Tag: Microsoft culture

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Of interest: Growth at Microsoft main campus in the Times

Can you believe it’s November? And with the fall comes the grand opening of the new Building 99, which will house Microsoft Research. Through 2009, Microsoft will bring on-line office space that will expand the main campus by a third, with room for 12,000 more people. It builds on the Microsoft Workplace Advantage effort.

Benjamin J. Romano is a Seattle Times technology reporter, and yesterday had a front page look at the expansion going on at the Microsoft main campus.

“Every weekday, the population of a small city migrates from around the region to Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond.

“They work in more than 70 buildings spread out on both sides of Highway 520 for a mile. The 388-acre corporate campus, one of the world’s largest, consumes enough electricity to light some 50,000 homes.”

As noted in the story, Microsoft’s local population has grown quite a bit…

“a local work force that has grown 83 percent since 2000 to 35,510 on June 30 this year in the Puget Sound region (about 79,000 work for the company worldwide). Combined with temporary workers, vendors and support staff, the daytime population of the Redmond campus is between 45,000 and 50,000 people…”

Michael blogs about CNN’s coverage of Workplace Advantage, Microsoft’s workplace of the future.

“The CNN film crew ended up over in the patterns & practices space after they discovered that our team had already moved into one of these “future” environments.  The segment is interesting, and highlights a number of things that the Workplace Advantage team is doing on campus and as they look ahead.  This segment is part of a series that also looked at a few other companies as well.”

Is this a good investment? It seems to be.

As Adam Barr wrote in his blog, “it is nonetheless apparent that the company is prepared to spend some serious money here to get this right.”

“If you’re a Microsoft employee who is curious as to some of the plans, then schedule a tour of the Workplace Advantage showroom is Building 27. The former cafeteria has been remodeled into a mock office area that shows off different spaces: smart room (high-tech meeting room), standing meeting room (no chairs, high table, half the size of a traditional one), short-term parking (half-size office), closed workpoint (roughly 80%-of-full-size office), situation room (several offices and a meeting room in one open space) and a think tank (big open space with couches, displays, etc). Walls are often glass, of a kind that can be used like a whiteboard. Even the walls are covered in “high resolution paint” (no, really) which evidently does a better job of showing a projected image.”

IMO, an investment in the workspace is an investment in the employee. 

Additional links from the Times:

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Seattle Times’ article on the post-Gates era, plus ThinkWeek and the need for “more cowbell”

Benjamin J. Romano has an insightful article in today’s Seattle Times on the preparations “for the post-Gates era” at Microsoft by the leadership.  

“Building a bank of collective wisdom is one part of the preparations going on at the highest levels as Microsoft prepares for a momentous shift to the post-Gates era.

“For the past year, and really the better part of the past decade, Gates has been downloading the institutional knowledge of Microsoft and the software industry stored in his head to the leaders who will handle his responsibilities at the company he co-founded 32 years ago.”

On Think Week:  The article also touches on Gates’ much-heralded Think Week. If you haven’t heard of Bill’s week-long retreat to go through many of the dozens (or usually hundreds) of papers submitted, Think Weeks are semi-annual opportunities for employees to submit the best ideas that are bubbling up in Microsoft. As Gates’ said, Think Week is an opportunity to “read the latest Ph.D. theses, try out new technologies, and try and write down my thoughts about where the market is going.”

Bill reads and comments on the papers supported all the while by what the Journal termed as “a steady stream of Diet Orange Crush.”  I recommend the coverage a couple of years ago by Robert Guth here in The WSJournal and Dare’s good write-up in an old blog posting. 

Past Think Weeks used to be one of those things that people talked about in hushed tones and references, almost like some sort of secret ritual, but no longer.  That’s good, as there’s a tremendous benefit to expose the ideas to a larger set of employees.  It’s not so much “done by committee” as Romano wrote in his article: Ray Ozzie, quoted in the article today…

” ‘Think week’ has been transitioning from a single ‘Bill thing’ to something where a broader audience gets the chance to comment on submitted papers. The tradition of think week is incredibly strong,” Ozzie, who replaced Gates as chief software architect, said in an interview earlier this year with the Wharton School’s online business journal.”

