Ali Pasha's WebLog... : Other

Moving on ...

a_pasha — Fri, 26 May 2006 09:47:00 GMT

My time at VSTS - Arch has been very important to me. I have learnt a lot shipping VS2005 and working on Orcas planning. I have had the opportunity to work with great people and made great friends. I have also been really impressed with the leadership that the team has shown.

Therefore, with mixed emotions, I am announcing that I am leaving the team to join the Visual Basic team, where I will be tasked with working on WCF tooling. I am looking forward to the new challenges and the impact that I can make working on VB.

In the mean time, my blog may be a little bare for the next few weeks while I am transitioning. Best of luck in your architectural pursuits!

Ali

Pedro now a lead on the DSL tools team...

a_pasha — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:06:00 GMT

I still remember conversations over lunch about how Pedro did not want to be a dev lead/manager, having done it before. How his real passion was development. Therefore, I was taken a back when I saw the announcement so I ran over to Pedro's office to confirm.

Evidently, they made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Let's hope that the dev manager (Dave Sauntry) did not resort to methods that involve horse carcass. :)

Not to worry, Pedro will continue to actively develop the DSL tools.

Congrats Pedro!

Ali

On vacation, on the slopes,

a_pasha — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 20:36:00 GMT

and hurting...

Doing a 720 down the mountain has a completely different connotation for me.

Ali

About my office room...

a_pasha — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 09:22:00 GMT

As I read Zillow's web page, which is one of the most hyped startups in Seattle, I came across the About my house... page for each of the executives. I thought it was a great idea so, in true form, I ripped it off and came up with my own version for my office room.

I love that I have my own office after two and a half years of working at Microsoft. I love how Mark and Suhail keep me entertained when they try to balance on my wobble board as they make excuses for why they 'really' came to talk to me. :) I love that Pedro drops by to bug be about my blog every time I make a stupid post. And finally, I love the way that I can hop across the hallway and land straight into Bill's office without having to touch the hallway floor.

I'm not sure Bill appreciates that as much as I do...

Ali

I'm a Mort when it comes to DSL tools!

a_pasha — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 01:35:00 GMT

Senior members in our team have suggested that PM team should start using the DSL tools to prototype some of the new architecture models/designers that are being proposed. Consequently, I've been laboring away on my DSLs for the last few days and Pedro's been a great help. However, there are two things that I (WARNING: Controversial statements about to ensue. Please read my disclaimer) do not agree with.

The first has to do with the target persona for the DSL tools. Which I was told was the Elvis/Einstein persona for at least v1. The belief is that you need to be at that level to be building DSLs. Well, I'm a Mort! As I write this, I wonder if I have just committed career suicide...:)

This, jokes aside, does not mean that I’m not smart guy. I understand my domain and I want to model the domain in order to get a designer up and running in to perform the tasks specific to my domain. I'm not interested in the DSL tools themselves per se, I'm interested in the solving my problem as quickly as possible. The idea is around RAD development for the prototype, so that we can incorporate feedaback as quickly as possible and get buy-in to spend the money to build the real tool. Which I leave that to dev team, with the personalities best described as Elvis and Einstein.

Pedro, after hearing this conversation in the hallway, forwarded me specs about the next interation of DSL tools. While I'm not sure that Pedro bought into the fact that DSL tools should be for the Mort user, the new upcoming features I feel are a leap towards helping Morts build their DSLs.

Ali

Morning PM Status Meetings...

a_pasha — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 23:57:00 GMT

Since David Trowbridge joined, we have been having morning SCRUM-like meetings to keep in synch with each other. I've attached a pic of the guys (Mark, Suhail, and Dmitriy)at the one that took place in my office. Ali...(read more)

Check out Bill Gibson's Blog!

a_pasha — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 20:23:00 GMT

Bill's a senior PM on our team and I'm happy that he's finally joined the bandwagon and started blogging.

Check out: http://blogs.msdn.com/billgibson/

Ali