About

S O M E   L I N K S

A Few Favorite Podcast episodes.

Some books that influence my thinking.

 A   B R I E F   H I S T O R Y

  —  Nineteen years at Microsoft (29-Oct-1999)

  —  Started in internal tooling for the corporate site Microsoft.com

  —  Began managing as a lead in 2004

  —  Delivered systems managing $4B in spend on managed accounts, improved efficiency by one-third

  —  Moved to mobile team in 2007, accountable for 4 mobile browser offerings

  —  Reduced code base to one, then marked to desktop browser code-base

  —  Shipped Search, Maps for Windows Phone, received as best search and maps experience on mobile at time

  —  Took ownership of larger organization and initiated and ran major components of Cortana (windows assistant)

  —  Owned Search and Cortana on Windows 10, shipped task bar and grew search revenue by $3B

  —  Joined Meta in January ’19 standing up the voice interaction and assistive platform for Reality Labs

  —  As leader of Platform org, transformed it from bespoke solution to factory pattern

  —  Reduced time-to-market by months, increased quality by 3x and positioned team for voice forward metaverse

  —  Resigned at end of Sept 22 to address an ongoing family health issue

M Y   P H I L O S O P H Y

I'm all in on building software products and features. I’m passionate about crafting  teams that grow the business via effective and delightful experiences that create passionate fans. I care deeply about curating a healthy culture focused on the end user; partnering across engineering, design, PM and marketing

I’ve been a PM for twenty-five years. The best products and most powerful teams  come about from embracing ambiguity, debate and then rallying around a solution that inspires both the team and customers. Equally important, I’ve built a style that blends humor and candor. I've found success being my most authentic self, and I carry that attitude into management and cross-org relationships.

Experience has shown that great relationships are key to getting things done. Process helps but only gets you so far.  It's faith.  It's quality personal relationships. It’s trust in one another.  That buy-in across the team moves  you from ideas to prototypes to great products that ship. It’s building confidence that comes both from indict and customer compassion, but also research, data, design, and engineering inputs.  Healthy teams are ones that don’t often have moments where it’s 3AM and everything has gone horribly wrong.  But when they happen they weather them as a team.  

Most industry leaders emphasize operating at scale and a bias for action.  Those are important.  But the ability to drive complexity out of a system and deliver a simple solution is as critical.  Seeing around corners to the next challenge, issue, or opportunity is core to becoming a great PM.  Those are the PMs who find opportunities that others overlook. They bring fresh perspective.  They are the sort who create differentiation. They are my favorite people to collaborate with.

M Y  M A N A G E M E N T   S T Y L E’

My managerial approach is to coach; supporting others as they discover strengths. I love hiring people smarter than me. Helping them find authentic voices and growing skills is a significant personal motivator. The Jack Welch approach of hiring people smarter than you is spot on.  Give people room to learn and grow and you will succeed with them. My biggest personal joy comes from collaborating with staff.  I love the act of honing ideas, seeding concepts, and helping them create coalitions. Inspiring them to bring their authentic self to their role. It helps build trust and inspires partners alike.

I‘m blessed to have driven small teams as well as global networks. From cross-campus to cross-continent the needs are similar. Proactive communication, autonomy, and a shared regular presence (virtual or otherwise) is critical.  It creates inclusive and collaborative team cultures that share common values.  

A   F E W   T H O U G H T S   O N   R E S I L I A N C E

I’ve experienced success and failure while driving product in roles spanning IC to GM. I led a small team focused on fulfilling Mobile Operators asks, only to have missed the big picture. Like the rest of the world the first iPhone blew me away.  Apple led a master class in delivering what users needed, not what they were asking for.

Exotic car makers talk about "adding lightness" as a goal to help a car improve performance.  Some manufacturers go to extremes.  Removing HVAC and stereos, or replacing glass with plexi. Anything to gain a tenths of a second improved laptime.

For PMs the equivalent is "add simplicity".  Breakthrough technology products have simple and straight forward missions.   iPhone was a touch-forward, pinch-and-zoom way to navigate a device.  Later Alexa was a speaker you could talk to across the room to play music. Distilling hundreds of feature ideas into a simple solution is both Art and Science.

I'd like to believe I don't often need to learn a lesson twice.  I took the iPhone lessons to heart. Understand what a user needs, and deliver the simplest most elegant version of it.  It's become a cornerstone for my approach to products and people.

I built a team and together we shipped a mobile Search and Maps product. It redefined simplicity in interaction and elegance of experience. It was a darling of reviewers and users alike.

Building on that win I founded, championed, and drove the first version of Cortana. It was a product intended for smartphones. Yet the Windows Phone ecosystem failed to take off for reasons best discussed over a stiff drink in a quiet bar.

My next role found me embedded in Windows. Windows 10s challenge was both delivering  innovation and rebuilding user faith. In a pique of bravado I brought Cortana and Bing Search to Windows 10.  Introducing search and Cortana into the taskbar. Embedding Cortana into the Out of Box setup process, and many other areas.  The challenge wasn't the product as much as it was rebuilding partner trust post Windows 8.  

The product landed well. It was viewed as a significant step forward for Microsoft. The integrations I championed grew revenue by about $3B over two years.  People made lots of money and there was much rejoicing.  Unfortunately convincing people with a mouse and a keyboard to talk to their laptop was a challenge we could not overcome. Now Cortana sits as an intelligent ingredient in other products. And I moved on.  This only further cemented my attitude towards listening first and focusing teams on products that have great product market fit.