Author: Jonathan Stuckey
Microsoft Loop confusing to manage
When Microsoft Loop announced at Ignite in 2021 I was massively underwhelmed. 2.5 years on I'm only marginally moved on in my opinion. The eventuation of the roadmap into real products like Whiteboard, Outlook, OneNote etc is here, but only addressing of the issues identified - and not the main one.
Microsoft Loop started-out looking like a developer intern's end-of-year project when they couldn't think of anything new, so they had a go at recreating bits of OneNote.
Then Microsoft applied marketing, and have subsequently jammed it in as new-features to various other products which did not show much of a roadmap (read: Whiteboard, OneNote)
Since then it has seemingly become the next attempt to re-develop content tooling and functionality to address inherent issues from historical products.
This is actually a good thing.
The focus on addressing underlying issues from various product acquisitions, where fundamentals of structure and integration don't meet, have resulted in duplication of functionality or it doesn't work together - that has been a persistent bur under the saddle.
Now Microsoft Loop can be seen as trying to address issues like:
the perennial tasks-management problem from various products (including Outlook, OneNote, Project, SharePoint, Lists, To do etc),
the basic content editor tool interfaces lack of consistency,
integration problems between various apps and services like: SharePoint, Outlook, Office webapps and Microsoft Teams etc.
But it also adds another layer in the ongoing Microsoft licensing upsell as they try to figure out how to make you pay for something with a minimal value proposition. Microsoft have seemingly tackled this by wrapping up access rights to Loop in E-plan licensing models and jacking-up the minimum bar to Business Premium or M365 E3/5 plus the Extra Features license.
What does that mean?
You paid for Office 365 apps, OneNote, SharePoint for creating and editing documents etc and now with Microsoft Loop you have an extra bunch of componentised elements sprayed across your documents, email, chats, on pages etc - which have additional licensing dependencies.
Because Microsoft Loop content is not an app per se for creating documents or data - its just bits of content - when users try to understand and manage .loop file's we don't have the context. Its just confusing (and dangerous) i.e. what is in it? what is the relevance (or importance) in a process? where does a particular .loop or .fluid file fit? is it being used for decisions in multiple places?
Pardon?
Well Microsoft Loop effectively treats every other app and document format as a UI (container) for its content but it does not link this lot together - it relies on your other documents and messages to be the reference and provide context.
Microsoft Loop saves all these .loop/.fluid files in folders and hopes you never have to go looking for something specific outside of where you added it. It jams these folder(s) - yep, more than 1 - with all the collected .loop files in your OneDrive.
Implication
Microsoft Loop atomises your content without having correlation or linkage for its context. The presentation on page or embedded in another document it was created in has the impact of generating "chunks" of (un)readable items stored as '.loop' or '.fluid' files. A file format which unreadable for human except via loop app component.
This breaking-up of your information (content) into component is fundamentally flawed architecture because the content has no context or linking. This leaves businesses in the worrying situation of fragmented content and the associated legal and regulatory nightmare which can follow should litigation require recovery of decision support materials. Your content is a form of "Loop soup" on a page.
Observation
Other systems which capture semi-structured data, and keep elements componentised exist. They are typically a structured data-system or source and therefore designed to capture and retain (for recovery or reporting) all the context of when, where and how that atom of data was added or used. Microsoft Loop does not do this.
Alright lets re-do the assessment from 2021...
Comparison
on the surface a high-level comparison the original similarities between the options has not changed too much in the intervening years:
Functionality | Microsoft Loop | Microsoft Teams | SharePoint / Office | Whiteboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Multi-party edit | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Content: Text, Images | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Content: Media | Y | Y | Y | P* |
Content: Data | Y | P* | Y | N |
Integration M365 | Y | Y | Y | Y |
UX: Browser | Y | Y | Y | Y |
UX: Desktop app | P^ | Y | Y | Y |
UX: Mobile app | P^ | Y | Y | Y |
UX: MS Teams integration | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Publishing | N | N | Y | P |
^ nope - still not available at time of writing
* this kind of content may be displayed via this option, but is not created here
Hmmmm. Well what about the identified gaps in critical functionality that support accountability? Traceability. The relationship to the primary document / page / communication which acts as the UI for the .loop content? The item that allows referenceability in reporting or legal discovery...?
