My role in SharePoint 2010: Engaging the Decision Maker

Hi,

My name is Gideon
Bibliowicz and I am the launch lead for SharePoint 2010. I've been with the
SharePoint team for about 20 months now and it has been a fascinating journey -
one that will hit a peak this week when we launch the new version of SharePoint
together with Office 2010, Project 2010 and Visio 2010.

My role on the team
is to find ways to engage decision makers in large companies on SharePoint 2010
and the value it can bring to their business. Of the many software-related
projects I've been involved in during my career, this has been one of the most
intriguing ones. SharePoint is a product that spans different software categories,
numerous business scenarios, and practically every industry vertical out there.
Couple that with being the fastest-growing product in Microsoft's history, and
you've got yourself quite a challenge to work with!

In the coming weeks
I will be sharing with you some of the experiences related to launching a
product globally, in the hope that you find it as exciting as I have. For now,
let me tell you more about the team and why I feel privileged to be a part of
it.

Taking a product
like SharePoint to market requires a cross-group effort that spans engineering,
marketing, sales, and customer support. Luckily for me, I've been privileged to
work with a group that is passionate about the product, with people who are
hard workers and keep getting energized by the complexity of the challenges and
the amazing growth that SharePoint has seen, even in such a tough economy.
 

A big challenge -
which I enjoy - is to articulate SharePoint's value to a CIO when I typically
only have a small window of time and opportunity. The complexity comes from
SharePoint's unique (and amazing) attributes, such as the broad range of
scenarios that it addresses, from Business Intelligence to Content Management,
from Social Networking to Application Development.

To meet this
challenge, I work with our planning teams to understand the business and
product strategies for SharePoint. I work with the engineering teams to dive
into the technical details of the feature-set. I work with our sales people to
learn about the things that are top-of-mind for their customers. And I work
with the product managers and technical product managers on my team who
specialize in different aspects of our go-to-market strategy.

My job lets me meet
with senior executives of large international companies and talk to them about
the possibilities they should explore, or are already exploring, with
SharePoint 2010. It's a fascinating experience, as these decision makers are
responsible for very complex organizations that are constantly under pressure to
be innovative and add value to their businesses -- all while being forced to
get more and more efficient and agile (a word that gets used too frequently at
times, but for a reason). The tough questions these executives ask make the
conversations challenging. They are always hard-core about to betting only on
products and technologies that have a proven value-add and a tangible ROI.
Fortunately, SharePoint has a good story and plenty to offer.

Now that you know a
little bit about my daily life at Microsoft I bet it is easier for you to
understand why the weeks ahead are exciting to me. Seeing our plans unfold
globally and our efforts come to life has been a great experience which I'm
sure will only get better with our up-coming launch. I hope you will stick
around and learn more about what happens next as I‘m sure it will be an amazing
ride!

Yours,

Gideon