Brian Groth's Life at Microsoft

15 Years at Microsoft

In May 2009, I hit my 15-year mark at Microsoft as a full-time employee. I thought this would be a good reason to share some of my highlights and career experience publically so others can better understand the opportunities offered working at Microsoft (yes, we are still hiring).

Some of my experienced-based highlights include:

• Technical Acumen: I’ve architected and built large-scale demos (17 virtual servers + desktops + other systems/servers), plus numerous other demos that show off the Microsoft “stack”. Learning new technologies and explaining their benefit to others in the form cross-product solutions has become a passion of mine.
• Leadership: I’ve grown my leadership skills, and specifically my ability to instil confidence and by being the “voice of reason” for sales, marketing, and business development teams. Related to this is keeping everyone focused on our vision and strategy. One tactic I’ve gotten very good at is summarizing tons of information down to just what’s needed for executives and the field to stay focused. Also related is my ability to cut through organizational boundaries and build partnerships, consensus and support.
• Strategic Thinking: I’ve been fortunate enough to work on projects that had me analyzing market share, revenue per customer, costs per customer, marketing return-on-investment, and customer churn all combined to help establish a marketing vision and strategy.
• Public Speaking: I’ve gained experience presenting to partners, press, analysts, large customers (CxO-level) at Microsoft Technology Centers and the Executive Briefing Center, and to up to 1000 Microsoft employees at the annual sales event. I’ve even been trained to present on TV, but haven’t had that opportunity yet.
• Fiscal Responsibility: I’ve efficiently and effectively managed budgets ranging from a few thousand to one million dollars spread out over a single fiscal year.
• Marketing: I’ve had great exposure to creating value propositions that drive engineering and marketing, to aligning specific marketing tactics to results so we can measure the ROI of our marketing spend and efforts, plus getting into the dirty/fun/creative parts of building and launching marketing campaigns.
• People Management: I’ve always had positive individual and manager reviews. This includes having a few different managers comment on my ability to “get stuff done quickly”. 
• Personal Recognition: In 2008 I received the Gold Star award for building Messenger TV (this is an internal award that says “good job”). In 2005 I was nominated & participated in a Leadership Development program (it’s for high-performing employees who are expected to become future leaders at Microsoft)

Roles at Microsoft where I’ve gained these experiences:

• EMEA Director of Windows Live (current role in Consumer & Online), also included temporary assignments to fill in for:
  • UK Windows Live product management team manager
  • Western Europe Windows Live product manager
  • EMEA Marketing Communications for Windows Live (unofficially as role did not exist for 2 years)
• Business Manager (Online Business Group, now Consumer & Online)
• Business Manager (World-Wide Microsoft Technology Centers MTCs)
• Group Program Manager (WW MTC Demo Platform) –team manager, with great senior employees
• Group Program Manager (WW Demos Team) –team manager, built team nothing
• Lead Program Manager (WW Demos Team) –team manager
• Lead Program Manager for the WW SalesKit – as a team manager
• Technologist for the Enterprise Customer Unit
• Support Engineer for Corporate Network Support in Product Support Services

If you’re new to Microsoft, or about to join, then I hope you will have such a positive experience too.

Top downloads for your Windows 7 PC at home

Now that you have Windows 7 on your home PC, it’s time to install the software that helps make it great. For me, these are:

1. Windows Live (Messenger, Hotmail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, and more)
2. Microsoft Security Essentials
3. Fun WebSlices for Internet Explorer 8:
   1. Weather
   2. Popular Videos (most shared via Twitter)
   3. Find more WebSlices
4. My favourite IE8 Accelerator: Define with Bing or find more Accelerators
5. Cool themes, backgrounds, and gadgets 
6. WorldWide Telescope from Microsoft Research
7. If you are in the US, then I highly suggest:
   1. Zune software (best way to discover new music with the monthly subscription)
   2. Hohm to help save energy

(Updated on November 7, 2009 with the WW Telescope: It’s always a fun/cool application that I forget about until I feel like cruising around the stars. It is also a great example of Software + Services).

