Finally got around to reading these…

• Role-Based Templates for SharePoint My Sites: Under the Hood
• Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Under the Hood

The application templates one was very interesting stuff – design patterns, and techniques for customisation that I didn’t know about. If you only read one of these documents, read that one.

The role based document was not as good. The first part about Personalization, how it works, and My Sites strategy, is interesting, but the later bit not as much so and it doesn’t really get as far under the hood as the application templates document.

If nothing else, what it showed me is how I need to get a better handle on SharePoint’s XSL