CM005 | Content Management - Stability vs Flexibility: The Subaru Story

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Back in the day when I was young and stupid, I had a bunch of friends in the off-road racing community and let me tell you, watching Subaru and the legendary Colin McRae walk off with the 1997 WRC (World Rally Championship) title made me lose my ever-loving mind.

In my then-20 years on this planet, I'd never enjoyed driving a car more than the first time I took an Impreza for a spin. More than anything in this world, I wanted a 555-blue WRX of my own. As it turns out, my budget – and my already-long list of fines – stopped that little dream in its tracks.

It wasn’t that they took the title – it was the fact that they took it for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW. No-one had ever pulled off a hat trick before and it was MAGICAL.

[PRETTY SURE THIS WAS THE AUS RACE – 1997]

So what – or who – or combination of the two – do we credit with this feat?

The mad genius that is McRae was the perfect choice for this team at this time – no doubt about that. But a driver is nothing without a car that matches their ability.

Boxer engine with opposed pistons. Low centre of gravity. Great balance. Subaru’s revolutionary Asymmetrical All Wheel Drive, labelled in later years as an “unfair advantage”. Could any one of these be the magic bullet?

It’s obvious this win was thanks to a combination of factors that came together perfectly at the exact right moment, but there is another element so fundamental that no-one even considers it to be a contributing factor: It doesn’t matter that your engine could power a fighter jet - or that your suspension keeps your car stuck to the road like gum on a running shoe - if they have no foundation to stand on.

Off-road rally vehicles have a lot to deal with: stupid amounts of power, the most punishing racing circuits known to man, and two squishy humans in the middle. Getting over the finish line first with the human cargo intact requires a reinforced, super-rigid frame, capable of standing up to any impacts, vibrations, drops, or extreme handling the driver might throw at it. Typically, this would include:

  • Stripping the vehicle down to the chassis
  • Trimming away any unnecessary weight
  • Reinforcing the chassis a bazillion times over for maximum rigidity and stability

Only then will the team build the vehicle back up again and install all the engineering black magic, the roll cage, wiring cage, seats, etc.

Yes, I know I’m over-simplifying things a little, but it’s been decades since I last had grease up to my armpits and I’d never live it down if I left out something important. Simple is good.

To summarize: the rigidity of the frame ensures the integrity of the components built on top of it.  So the driver is free to execute whatever move is required in the moment, knowing that the vehicle will behave as expected.
In the same way, when setting up a SharePoint Online tenant specifically for use as a content management platform, we must take the time to ensure the underlying foundation is stable and rigid enough to support users where they are and ensure flexibility where it matters.

In the next issue we will look at the basic building blocks we use when creating SharePoint Content Frameworks and Information Architectures. Until then, buckle up, wear sunscreen, and look both ways before crossing the road.

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