That’s also good, as The Journal reported in 2005 that there were nearly 300 papers for his week’s review: having more eyes looking at the papers benefits us all.  People should be encouraged to take the initiative and be exposed to the insight and ideas of the incredible talent at the company. They can also see an evolution of different areas, technologies and thoughts over the years. 

On technical leadership: Switching gears for a moment… and thinking about a “post-Gates era”…  Brad Silverberg, ex-Microsoft exec and strategic consultant to Ballmer, was quoted in the article that Microsoft is “a notoriously difficult place for outsiders to come in and be successful.”

That’s true. It’s also a place where Ozzie has been able to capture the attention and respect of employees in the company. 

And we need more Ray.  (Said with the same emphasis as in the historic SNL quip of “more cowbell!”) 

IMHO, it’s important that he also espouse on what he believes we should focus on, improve upon. As mini-microsoft blogged in this post on “random unconnected things” back in February… 

“Where’s Ray? I’m sure Ray Ozzie has been busy being the wizard behind the connected services scene of the future, but he’s just plain running too silent for my comfort. And I’m sure with Mix07 he’s going to go through presenting some new technology we’re thinking about… perhaps even add single 2007 entry to his unloved blog. But if Ray is the bridge to the connected future from the present Gates, we all need more obvious leadership infrastructure getting us there, and more engagement from Ray and his brigade about what’s happening and what kind of coherent vision is coming about. Silence makes me edgy.”

I agree. As I posted previously, Ray’s external blogs may not be updated regularly, but it appears that Ozzie gets it, and is working on being more visible.  He is in the press more and more, thankfully, and increasingly visible, more communicative and thoughtful on the big issues that impact the company.  He’s positive on the focus needed on the customer experience: “the most important person is the customer or integrator that understands how to match the capabilities of a specific technology to what’s needed.”

Again, IMHO, this is an area for improvement, an area that Gates has mastered. It was noted in the Times article (by Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft) that Bill has the “automatic respect of every Microsoft employee.”

IMO you have great, articulate and technically astute leaders in people like Bob Muglia, Jeff Raikes, Jon DeVaan, J Allard, Satya Nadella, Soma, Steven Sinofsky… the list goes on.  These leaders also understand the importance of providing a great customer experience with our products and services. 

Ray is from the same mould. And I believe that Ray can also help — along with the rest of the company leadership — fill the need for insightful, public technical voices at a global level as Gates departs.

More cowbell.

Worth reading also are the sidebar articles on Craig Mundie and Ray Ozzie…

  • Craig Mundie: Company envoy will keep that role
  • Ray Ozzie: Collaborative leader has “coaching style”

    • Tags: Bill Gates, Ray Ozzie, customer satisfaction, Microsoft.

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    Thoughts on supporting the new online generation: “they’re just different”

    Kids are up for some reason and so I wait for the next request for a glass of water…

    In the mean time, something has been nagging at me.

    Customers are changing, and I’ve seen a real change in how the younger generation is forcing companies to change their thinking on how they listen and respond to their needs. See this interesting article in BusinessWeek on the future of tech and global youth.


    “… consider Brazilian Fabricio Zuardi, 27. He grew up 180 miles from São Paulo and found a job via the Web with Silicon Valley tech startup Ning Inc. Zuardi now lives in Palo Alto, Calif., in an apartment he located on craigslist.org. He has no traditional phone, preferring Skype Internet-based service. He doesn’t own a TV. In his spare time he posts items on his blog or writes software that he contributes to open-source development projects. His taste in music is eclectic: Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, The Pogues. His friends are from all over, including Australia, Britain, Germany, and Slovenia. He has never met some of them face to face. “This is a generational shift,” says Ning co-founder and Web browser pioneer Marc Andreessen. “A whole new generation grows up used to new technologies, and they’re just different.”


    Let me repeat that: “…they’re just different.”

    What’s interesting here is that the net has (duh) changed the way a new generation socializes, plans, stays in touch, shops… and get support. There is a generational shift in expectations of how products are supported and the number of options to get support: it’s more immediate, accurate and when and how you choose.

    So, if you’re going to be successful in providing ‘wow!’ level customer service, you have to be where your customers expect you and responding in the ways that are most comfortable to them.

