Redmond Monsoon Season / Some New Directions

I had no idea I’d be celebrating my first day at Microsoft in conjunction with the Redmond monsoon season. The skies were clear, yielding a beautiful sunrise when I left my home early that Monday morning. What kind of fool would carry an umbrella on a day like this?

By the time I reached the Overlake Transit Center, it was raining cats and dogs (in fact, I called home to make sure we could account for our cat and our dog; they were smart: they were inside). However, a simple rain cannot spoil such a red-letter day.

As I’d not written of this before, let me fill you in. While I really had no intention of ever leaving Avanade, I was caught completely off guard by an incredible position offered to me in Redmond. It’s unique, strategic, creative, sales, business and technology-focused, related to finding ways to make Microsoft technology more relevant to companies that don’t consider it their primary platform. In short, I’m a technical evangelist.

With this move, I will also be modifying the direction of this blog. Up to now, this blog has been comprised of “How-To” or problem-solving articles. While I’ve referred to the business case from time to time, I’ve steered pretty clear of discussing business values (i.e., ROI and TCO). I have also kept mum on my views of Services Orientation (formerly known as Services-Oriented Architecture, or SOA).

No more of that. I’ll still be drafting technical articles, but (since I’m paid to do it), I’ll be speaking out more in the realms of integration, services and business issues. I’ll also be covering forward-thinking technologies that I encounter in my new role; edging toward the bleeding edge as appropriate, to help guide your UI and application plans for the future.