Start with information architecture, not sites
The most common failure in enterprise SharePoint deployments is designing sites before designing the underlying information architecture. Content types, metadata schemas, and taxonomy should be defined before a single site is provisioned — otherwise every site becomes its own inconsistent island.
Hub sites as organizing structure
Hub sites provide shared navigation, branding, and search scoping across related site collections. Grouping sites by department or business function under a hub reduces duplication and gives users a consistent way to discover content across the organization.
Governance as a first-class requirement
Site provisioning, permissions, and lifecycle policies should be governed from day one — not retrofitted after sprawl sets in. A provisioning workflow that enforces naming conventions, security groups, and metadata at creation time prevents the majority of long-term governance problems.
Search and findability
Enterprise search only works if content is properly tagged. Managed metadata, consistent content types, and a deliberate search schema make the difference between a SharePoint environment people can actually use and one where content disappears the moment it's published.