Unsure about upgrading to Windows 7? Tools to help

Maybe you aren’t sure about upgrading to Windows 7, even though you’ve heard it is the best operating system to have ever been created, which it is in my opinion. If so, here are a few resources to help you make sure you are ready for Windows 7:

1. You PC/Laptop: Use the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to see if your PC can run Windows 7: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=1b544e90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15

2. Your Software & Peripherals: Will your existing software and devices (printers, webcams, etc.) work with Windows 7? Go to the Windows Compatibility Center and check: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/en-us/default.aspx

3. Your files: Use Windows Easy Transfer to copy your files, photos, music, e-mail, settings, and more from a computer running Windows XP to a computer running Windows 7. You can transfer data using an Easy Transfer Cable, removable media, or across a network. See the XP version here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=734917D8-0663-4C26-89D0-2D00B632EBDB&displaylang=en  and the Vista version here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=09D80814-2A73-4245-A63B-8E780D0430CB&displaylang=en

More Information (from ars technica):

The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor is now available for download on the Microsoft Download Center (8.3MB). This tool is meant for those who are upgrading Windows on their current rig. It will examine your PC's processor, memory, storage, graphics capabilities, and lets you know if you can run the 64-bit version. The tool tells you your upgrade options and informs you about any known compatibility issues with the most commonly installed software programs and devices connected to your PC. If an issue can be resolved, it suggests next steps for you to take before installing Windows 7. The tool checks against the following Windows 7 system requirements:

• 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1GB RAM (32-bit) / 2GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20GB (64-bit)
• DirectX® 9 graphics processor with WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) 1.0 or higher driver

The Windows 7 Compatibility Center helps the user easily check the compatibility of thousands of devices and software programs for 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows 7. Microsoft determines a product's compatibility status for the Compatibility Center by looking at whether it has earned the "Compatible with Windows 7" or "Certified for Windows Server 2008" logo and whether the software publisher or device manufacturer states that they currently (or plan to) offer product support for Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

Grown Up Digital

I just ready Grown Up Digital by Don Tapscott and found a few interesting facts about the generation of people who have grown up with technology (Internet, SMS, etc.) and can’t imagine life without it. There are eight things that this generation expects in life and work:

1. Freedom to work when and where they choose
2. Customization of the products they buy
3. Companies need to be open and honest, because hoaxes will be quickly exposed
4. Companies must show integrity, but honest mistakes are understood
5. They will collaborate on their work much more than they will work independently
6. Similar to working when and where they choose, they will be entertained when and where they want, including at work
7. Communicating, finding answers, and making decisions need to happen quickly
8. Innovation for new and better products and technologies will continue

From a marketing point of view, this audience will be more receptive to a company or brand having interactive relationships with them versus traditional ads. This can be done by getting bloggers to recommend your product, allow it to be customized and talked about, being responsive to questions or concerns about your product, and being available where your customers will be: Facebook, Twitter, Windows Live Messenger, YouTube, and so on.

Write code, save the world

Since I consider myself an environmentalist and a technologist, then I simply must share this: Will Code for Green. It is a contest to encourage people to use the Bing API to build interesting applications that help people deal with the worsening global economy or improve the ecology of the planet Earth. I’m sure there’s a way to do both at the same time.

And of course, they are on BingTweets too.

Microsoft gets its edge back

A fun and interesting article that I just had to pass on from ZDNet: Microsoft gets its edge back

It covers Microsoft versus Apple, Microsoft versus Google, Windows Server versus Linux and Hyper-V versus VMWare.

Engineering Windows 7 for a Global Market

Since I just posted about the ability to create Arabic character with an English keyboard, I would be remiss to not point out what is going on with Windows 7. Windows 7 has been engineered to work around the world. It will support 36 languages plus others that you can download. 

Need to type in Arabic?

