Doug’s World

Phones vs. Email

I’ve spent the last three days in a workshop with dozens of software developers, project managers, and founders/managers/leaders of independent software companies. These people are from around the world, and they’re all very hi-tech — everyone has cell phones, many have Blackberrys or other wireless email devices, etc.

And something just occured to me. I haven’t heard a cell phone ring yet. Not once. They’re all handling email constantly, whenever they have a minute, via Outlook Web Access on the machines we’ve provided for them or their laptops or handheld devices. And there are lots of outgoing phone calls being made during the breaks or out in the halls. But nobody is receiving phone calls, and we haven’t told them to turn off their ringers or anything like that.

This couldn’t be more different from my last job, where managers received cell-phone calls constantly and it was hard to get through a brief conversation or meeting without a cell-phone interruption. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was also very hard to get people in that culture to respond to email. Often, I would email somebody a brief question and get no response ever, or a response a few days later, or — if it was something urgent — I’d get a phone call in response to my email.

But as we say in the software biz, that approach doesn’t scale. For example, I’ve been in a classroom the last two hours, and during that time I’ve handled email from people right here in the room (asking for clarification of things the speaker is saying), email to and from others at Microsoft (including people on the road or working from home), and other emails from outside Microsoft. Try doing all of that via cell phone without interrupting the presentation! And of course since it’s all email, there’s a nice paper trail of all this communication, so it’s easy to forward info to others as they need it and easy to search and find specific decisions and see the conversations that led to them.

Champs Karting Outing

We took a bunch of the ISVs from the workshop to Champs Karting last night to blow off a little steam. Click here to see some photos of the event.

It was a great time, especially after everyone got warmed up and in the groove. We had a bunch of random pairings, racing for over two hours, then the five fastest drivers competed for the trophy. There was lots of contact in the final laps, but when the screeching stopped Rob Barker had the trophy. Nice job, Rob — we invite a bunch of valued customers to town and you kick their ass!

Small World

I’m at a 4-day workshop in Redmond this week, in a building across the street from my usual MS-office. We have 67 software developers here, and we’re showing them all the exciting things they can do with the new version of Office scheduled for release next year.

Over lunch, I was talking to some guys from Interwoven, a leading developer of document management software. Their offices are at 303 E. Wacker Drive in Chicago, a building I know very well. I spent many long days in that building in the late 90s, because KPMG Peat Marwick used my Gen-Bar ® software there. (I can’t stop putting that R after the name, because it’s the only product I ever bothered to register as a trademark.) And since Interwoven works with large law firms, we found we had many contacts and clients in common in Chicago: big law firms like Winston & Strawn, the Chicago Board of Trade, and others.

Well, speaking of this conference, it’s time to go introduce the next speaker …

Cyber Monday

Have you heard the news? The Monday after Thanksgiving is the biggest on-line shopping day of the year! Sounds fascinating, except it’s not true. Read all about it. Some savvy marketers made up the concept earlier this month, and now there are thousands of web sites and publications repeating the phrase as if it’s true. The Monday after Thanksgiving is actually the 12th-busiest online sales day of the year, as explained in the above-linked article.

Mount Si Never Sleeps

We hiked Mount Si on Sunday. It was pretty nice conditions up to the last mile, where packed snow and ice on the rocks made for slow going — even more so coming down. It got dark as we started down, but there were a few oddballs headed up, including some guys leaving the parking lot in darkness, headed for the top.

That’s I-90 in the valley 3000 feet below, at the elevation where you start up the trail. This view is to the east, looking toward Snoqualmie Pass.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving.

Megan’s family came up from the Bay Area, and we cooked dinner at our house. While the turkey was in the oven, we went over to Mom’s house where she and Brad/Ken’s families got to meet Lynn, Elton and Molly and vice versa. (Click on the photo for a larger version.) Then it was back to Rainier Beach for gluttonous quantities of turkey and stuffing.

As I post this, Megan’s family’s flight is still in the air but Megan’s already at the gym in Redmond working out. I’m here at home, looking at all the pictures we took, playing around on my web site, and washing down leftover turkey with margaritas. I’ll get really disciplined tomorrow, I feel it coming on now that the holiday’s over and the future in-laws seem to get along.

Home is Where the Blue Lights Are

I know some people think we’re nuts to live in the Rainier Beach area. In fact, I sometimes refer to our place as “near Seward Park,” which is technically correct but a bit misleading. We’re in sort of the DMZ between the slightly rough and seedy Rainer Avenue corridor and the ritzy places along Lake Washington Boulevard near Seward Park.

But in general we really like being in a place like this. We’re not intimidated by the colorful aspects of commuting up and down Rainier Avenue, and frankly we find that a lot more interesting than the pretty mansions along the lakefront.

Last night, after yet another long day at work, I came home to find blue lights flashing outside the kitchen window. A car was pulled over on Seward Park Drive, just 20 feet from our kitchen, with two patrol cars involved. Probably just a traffic stop, but it was fun to have a little excitement in the neighborhood.

Xbox Anticipation

The much-anticipated Xbox 360 ships tomorrow, and in honor of the event Microsoft has dyed the fountains green on the Redmond campus. This is the fountain outside my building (18) at 7:30 this morning; click on it for a closer look.

Later that evening (9:00PM) …

I just got back from a quick trip to Best Buy while VS2005 was installing on a virtual machine. These shared VPC folders are sure handy, but all the clever context-switching brings the CPU to its knees — you can go out to dinner, come back, and it’s still running.

Anyway, there were dozens of die-hard Xbox fans waiting outside Best Buy. Many of them were sporting gray knit caps and scarves with green Xbox logos on them. Channel 13 and another news truck were there, but it was a pretty calm scene. Most everyone in line was 20-something or 30-something, white, slightly unshaven, and male. (But by putting that blond woman up front in the picture, I made it look like a pretty diverse crowd, wouldn’t you say?)

The store closes at 10:00, the employees will spend two hours setting up the Xbox display, then the madness begins.

Fish, Party Cat

Ike and Murg often hide when company comes over, but Fish likes to be where the people are. Here he’s keeping an eye on Cody, Polly, Simon, Oroon, Megan, Tracy, and Lysa.

“Amazing Progress”

Maybe I watched too much Simpsons this morning (three episodes from the 4th season), but the links below the headline article on CNN.com this morning struck me as possibly intentional humor. Is it just me?

Intellectual Property 101 question: is the use of the screen shot to the right a violation of CNN’s copyright, or is it fair use as an excerpt for review/commentary? I vote for fair use, of course. This site has no commercial purpose, the size of the excerpt is small relative to the source document, and it’s pretty silly to make a case that this use will mislead the public or weaken CNN’s trademark.

OK, time to get to work. Too much to do this weekend — my first deliverable at the new job is due Monday.