More TAP Ramblings
We're up to 5 completed TAP nomination forms, plus several from Albert, our BizDev guy who handles Europe. Next week our selection committee meets to agree on selection criteria, and also to review the applications we've received so far.
Since the legal docs that need to be signed for TAP are fairly extensive so I thought it would be a good idea to start the process early for those companies who have indicated interest.
I've also sent a broad email to the TAP Program Manager discussion alias asking how other product teams run their buddy programs. Some teams don't have one at all. One of the key things is defining the roles of the TAP Program Manager (that's me), the TAP buddies, and the PSS engineer(s) providing support for the program. I think it's key that each person knows their responsibilities and we're not inundating the customer with phone calls and/or conflicting information. In addition, it should also be clear who the customer should contact w/ problems.
Many of our team members are at TechEd in Orlando this week. I'm going to Las Vegas for my honeymoon on Thursday so I chose not to attend when they asked for volunteers. Maybe I'll get to go next year. I hope to attend SpeechTek in August, and maybe I'll be able to meet some of our customers in person there.
On a side note, I am signed up to take a programming class at University of Washington during Summer quarter which starts June 20. I'm currently reviewing the material for the prerequisite class, and am re-acquainting myself with Java. Tonight I will attempt to write a program with multiple if..else constructs. So far the practice assignments have been really easy - I can only hope that the class I take will be too...
