Knowledge Fika 2.0: Knowledge in M365 with Copilot and Content AI

About the episode:
In this episode, I sit down with Sean Squires from the SharePoint product team at Microsoft, on Redmond Campus and in the same room as my guest for a change! We had aproper deep dive into something that quietly underpins almost everything we do with content and AI: librarian skills!
(We also had a lot of coffee...)
We talk about why librarian skills still matter in a world of large language models, how concepts like folksonomy, taxonomy, and ontology show up in very real product decisions, and why “messy content with magical AI on top” is not a strategy.
We also unpack the evolution from Syntex - to what’s now branded as AI in SharePoint, what changed (and why), and what this means for organisations trying to make AIactually useful — not just impressive.
This is a practical, honest conversation about content lifecycle, authoritative knowledge, and how natural language and AI conversations mean everyone suddenly has a SharePoint expert in a box.

About Sean Squires:
Sean is a Principal Product Manager for SharePoint at Microsoft and has spent 23 years working on the platform, starting with SharePoint 2003.
He holds a Master’s in Library Science from the University of Washington and brings deep expertise in how information is structured, described, and made usable at scale.
His work focuses on metadata and knowledge models — from folksonomy and taxonomy through to ontology — and how these foundations underpin AI in SharePoint.

About this episode:
What does it really take to make Knowledge Flow — especially as Microsoft rolls out a new Engage experience and updated licensing model through April 2026?
In this episode of Knowledge Fika, I’m joined by Lukas Wünsch to explore how Knowledge & Portfolio Management and Community‑driven collaboration come together — and why this moment matters as Engage continues evolving from a social layer into a deliberate, organisation‑wide capability.
We discuss:
What’s changing in the new Engage experience in Teams
What the licensing shift signals for organisations — and why it forces clearer intent
Why community design, not tools, determines knowledge flow
How Engage supports knowledge sharing across portfolios when it’s used deliberately
Where Engage adds real value — and why strategic direction and C-level support is a game-changer
This conversation isn’t about features or hype. It’s about using communities to create clarity, connection, and knowledge flow — that actually sticks!
☕ Practical, grounded, and refreshingly honest — just the way we like our fika.

About Lukas:
Lukas Wünsch is the head of Knowledge & Portfolio Management and community‑driven collaboration at MHP (a Porsche subsidiary), where his focus is making knowledge actually flow — across people, portfolios, and real work.
With a Scandinavian connection from his undergrad studies in Norway (and fluent Norwegian to prove it), Lukas brings a refreshingly human, pragmatic take on KM — grounded in structure, trust, and communities rather than tools for tools’ sake.
Outside of work, we bonded over a shared love of Guinness — though when it comes to fika, Lukas keeps it classic: strong coffee and a cinnamon roll. Plain. Proper.

About this episode:
Rebecka sits down with Cory Newton‑Smith to explore how AI in SharePoint has evolved from early Knowledge Agent ideas to today’s Copilot-powered capabilities. They break down how AI is finally helping organizations clean up noise, surface authoritative content, and turn SharePoint into a genuinely intelligent knowledge platform.

Expect insights into Microsoft’s “zero to one” journey, how customer feedback drives every iteration, and why the platform is becoming “so much more capable” as AI takes center stage.

Chapters:
00:00 — Intro: Knowledge Agent & AI in SharePoint
05:54 — Cory’s journey at Microsoft
09:27 — AI in document management
14:05 — Customer feedback loops18:08 — AI capability leaps
21:37 — Cutting noise
26:09 — Authoritative content
31:29 — Customization power

About Cory:
Cory Newton‑Smith is a Group Product Manager at Microsoft and a key leader behind AI in SharePoint — from first‑party AI to custom SharePoint agents that unlock expertise across organizations.

She’s the woman behind the massive team effort that gave knowledge managers the best thing since electricity and indoor plumbing: AI‑powered knowledge in SharePoint. Cory blends product vision, customer research, engineering partnership, and deep experience in AI strategy to shape how Microsoft helps people find and trust organizational knowledge.

If your SharePoint suddenly feels smarter? Cory and her team's fingerprints are probably on it. A coffee drinker who lacks the sweet tooth that so many of us have - she is also "tea-curious", so let's see what her verdict will be on the "Söders Höjder" blend I will bring for her. Tea with a flavour of warm, sunny summer nights in Stockholm... To be continued.

About this Episode:
In this episode of Knowledge Fika, I sit down with the legendary (and proudly self‑proclaimed) curmudgeon Marc D Anderson. With decades of experience in the Microsoft world, Marc has watched SharePoint grow from its awkward adolescence into today’s collaboration powerhouse.
We talk about the evolution of Microsoft 365, why Marc stays cautiously optimistic about Copilot, and how hype often gets in the way of solving real business problems. He shares honest, practical perspectives on what AI gets right—and where it still goes delightfully wrong.
And yes, we end with a Fika moment featuring cardamom buns and some thoughtful reflections on slowing down in the age of AI.

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About Marc:
Marc D Anderson (Sympraxis Consulting) is what you get when deep technical expertise meets decades of real‑world consulting wisdom—served with a generous side of dry humour. A long‑time Microsoft MVP, author of the beloved SPServices library, and a go‑to voice in the SharePoint community, Marc has shaped the Microsoft ecosystem since the early TPU/Tahoe days.
He’s hands‑on, allergic to tech hype, and famously committed to “just wanting the truth.” Whether he’s designing solutions, blogging, or speaking at conferences, Marc brings clarity, candour, and a bit of that classic Anderson curmudgeon charm.

About this episode:
In this episode, I sit down with Adam Harmetz, VP of Product (SharePoint, OneDrive, Planner and a whole slew of M365 products) at Microsoft, to look at SharePoint’s 25‑year journey and how it’s evolving in an AI‑first era. And what to expect from https://aka.ms/SPat25 - the big birthday event!
We cover the rise of Knowledge Agent, why content lifecycle management and governance still matter, and how AI is transforming the way people interact with information. Adam also shares insights on Work IQ and the shift toward richer content experiences — all pointing to a future where collaboration, automation, and intelligent context are at the core of everyday work.
If you care about content, knowledge in the flow of work, and where Microsoft is taking SharePoint next, this conversation delivers clarity, history, and a few sharp one-liners (including the now‑iconic “garbage in, garbage amplified”). #GIGA
And if you haven't already: Sign up for the 25th SharePoint birthday celebration today! https://aka.ms/SPat25 It will be a blast (from the past) but some BIG announcements too!

About Adam:
Adam Harmetz is a VP of Product in Microsoft’s Collaborative Apps & Platforms organization, with two decades of experience shaping how people create, manage, and use content at work. He’s spent his career at the intersection of product design and customer success — from reimagining SharePoint to driving the next wave of content management innovation with AI and agents.
He lives in Kirkland, WA with his wife (a former product director turned leadership coach), their two kids, and a very loved dog. Together, he and his wife write about careers, parenting, and the messy, meaningful parts of life at https://blog.mindthebeet.com.