For Arabic speakers who are sitting at a PC with a Roman-based keyboard (such as English), your life will now be easier. Microsoft Maren is a Windows extension that comes to the rescue, allowing you to type Arabic in Roman characters (Romanized Arabic, Arabizi, Arabish or Franco-Arabic) and have it converted on the fly to Arabic script.

This works in Windows Live Messenger and most other Windows applications. Notice how the Messenger client pictured here is in English, but the person typing is given the option to select the word in Arabic.

Congratulations to Microsoft’s Innovation Lab in Cairo for building this!

Easily Update Your Windows Live Profile

Now that I have been using it for a few months, I have to admit that I am loving the fact that when I update Facebook, Twitter, Zune, and iLike (the social networking sites I use the most) that my Windows Live profile is updated. Here are a few of the links to help get you started by adding these to your Windows Live Profile: 

• If you use a social networking service worldwide, you can add your updates from:
  Facebook, Twitter, Arto, Daum, Fotolog, Hevre, wow.ya.ru, Zoo, and more
• If you share photos online you can now add updates to Windows Live from:
  Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, SmugMug, Metroflog, Bilddagboken, and more
• If you have a blog, you can add it to Windows Live from:
  Wordpress, LiveJournal, Typepad, Overblog, and a custom blog activity, which works with Blogger and others.
• If you use any of these sites for information, music, video, or radio service, you can add them to Windows Live:
  MSN, iLike, Pandora, Last.fm, Dada, and Dailymotion, and more
• And if you use a variety of different review sites, you can add them to Windows Live from:
  Digg, Flixster, StumbleUpon, Tripit, and Yelp, and more

19 Reasons Why Microsoft Is Huge with Developers

Microsoft certainly does have a breadth of products and programs for developers. This sums up 19 of them:

Application Development: 19 Reasons Why Microsoft Is Huge with Developers (and 1 Reason Why Not)

My Presentation in Finland of Windows Live

Here is my video for the launch of Windows Live in Finland

I do look comfortable on stage, but I say the word “um” too often and refer to the screen too often also. Watching the entire thing might be somewhat dull to anyone watching it here online, but if you are interested in our new products then you might like it. Personally, I use it as a training tool – watch myself present so I can do better next time. 

Microsoft and HSBC help startups

This too cool not to share: HSBC and Microsoft’s BizSpark program have partnered up to help technology-based startups: See http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/bizspark. Just imagine starting your own company with the support of HSBC and Microsoft! 

I found this on Twitter via @bindik who found it via @bizspark

Testing links to Zune

At http://social.zune.net/links/ZuneLinks.aspx you can search for all sorts of entertainment and get a URL that you can then include in your blog or web site. So, here are a bunch for a band I like called the Wombats.

• Artist on the Zune Marketplace (launches in the Zune desktop client)
• Artist on Zune Social
• One of their albums on the Zune Marketplace (launches in the Zune desktop client)
• The same album in the Zune Social
• A playlist on the Zune Marketplace (launches in the Zune desktop client)
• One of their music videos on the Zune Marketplace (launches in the Zune desktop client)
• We don’t seem to have podcasts or TV series featuring the Wombats, so I don’t have sample links for those.

Normally, all of these would get the cool little icon:

Welcoming a new blogger

I work with Stephen Kennedy in London and he’s just started a new blog on MSDN. His first entry is about twitter, which is something he is very interested in and uses quite often for communications and for meeting new people. I look forward to other geeky blog entries, that will probably be focused on other online products, such as Windows Live, MSN, Live Search, and others.

Microsoft Technologies Available for Licensing

Back in May of 2005, I created a blog entry that listed the 20 technologies that Microsoft licenses. I now see that Microsoft licenses 47 technologies (as of December 2008), which I think is pretty cool. Think about it: you can license Microsoft technologies (Microsoft Intellectual Property Licensing) that Microsoft is willing, and wanting, to have you include in your own solution.