Five for Friday – January 18, 2019

I’m two months into my 18th year at Microsoft, and I still really enjoy it – most of the time at least. My job is great, I work on amazing technology, and with people smarter than you can imagine. But, for two months or so every year, the dreaded MS review monster comes out from…

I’ve been in my new office for nearly a month, so I thought I’d share a tour. For the most part, it’s a typical Microsoft office – about 100 square feet with a window, desk, door and …stuff. Here’s what you see when you walk in the door. I have three computers. A HP Z400…

I read Outcomes over Output on a plane ride to the bay area yesterday. It’s a quick read, and full of great information and reminders on delivering customer outcomes and behavior changes (which ultimately result in business and customer value). I also just read Radical Focus – it’s a book (a business novel) about effective…

It’s been a busy month. (I blame Xbox One for monopolizing my time), and I’m way overdue for what I meant to be a “day-after” follow up for my last post. If you didn’t read it (or if it’s been so long you’ve forgotten), here’s the summary and where we left off: “Automation” is an…

People talk a lot about how they got into testing (I was told I was a tester on my first day at a tech support job), but for those of us who have been in testing roles for a substantial amount of time, I think it’s equally important to think about why we have stayed in…

I chair an advisory council for a community of senior testers at Microsoft. We have a variety of events ranging from talking heads to open space events to panels to whatever type of event we think is the most different than the previous one. Yesterday, we had our fifth annual “soapbox” event, a lightning talk-ish…