (so they say) and talk about the Frontier Firm. They end with a Kavalan, that has been on the shelve for ages and finally gets opened. Links to the material: 2025: The year the Frontier Firm is born https://buckleyplanet.com/2025/08/how-to-become-a-frontier-...

The boys had it with M365. Done. Dusted. But what are alternatives? If you want to use spreadsheets, run an intranet or collaborate, what are the real serious contenders? Let's find out, and have a great Irish whisky (yes, without an e!!).

When the boys are left alone.. they come up with great ideas. New models for whisky that also work for Microsoft 365? Why not!

The boys are renewed as MVP. But what does that even mean? How do you become one? Would you want to be one? What are the perks? And how much work is involved? And how much whisky?

The boys try something new this episode. What started as a great idea, turned into a drinking game! Marijn got some great Teerenpeli Finnish whisky samples from Vesa Nopanen (which they always exchange). Every time we drink, we ask a question. Let's see how far they got!