Nope. Not fixed. Bugger.
Refreshed assessment of 2021:
Functionality | Microsoft Loop | Microsoft Teams | SharePoint / Office | Whiteboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Stores content | No | No | Yes | No |
Microsoft Groups integration | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Supports classification | Partial* | Yes | Yes | Partial* |
Audit & History | Yes* | Yes | Yes | Yes* |
Version controls | Yes* | No | Yes | Yes* |
* not natively. Leverages the facility in underlying storage service in OneDrive, or if potentially SharePoint
Some improvement with actually choosing to store files in Microsoft 365 platform store, but still not a great improvement on the basics. A major improvement is management of the content created, as the .loop or .fluid files are now stored in OneDrive for Business (read: SharePoint) - this allows for versioning, history, audit, access controls, sharing and labelling.
Anything else?
Unfortunately there a few known issues, like:
Search not recognizing and displaying contents when returned in results, or
Moving a file from its OneDrive folder:
breaks your ability to view/edit file - even in the browser
breaks all links from source document or communication where the file is integrated
until you put it back in to correct location in OneDrive
...amongst an array of other things - so it does kind of put the downer on an otherwise solid improvement of 1-place up the board for Microsoft here ....from a 1 to a 2 (on a scale of 1 - 5)
What do we conclude from paper-comparison
When I first reviewed I wanted to see support for some of the more boring (risk management) requirements like versions, history, audit etc - and we got them!
Now all we need is to make it actually valuable de facto tool is making the files traceable to their original content with the related version - context is king! (especially with discovery).
If it does fulfil the promise for fixing tasks management, and steps up the UI consistency of editing, it will be really usable and not just a toy.
Where do Microsoft Teams and SharePoint fit in?
First time around I identified Microsoft needed to sort out the UX and application model for Microsoft Loop, and I thought Microsoft Teams might be where it ended up. I also speculated on why on earth would you create yet another 'workspace' storage mechanism for pages and components when you already have SharePoint.
Well Microsoft has sprayed Loop functionality across lots of Microsoft 365 apps and services, and we are told the app is coming and will be available 2025. It will be in Microsoft Teams as an app (and tied to a new license model) - See: Microsoft Loop via 365 Subscriptions
As for storage and SharePoint, its good to see some in Microsoft (eventually) pays attention to the random goings on and Microsoft Loop workspaces are actually just using SharePoint Embedded - because why on earth would you want yet another repository which is not part of the governance security strategy or integrated to the rest of content creation tools. Same for "Pages".
Recommendation
Microsoft Loop is up and running. It's useful for meeting notes and ad hoc bullet capture - but will be a nightmare of legal issues later on if you need show how you made decision(s).
Its flippin risky from operational and litigative stand-point, and its not ready for prime-time yet. I would minimise my risk with using it for now.
Options
Leave it enabled. Minimise configuration availability. Invest in Purview IM Governance Rules, and minimise training.
Low operational overhead, but unmeasurable impact on business or inherent risk.
Tightly scoped training, extensive monitoring and discipline use of Loop for anything other than personal meeting management.
Challenging. If make policy on usage and dont promote or training on it can limit your exposure while the functionality is enhanced.
Actively and aggressively limit is use in anything other than embedded notes on Microsoft Teams.
Challenging. Requiring a range of tenancy updates (powershell), and potentially operational monitoring.
Turn all Microsoft Loop features off and block its use.
Possible. Guidance exists, but must be a business choice. It has being engineered to back-fill Whiteboard, OneNote and Microsoft Teams meeting functionality gaps;
Lets have a look in a year or two.
About the author: Jonathan Stuckey
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