I am now a Product Manager.
I've managed to worm my way into Microsoft Corp HQ, as a Product Manager (PM) on the Rich Client Platform team (Silverlight/WPF etc). This for me is a major step forward in my career, as whilst I've enjoyed being one of the first RIA Evangelist for Microsoft, I feel I can offer more impact via this new role than in the field. I will still in part Evangelise Microsoft's offering in the UX space.
What is a Product Manager?
It varies in definition depending on which company a PM works for and what Product(s) they hold in their portfolio. For me, to keep it simple is that I'll be looking to ensure products like Silverlight out-innovate the competitor, as that's my core intent.
Silverlight & WPF have enormous potential going forward, and I will now be apart of this new wave of Microsoft technologies.
What can I offer to this role..
I offer years of experience in this thing we call RIA firstly, but more to the point I have a wide range of technical skills as well as some basic marketing skills. I also have a design portion of the brain, so blending the entire pool together, well, I hope to offer a colourful amount of expertise to the job ahead and looking forward to seeing what level of impact I can make on the product.
Why change?
I'm going to be working with a lot of really smart people, folks whom I've spent the last year working with in a virtual sense. That alone is the strong motivator as I'll be standing on the shoulder of giants. The three that stand out the most though are Brad Becker, Brian Goldfarb and Pete Faraday. These three are insanely smart, much smarter than me and I'm keen to tap their collective brain power for good instead of evil ;)
Will I stop blogging?
No. In fact I'll have a more focused approach to my blogging and my new team are supportive of my blog going forward. Having a my ear, eyes and voice within the community is critical to the success of this new role.
What will be the direction of the content on my blog?
Still the same, I'll be keen to decompose RIA more so than ever. The market has framed the conversation today under the guise of RIA. I personally think RIA is the wrong worldview, but i don't have an accurate answer on what it should be. Suffice to say, RIA fits and you can call it "Bob" for all I care, provided people are keen to explore the rich experiences associated to RIA.
I'll be also looking to highlight UX within Microsoft more, as I have not only seen but met a lot of creative folks within Microsoft whom far exceed my understanding of UX - yet they go unnoticed. Now that I'm on Microsoft Corp campus, I'll be looking to devote some time unearthing them some more.
What about your current role?
No idea what will happen with it. There maybe a vacant position in Australia for the Evangelism team or they may not. It's entirely up to my peeps in the Oz Team to decide. I will be selling my assets locally, so anyone want a big screen TV? heh. The current team I work with are awesome, and can't think of anyone negative thing to say about them - honestly. At the time of writing this, there is no news about replacing my current role, but be sure to check out Microsoft Australia career page (as this will be the first place to advertise it no doubt - we hire on merit, not who you know).
You're in the US now? Customs allowed this?
Yes. Not sure I'm going to fully embrace Seattle's cold weather, but I'll give it an open chance. Did I mention I grew up most of my life in the Australian outback desert? I've made a lot of new friends in Redmond over the year, so I'm looking forward to listening to their wisdom about all things America (specifically hear Chuck & Frank's thoughts from time to time).
Where to from here?
Well, I have to pack my entire life into a shipping container for one. I'll have to put a lot of stuff in storage and lastly figure out which electrical goods are US friendly vs aren't.
I'm looking forward to moving to the other side of the world. It will be a grand adventure! - in a geeky way.
Now to pack for MIX 08 and SxSW
p.s
Nathan Rothlisberg gave me an awesome URL which I'll no doubt make a lot of use of: https://www.simplyoz.com (I can keep my Tim Tams!!!)
Comments
Anonymous
February 24, 2008
Hey mossyblog! Congrats on the new role... I nearly went from Canberra to Romania myself last year, but relocated back to Sydney. Send my regards to Frankie, and best wishes.Anonymous
February 24, 2008
Congrats! So exciting for you..and if you need to get rid of stuff like say HD-DVDs etc then let us know ;)Anonymous
February 24, 2008
Congratulations Scott. I've long enjoyed your posts, and look forward to the exciting changes the new role will bring. All the best. CraigAnonymous
February 24, 2008
Congrats dude! We'll miss you in the field, but it'll be fantastic to have a friend on the "inside"... ;)Anonymous
February 24, 2008
Congrats, Scott! As a Microsoft Evangelist myself, I'm happy to hear that we'll have someone like you leading the path of our Rich Client Platform. I know you'll make sure we're stearing the ship in the right direction.Anonymous
February 24, 2008
Hey dude, congrats. Seems like just yesterday I was smashing out specs with you in a QR board room.Anonymous
February 25, 2008
Thursday already? On the internet even time moves faster! Congratz on the new position!Anonymous
February 25, 2008
Congratulations! See you at MIX maybe.Anonymous
February 25, 2008
Well, what can I say? Congratulations!!!!Anonymous
February 25, 2008
The comment has been removedAnonymous
February 25, 2008
Congratulations, Scott! Since you're in the US now, I hope to see you at MIX :) PeteAnonymous
February 25, 2008
Congratulations Scott, too many cool Aussies (developers/designers/etc) migrating Seattle though!Anonymous
February 25, 2008
Congrats! You have voiced some excellent thoughts on your blog. I look forward to seeing how those are used to improving an already killer platform.Anonymous
February 25, 2008
The comment has been removedAnonymous
February 26, 2008
Congratulations! Now all we need is an offline (mac, win, linux) version of Silverlight and we're done!Anonymous
February 28, 2008
congrats... your a good person to have battleing for us low life developers/designers. I can't wait to see what changes you make over there!Anonymous
March 04, 2008
Congrats on this career move. I'll alert the authorities in the states in the meantime to keep an eye out. :) Seriously, good luck in this.Anonymous
March 05, 2008
Congrats.... a bit late BUT better late then never... good luck with winning over designers, gonna do my best to help you out!Anonymous
May 16, 2008
Question -- I was trying to view some of the presentations on the MIX08 site but they all give up the ghost about 10% in. They just freeze and if you try to fast forward or reset the timeline they restart from the beginning.