12 days until TAP Kickoff
We're getting closer to the event. And yet, there's still so much to do! I've got a couple of different Powerpoint slide decks I'm working on (ah, the life of a PM!) - thankfully I can re-use some of the slides for multiple presentations.
Tomorrow I'm training our TAP "buddies" who will be paired up with each participant in our TAP program. I've gotten a lot of input from folks on the MSS team who were JDP and EAP (other sorts of pre-release programs, all now consolidated under TAP) buddies for the first release of Speech Server, and I've also gotten some feedback from other TAP PMs around the company who run similar programs. Now I just need to get all the ideas in my head down on paper (or in PPT, actually) so I have a coherent, simple program. I don't want to bog my team down with excessive process, but I just want to make sure things are working smoothly and our TAP participants are getting the help they need.
Also this week, our awesome PSS support engineer Zhan moved over to our building from our other campus in Issaquah to start supporting the TAP program. He's an expert with MSS 2004 and R2, which is great. He's got a few weeks now to come up to speed on the new release - I've sent him the links to our feature specs and invited him to various meetings. We even got some folks together to go out to lunch with him on Monday, to welcome him to the team. Though we spent most of the time talking about alternative-fuel cars, and not Speech Server. :)
My Technical Writing class at UW is pretty interesting but turning out to be a lot of work. Which is unfortunate since I've been spending most of my productive time on the TAP Kickoff. I guess I'll play catch-up at the end of the quarter...
