At a BarCamp a couple of years ago, I heard Tara Hunt speak about Social Capital (more about Tara and ‘Whuffie’ here). It was the first time I’d tried to associate and quantify social worthiness (in my sort of layman’s interpretation) or social standing or capital with a human being. Tara’s talk, and consequently being friends with her, helped me understand the concept a lot better.
The Windows Web Application Gallery (Gallery) provides a streamlined way for users to explore, discover, install and deploy popular Web applicationson the Microsoft Web Platform. The Gallery is a community hub of free and popular.NET and PHP applications, some of which may be Open Source, for you to use as building blocks for creating dynamic Web solutions. Our goal here is to accelerate the speed of developing Web solutions for your business – as well as provide all the guidance, building blocks, and products you’ll need to be successful. We will not be storing snapshots of code on Microsoft servers, instead, we point to community servers for the packages which is maintained and supported as part of the community app package. All applications in the Gallery live in an XML feed that is consumed by Web Platform Installer, participating control panel vendors, and any site that wants to integrate with the feed. If you have a free Web application you’d like to add to the Windows Web App Gallery – you can do so – and we’ll market & distribute these apps – your apps – to millions of Windows developers worldwide. Read about the process and documentation for submitting an application to be included in the Windows Web Application Gallery.
Every year around February, Microsoft kicks off its annual mid-year career discussion (MYCD). The MYCD really comprises of two things, an opportunity to check in against commitments you would’ve made at the beginning of the fiscal year, and to discuss your career aspirations. This discussion is something that an employee drives with his or her manager. The manager is simply there to assess your performance and to give you guidance on how you can reach your next set of milestones based on what you choose your career path to be.
I had my first MYCD a month after I’d joined Microsoft (Feb 2005). Obviously back then, my efforts were focused on simply doing my job and doing it well. And I was coming from a company culture that didn’t really pay as much heed to an employee’s career. It’s not till Feb ‘08 that I took the MYCD seriously. For the first time last year, I spent more time on the career portion of the MYCD than I did the commitments check-in. My reason for writing this post is to be transparent about Microsoft career discussion process. I’m incredibly proud of Microsoft, our HR team and the executive team for how seriously they take every individual’s career at Microsoft.
The goal behind the career portion of the MYCD is to really help you answer the questions “what do you want to do at Microsoft” and “what kind of a career path do you see yourself following“. We get so tied up in our daily work (which is based on our yearly goals) that we often stop looking at the big picture. Let me give you an example – I’m ridiculously happy with what I do, and I could be happy doing this forever. (without sounding like I’m gloating too much) I’d like to think that I’m doing well on the job, but the reason I’ve been doing well is because of the outside (valley) perspective that I’ve been able to bring into the company. It’s likely that in a few years, my perspective may not be as fresh anymore. There maybe someone better suited for the job, someone with a fresher perspective. And not knowing what you don’t know, can be dangerous. I’m one of those people who feels like he should retool and learn new things every couple of years. I feel learning new things will challenge me, help me grow and keep my skills sharp. That said, for the better of the company (fresher, newer perspective) and for my sake (learning, retooling), a career move every few years is absolutely warranted. The company believes that certain individuals will want to grow out of their role, learn new things and consequently they will contribute better to the company. Continue reading
I’d mulled over my post on Steve Ballmer being misunderstood for a long time before I actually posted it. I wanted it to be known that he is in fact one of the most intelligent human beings on the planet, and I felt that way for more than just personal reasons. I think the giant crowd that is here at MIX’08 got a glimpse of the Steve Ballmer that I have known, and I believe in. Guy Kawasaki interviewed Ballmer (video) in front of several thousand people live, and several thousand more watching online.
Ballmer is not the technical powerhouse of Microsoft – in fact he acknowledged that when Guy asked him about Bill Gates’ plans come June this year. But the articulate, concise, amiable, humorous and yet PR-friendly way in which Ballmer answered all of Guy’s questions was just plain freaking amazing. He even took questions from a technical audience and answered each and every one of them brilliantly and most importantly, factually (which is Ballmer’s way of handling any question – factually). Did you notice how he was quoting market share and revenue numbers off the top of his head? Guy took several several jabs at Ballmer, he knew he was in a position to do so, that this was his chance to say whatever he wanted. But Ballmer maintained his cool and didn’t take the bait once. Continue reading
In the wake of the Microsoft-Yahoo acquisition proposal, I’ve met quite a few disappointed Yahooligans. And they are not disappointed that they’d be working at Microsoft, they are disappointed that they’d be working for Steve Ballmer. And it’s not just the Yahooligans – I can’t tell you how many random people I’ve met who just simply hate Ballmer. And none of their experiences have been personal. I can see how Ballmer can come across as a mean, shrewd and cocky person who likes to eat babies and kills people for sport, but I’m here to tell you that Ballmer is probably the most intelligent, tactical and loyal person I’ve ever known. Clearly, this is going to be hard to digest especially considering I work at Microsoft.
I know, I know, I’ve seen the videos. I’ve heard about the Lucovsky incident. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there. I don’t know what happened. But I don’t think people give Ballmer enough credit. I think people have to realize that this man sleeps like 4 hours a day, if that. Every word coming out of his mouth has the potential to change the world in some way. It’d be ridiculous to think that everything he says out loud hasn’t been planned or rehearsed multiple multiple times (some people think he just mouths off). Take this video for example : Continue reading
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