Plus ça change..

In early January, I’ll hit my 19 year anniversary of working at Microsoft (I’ve worked for Microsoft 18.5 years, and as a vendor at Microsoft for the first 5 months or so). There’s been a lot of change over the years, but perhaps never as much as is going on right now.

We’re getting a new CEO, the review system has been paved, there’s a major re-org underway, and Xbox One ships in 6 days. I can honestly say that the two years I’ve spent on Xbox has been the most challenging, fun, and eye-opening experience of my career. I’ve learned a lot – I’ve had an impact – I’ve worked with incredibly smart people – I’ve made friends. I can’t rave enough about how great it’s been to be part of this team.

But it won’t be the same anymore. Sure, a lot of the people on the team will still be here, but you only launch a console once every 5-7 years. The Xbox software will continue to improve and games will get even better, but you only get to ship the console once. Of course, there’s so much more I want to do here, that there’s a reasonable chance I’ll continue to work on Xbox, but I can’t say for sure yet. I have other opportunities to weigh – and I’m in much need of a vacation and some rest (and some quality time with my family), and this is no time to make big decisions. I’ve managed to change my mind at least once a day for the past few weeks when thinking about what’s next…and just when I think I have it figured out, a new opportunity shows up.

I’m sure the rest and family time will lead me in the right direction.

In the meantime, I have a zillion things I’ve been meaning to write about, and no marathon debugging sessions to get in the way, so I expect to barf some random ideas onto the internet in the coming days and weeks. I may spend some more time on twitter (heck, I even posted to Facebook last night!).

I can’t wait to see what happens next.