SharePoint offers both workflow and organization in a completely free software package. Unfortunately, in the hands of most IT shops the tool is an open-ended invitation to waste time.

Software development teams have not only capable developers, but design and user interface specialists. Lacking those skills great sysadmins and great shell-scripters usually spend more time playing with colors and graphics than actually producing useful SharePoint sites. On the other hand, if you have an admin on the IT team who is goal-oriented enough to quickly churn out usable SharePoint tools - give them a raise and try to keep them around.

To avoid wasting time on the little things, try starting projects with a SharePoint template. Templates offer a basic design and make a great skeleton to hang features and tools on. Thanks to open source, several sites offer free SharePoint templates to get started on:

• Classroom, Employee, and Event Tools - 30 SharePoint templates from Microsoft
• Complete Finance, Human Resource, and Sales department SharePoint sites
• A SharePoint MVP’s shared templates
• SharePoint Resources Directory, by SharePoint MVP Heather Solomon
• List of SharePoint Blogs and Bloggers, by SharePoint MVP Mark Kruger
• SharePoint & MCMS Directory (OPML format), by SharePoint MVP Andrew Connell

Update: SharePoint MVPs appear to offer a lot or resources, tips, and even basic support via their own blogs. I’ve added MVP-maintained resource and blog listings of SharePoint MVPs.