Which community project do you maintain?
PnP Modern Search
How does it help people?
Coming from classic SharePoint many customers were used to the flexible search web parts available. In modern SharePoint there is a gap between what the highlighted content web part can do and what Microsoft Search delivers of customization, and this is where the PnP Modern Search web parts fills the gap.
What have you been working on lately?
Lately I’ve been fixing minor issues and bugs with v3 of the web parts which have now moved to a support state only, while the innovation goes into the new v4, which also allows use of the Microsoft Graph Search API. A similar journey to other API’s, where they move out of SharePoint, cover more scenarios and great new innovations.
What do you do at work?
I work as a PM on the Microsoft Search UX seen in SharePoint and Office.com where my focus area is to improve the experience around file items in search results. You might think it’s a narrow area, but there is a lot happening with signals in the Graph and AI on content which we can bring back to search results to help people searching find the right content quicker. Combining technical innovation with intuitive UX is both challenging and fun :)
Why are you a part of the M365 community?
As I used to be a consultant on M365 and an MVP, community has been a core part of my life for so long. I love sharing and love learning, and being part of the community is by far the best way to combine those.
What was you first community contribution?
Probably answering a question on TechNet back in 2010.
One tip for someone who’d like to start contributing
If you are a developer and you use open source projects via GitHub, reach out via the issue lists and ask if there is something you can help out with. Most projects have a list of bugs or improvements people are asking for, and by helping out you are putting yourself out there and you will get a lot of gratitude.