“donovanf’s Identity and Access Blog” becomes “From donovanf’s Office”

As part of my transition to a new role, I’m changing the name of my blog to a more generic title, “From donovanf’s Office.” I thought this appropriate because although this is a personal blog, I use it to only talk about the technologies that are related to what I do “at the office,” as a technical evangelist for Microsoft.

But wow, is “at the office” an interesting concept in this day. In my past, “at the office” meant a distinct location that I traversed to, it housed file cabinets, essential documents, at one point a dumb terminal with access to only the mainframe computer and of course eventually a desktop computer. In that time, the office was a destination, a place I went to accomplish a set of tasks, and if I could not carry what I needed home in my briefcase, I had to wait until I returned the next day to access those items I could not transport. Or, if I had more to do than what I could transport with me or had to use the tools only available to me there, I would simply stay additional hours at my office. Hence, I would need to make that phone call, “honey, I’m working late at my office tonight.” As you may have experienced, that is generally never greeted with as much enthusiasm as one would like. But “the office” was tied to a physical place. So much so that in a community I once lived there was a local bar named, “My Office.” It can only be imagined how many times its patrons made that proverbial phone call with the declaration, “honey, I’m at My Office.”

But although “the office” may still be a physical location, and I have one, now “my office” is really all about what’s available to me on my mobile devices and connectivity to those locations I may need to access to perform my “office related” work. So “my office” is almost always with me because my devices are with me. That may not be a thought we really want to admit to, but it really means that “where I am,” there my office is. Sometimes it’s on a bus, on a plane or in an airport, sometimes at a coffee shop or restaurant, sometimes on my back deck or in my family room watching TV and sometimes in my physical office at Microsoft. But the point is that “my office” is essentially everywhere I am. Now, I can discipline myself when to “instantiate my office” so that it doesn’t overrun other critically important parts of my family life, but the incredible thing is that I am free to interact with office related activities “on demand” as appropriate. And that is intensely freeing – as I chose to take a few minutes this evening to “instantiate my office” in the comfort of my family room and didn’t even have to consider physically going to my office to make this post!

So, welcome to “From donovanf’s Office.” There is much more to come from “my office” to yours as we explore just how easy it is becoming to “instantiate your office.”

Enjoy!