    I thought about this after the last couple of interactions I had with customer support at different companies. With Dell, HP, Microsoft and my local phone company, all of my first interactions recently were on the web, and in the case of Dell and HP, real-time chat support. I had the option to call a toll-free number, but I hung up on one vendor after the wait time exceeded 10 minutes. (I have no patience when the family is scrambling to make the morning school bus, and I have zero time to do this at the office.) So off late in the evening after the kids go to bed, click on the real-time chat option, and within less tine that I sat on hold, I had my answer.

    Another instance this week, whilst looking for support from an online Internet service company, I found there was only an email support option available… and it turned out that the service was better than I’d expected. In just two brief exchanges via mail, I had answers in clear, easy-to-understand email assistance with lots of helpful links.

    I’ve heard several times from people in the industry and at MS that they had made great connections with customers via email, relationships that started with a comment on their public blogs. “These connections help us understand what customers want, what they don’t like and what we need to change in current and next versions of our products.”

    And last, a friend of mine in DevDiv, said (following a quick status review) that she was heading off to give a project presentation in Second Life, as that was where her customers would be. (That would certainly be more interesting than some of the LiveMeetings I’ve hosted…) As I heard Carol say as she headed off to log in and present, “my avatar looks like me from the neck up… I’m not so sure about the rest.”

    OK, there’s the 2AM call for ‘room service’… gotta go.

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    Accenture on a (sometimes misleading) positive perception of customer service

    I spoke with a customer today relatedt to a technology deployment related to infrastructure and planning. At one point I was somewhat frustrated as I saw that we had room to improve on the customer’s experience with our products, and how we have opportunities to streamline our communications.


    Fast forward to this evening after putting kids to bed and receiving a link from a friend to http://www.destinationcrm.com/. This week CRM magazine has an article on their site that examines how some high tech execs “tend to have a more positive perception of the customer service experience they deliver than what their customers actually experience.”


    Referencing a new report out from Accenture, “Superior Customer Service Capabilities: Key Factors in the Journey to High Performance,” Coreen Bailor writes…   



    “Consumers’ rising customer service expectations, coupled with factors like product commoditization, make leveraging customer service as a competitive differentiator even more crucial for companies across all industries, including technology firms. Even so, high-tech companies and consumers are far from being on the same page when it comes to their perceptions of customer service satisfaction…”


    Really? Sure, she must be joking. 😉


    But seriously, I’ve been impressed by how self-critical our customer support teams are; through their connections with our product teams they help us ensure that we understand where we are successful in supporting our customers and where we have room to improve.  


    Brian Sprague of Accenture (and the report’s co-author) said that a cultural shift must occur in companies with product-centric mindsets…



    “It’s something you can’t just do at the VP of service level. It has to be throughout the entire company, meaning that appropriate incentives need to be put in place, [you must have the] appropriate capabilities to decide what is the customer experience that you want to create, and then work throughout the entire organization to deliver that customer experience.” [my bold]


    Absolutely right. Making sure that the entire is working to imrpove upon the customer experience is key, and an area where we all have room to improve (me, too).


    Tags: Microsoft, loyalty, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service.

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    Seattle Times blog on Microsoft, and aligning around opportunities

    In Brier Dudley’s blog today, the Seattle Times writer writes about how the company is taking a step in a next step beyond the Windows, given some of the latest moves (including the move of Bob Muglia’s Server & Tools org to MBD under Jeff Raikes) and how we will think of computer hardware and operating systems a decade in the future…



    “Rob Helm speculated that Friday’s reorganization positioned Jeff Raikes to become Microsoft’s next chief executive someday.


    “That’s interesting. It also seems pretty clear that Platforms boss Kevin Johnson’s duties were pared so he can focus on making the aQuantive merger work well.


    “But doesn’t it seem like the broad-brush effect was to align Microsoft around its primary competitors?”


    IMHO, you don’t align around competitors… you align around opportunities.


    To me, it appears that the company is better aligned around great business opportunities, and helps to ensure that the various business teams are better connected, to help them make the most of those opportunities. And sure, there’s an aspect of providing better products and solutions to our customers and partners than those from the competition.