Talking to tomorrow

One of the most interesting aspects of working on the next version of DPM is that we -- the writers -- are here in Redmond, and the product team (a great group of developers and PMs) is at IDC in Hyderabad. That's a 13.5 hour time difference. Except we're still in daylight saving time so it's only 12.5, right? Either way, it's tomorrow there during my tonight -- that much I've got straight.

We've a list of ways that we'll use to manage collaboration across continents and time zones. Managing our email expectations, for one...not likely to get instant replies, unless we're online late at night (like now, though my excuse is I'm keeping busy until it's time for our conference call). Conference calls, juggled so they're not scheduled too late for us or too early for them (and I much prefer evening to getting up at o'dark thirty). Posting documents to a server and using threaded web discussions. Of course, nothing will replace the time-honored tactic of cornering a developer in his office and refusing to let him out until he reviews your file...

Tonight's conference call is a discussion of one of the wizard specifications. Have you ever been working in an application and wished you could turn around and ask the person who created it, "Why am I clicking Next again??" Well, this is when we get the opportunity to ask things like that, and it's very satisfying!