My new adventure starts tomorrow

The Dallas Cowboys should certainly be thinking that after nearly getting skunked by the Green Bay Packers, but this isn’t about them, it’s about me. Monday, November 16 I start a new job.  I am not leaving Microsoft.  I still dig working here.  I am joining the team that is responsible for technet.microsoft.com. 

The Job

I’ll still be doing many of the things I’ve been doing for years.  Staying immersed and deeply technical on a variety of Microsoft products will still be core, hard core.  I’ll still blog, deliver webcasts, live events, and produce screencasts.  This time around I’ll be taking advantage of technet.microsoft.com more fully.  I consider it my new blog. Grin.

My real job is to build TechNet.com into a place where the community is more active.  In order to do that I am going to need your help on what is needed.  I have some ideas on stuff I’d like to try, and we have some pretty smart people already hard at work on some kewl ideas, but ultimately it needs to work for you.

The mission is really quite simple.  Make technet.microsoft.com a place IT Pros can really use effectively for their jobs, and want to come back to over and over.  This sure sounds simple, but the scope is global so I will get the opportunity to work with the subsidiaries in all parts of the globe to build a killer new environment.

The transformation has actually already started. We are making a lot of changes to the TechNet sites as well as the MSDN sites.  In fact, what they get, we get and vice versa. You will see a lot of improvements coming.  Some are geared directly at organizing the information more effectively.  Other changes are geared for discovery.  Then other changes are geared towards the community.

The Title

My new title is Senior Program Manager.  My role is modeled after Scott Hanselman and the talent on his team. They focus on the various developer technologies, and I will focus on the products and technologies IT Pros care about.  In order to make this successful, we plan to more directly engage the community worldwide at TechNet.  My role really has two titles.  Senior PM is one of them and Community PM is the other. The job really combines elements of both.

This job is a logical step for me.  I have enjoyed working as an IT Pro Evangelist in the US but it was time to do something a little bolder.  John Martin, my new manager, is giving my that opportunity.  I can already tell it’s going to be great working for John.  He is a much more articulate communicator and diplomat than I am.  He has a great sense and vision for what needs to be done.  I’m sure much of this comes from the people on his team.  Good teams elevate good managers and vice versa.

As you can probably tell, this is going to be a fascinating new gig.  I join an extremely talented group and have the opportunity to learn many new lessons.  My adventure begins in the morning.  I am headed to Seattle and will be meeting everyone on the TechNet online team, learning what their plans are, and figuring out what I’ve really gotten myself into.  It should be a fun week as I chart my course, and the new course for the IT Pro Community at TechNet.com.

By the way, the avatar looks a lot like me when I let my hair grow.  Long haired hippy.