My letter to the Next Microsoft CEO (BusinessWeek)
BusinessWeek asked me to use my experience at WordPress.com to offer advice to the future CEO of Microsoft: Recently,…
Category: Microsoft
How Microsoft kills cool projects
There’s a good article detailing the death of Microsoft Courier, a tablet device project from 2009/10 led by J.…
Ray Ozzie, Microsoft and change
I’d occasionally get asked what I thought of Ray Ozzie at Microsoft. I’d say this “Great guy, a worthy…
Lessons from Google Wave and MSFT Kin
I’m a fan of things going wrong. It’s only when things go wrong that anyone pays attention enough to…
Should managers know how to code?
In a series of posts, called readers choice, I write on whatever topics people submit and vote for. If…
What Microsoft gets for $2 billion
As a follow up to my post on Microsoft and Creative Destruction, it’s worth looking at this chart (from…
Microsoft and Creative Destruction
A recent NYT article by former Microsoft VP Dick Brass has caused quite the stir, but for the wrong…
Microsoft and Making things happen
One common criticism, often mild, I hear about my book Making Things happen is it’s a Microsoft flavored book.…
The end of Encarta
Microsoft recently announced the end of the product known as Encarata. Way back in the day Encarta was cool.…
How project managers establish power
I remember the day I started working as a program manager on the Internet explorer team. On my second…
Program Managers vs. Interaction designers
Recently Joel on Software posted about how to be a program manager and he lists UI design as one…
Microsoft layoffs: thoughts
The big news in this corner of the world are the layoff announcement at Microsoft. Steve Ballmer’s email drops…
Success factors for program managers
In response to my post on the lost cult of PM at Microsoft, Charlie Owen’s was kind enough to…
The lost cult of Microsoft program managers
Some of you know I worked at Microsoft years ago (’94-’03) as what they call a program manager. In…
Questions on Innovation from Microsoft: Answered!
Per Richard’s complaint, I’ve finally answered the questions mentioned back in September (hanging head in shame), when I spoke…
New video: How to make things happen
When Making things happen came out in March, I did a few talks here and there to help promote…
Questions on Innovation from Microsoft
Had a nice crowd of about 150, plus another 300 online at Microsoft today. The talk will be posted…
Speaking at Microsoft next Tuesday
I’ll be swinging by Microsoft next week to speak at the Microsoft Research lecture series. I’ll be talking about…
How not to set goals: Steve Ballmer, a case study
Recently Steve Ballmer’s FY ’09 Strategy email was leaked. Out of curiosity I read the thing – and it…
Innovation by firing people
If the goal is to get a stagnant project to be more creative or productive, the best move is…