It is hard to believe that another year has gone by already. No, not a calendar year, but for those of you familiar with Microsoft’s fiscal year, you know that our year runs July 1 – June 30. As such, we are now approaching the end of our fiscal year and once again entering into our annual review season. Whether you are a new follower or someone that I have had the pleasure to work with for some time, one thing you hopefully have seen from me is that I am very open about my goal to help increase the satisfaction of Microsoft partners around the world in working with Microsoft through things like: helping provide information of value and interest, providing correct answers to questions (even when they may not be the popular answers), helping address concerns and opportunities, directing you to relevant and important information, providing avenues for input into and out of Microsoft, connection opportunities with Microsoft, and much, much more. (In fact, I have this openly stated on my overview page about me) This year has been no exception.

During our annual review process at Microsoft, like many other places, we receive input and feedback from management and peers on how they perceive our level of performance over the past year. Given that my role has such a strong focus on working with and helping companies and individuals outside of Microsoft, like our Microsoft partners around the world, I am opening up the opportunity to all of you, the community I work with all year long, to provide input and feedback on my performance as part of my annual review because your input, feedback, and perceptions of how well I am performing my role are very important to me.

Here are answers to a few questions about the survey I figure some of you may have:

• How long will this take me to complete?
  • It can take you as little as 1-2 minutes to complete or as much time as you want. There are only ten questions on the survey, five are optional, many are check boxes, and there are open comment areas as well if you want to provide in-depth comments also.
• Do I have to disclose my name or contact information to submit feedback?
  • No, I am not requiring your name or contact information for submission (just your country); however, I am providing the opportunity for you to provide it if you wish and would appreciate you sharing as much information as you are comfortable with
  • “Lurkers” – As you know, there are many, many people around the world that classify themselves as “lurkers,” those people who consume information from blogs,Twitter, Linkedin, etc. without interacting or speaking up in those forums. I would love to hear from any of you that consume the information I provide, even if we have not had the opportunity to connect 1:1, to hear about your feedback on the information I am providing and your satisfaction with it. This is also another reason I am allowing input without personal disclosure.
• Is this open to Microsoft partners only?
  • No, I am making the survey available broadly since I have worked with many different types of people and companies over the past year regarding engagement with Microsoft (Partners, corporate customers, individuals, reporters/press, etc.)
• Is the survey open to people worldwide?
  • Yes, since my role spans the world, I am opening up this opportunity worldwide.
• Is this to review Microsoft’s performance or yours?
  • This performance review is designed to be for my performance, not an overall performance of Microsoft. For instance, you may absolutely LOVE Windows Phone 7 and think it is the greatest thing Microsoft has ever developed; however, I personally did not develop Windows Phone 7, so I would be interested in your opinion of the information and resources I provided to you about Windows Phone 7 (like my: Windows Phone 7 information and resources blog post or the Microsoft Partner Info Mobile App) vs. general input on Windows Phone 7 itself. Make sense?
• You are opening up input on your performance broadly externally around the world? Are you insane?
  • Well, feel free to include your opinion of my sanity in my online performance review form if you wish; however, I really do want to hear from you, the broad community I have the opportunity to work with on how well I am performing.
• Why are you doing this again?
  • As I’ve said before, “As a partner driven company, the only way we are successful is if you are successful, so you have noooo idea how motivated we are to make sure you are REALLLY successful!” As such, I am very interested in your perspectives on how I am performing in helping improve your satisfaction and relationship with Microsoft in order to help you be successful.

Ready to give your input on my performance? Access the online performance review form and get started.Thank you in advance for your time in providing me with your input and feedback on how I am doing so far and how to continue to improve in the future.

Did you find this information helpful? If so, you may want to make sure you are utilizing all of the areas I share information online, such as: my Facebook page, my Twitter account, my Linkedin account, and my blog.

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER, LinkedIn, and RSS and see “What I’m thinking”
Director, Worldwide Partner Experience
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights