Comments on Samiq Bits: Tech Evangelists and what can we learn from Adobe ...

I'm sitting at the same table as Tim right now dis...

2008-07-23T09:54:41.978-07:00

I'm sitting at the same table as Tim right now discussing your post, Gilbert. An external presence can be hard to do if its not a large part of your job. Fortunately this year I've been asked to do more of that, so I'm hoping to help more in the "consistency" area you mentioned.

If I had a vote, I wish our corporate teams had mo...

2008-07-23T08:12:17.706-07:00

If I had a vote, I wish our corporate teams had more global community influence, but not sure how that will change either. Nothing frustrates me more that when a customer gets tossed around from person to person. I pride myself on generally trying to always put the customer first, no matter what the question.

Great feedback though and I hope people at higher pay grades listen ;-)

Hi Tim... glad to have you in the conversation. I ...

2008-07-22T23:08:38.047-07:00

Hi Tim... glad to have you in the conversation.

I know MSFT corp / regional model, and got to be honest sometimes I am frustrated about it, sometimes I'm glad that it exists.

As you noted things in MSFT are a bit more complicated that the average, yet I think there could be order within the chaos or maze as u say... and this order is for the sake of maintaining the message consistent and excel the results.

Having corp teams and regional team leaves the door open for lots of things to happen good and bad, yet I still believe you guys in the corp side should be the ones leading conversations and be consistent in doing it, at the end you are one nearer to where things are brewing from.

Adobe has their own regional teams as well, yet the corp or global guys (and I am not saying this happens automatically, but with a voice that has been earned) are the ones leading some of those conversations, and probably the most important ones. They are part of the happenings.

At some point some of you have been part of it, yet get lost for portions of times and (here is where the ball drops)... an example could be Celso with his Niebbles tutorials site, great concept, great start... lost for almost a year yet just to have resumed a month ago! - I know he is doing some really cool stuff inside.

I am not saying you guys should be just like Adobe and things will "just work". What am saying is that you guys should learn from what this guys are doing (and back) and adapt to the realities of the model.

With respect to Corrina, seems like I'm a bit late to the party as well :) but it's great you guys are getting her into the conversations. There is a lot of potential in her and you guys.

While I agree that MSFT evangelism can be a maze, ...

2008-07-22T22:21:57.192-07:00

While I agree that MSFT evangelism can be a maze, I think (as you noted) we're all trying to do the best we can. Understanding the different organizational models is at the heart of understanding the core issue. As you note Adobe executes well as a global team. MSFT has subsidiary teams and corporate teams...good, bad, indifferent, it is how it is now until that changes. I haven't been there long enough to know if it will. I do know that our large customer base and operations is at the root of those decisions.

With respect to you, Corrina hasn't been hiding :-) -- I've written about her designs (she has been joining the community at RIApalooza, podcasts and currently helping at an insiders meeting in Redmond gathering feedback). Brad Abrams (who runs among other groups the UI team in web) had demonstrated her skins immediately after she designed him. One would say Nikhil is late to the game ;-)