Working under pressure

One reason I haven’t had many blog-worthy adventures or thoughts in the past few months is because work has been keeping me really busy. And that’s a good thing, because my career seems to be really taking off recently. Remember the paper I wrote proposing a radical new idea? It took some time, but eventually management realized the significance, which is maybe even greater than I anticipated. Now dozens of people in my division are working on changing designs, and other teams in the company are starting to show interest. Managers are seeing new business opportunities or solutions to business problems, because what before was prohibitively difficult and inflexible now becomes simple and agile.

This gives me a crazy amount of visibility among people in the division, including a few general managers and my VP. And now it also feels like a lot of pressure on me: I sold them all with an idea and a prototype, but will it actually work in practice? We will find out this year: I’ve been given more direct reports and the responsibility to manage the execution of the primary part of my plan. Fortunately I’ve always done some of my best work under great pressure.

Observations on management

My job title has had officially had the word "lead" in it for about six weeks now. While I’ve had technical and operational leadership roles in various projects for several years now, the title change means I get a few people officially reporting to me. I was well-prepared for the role by my manager, so in many ways the shift has been exactly what I was expecting. But of course there’s a profound difference between expecting and experiencing. There are four ways in which the new role has been more… impactful… to me than I thought it would be.

1. I need to let go. And that’s hard for me to do. I’ve built my career on being a strong technical expert on whatever area I work on. It looks good to be the person with all the answers, and frankly, it feels good too. Sure there were always unknowns… but if I didn’t know it, nobody else on the team did either. That’s changing now because I need to trust people on my team to become experts in their own area. I know I can’t possibly keep up with all of them at once — it’s just a little bit unsettling when I start to see that happening. Naturally I still feel I should maintain expertise in everything under my responsibility. But that would only compound my next challenge.
    
2. My brain is too small. I’ve never felt that way before. In fact I’ve always considered myself lucky to have such a good memory for details. I used to rarely take notes or keep to-do lists, because I always remembered what I needed to know or do. But now, managing a multitude of projects and people, I’m bombarded with a constant flow of information I need to track, which just doesn’t all fit in my head. So I’ve started taking a lot of notes, and tracking and organizing my tasks more explicitly. (I’ve discovered that OneNote 2007 is a very cool and helpful piece of software, in addition to Outlook of course.) These steps have been partially effective at supplementing my limited mental capacity. It will have to do until I can arrange for that petabyte neural implant.
    
3. Bigger scope leads to bigger thinking. I have a different perspective on everything now. I’m exposed to more projects and more of what the rest of the management team thinks about. So I find myself doing a lot more strategic thinking, and speaking up, about what I want to happen a few years down the road, instead of just worrying about completing the current project. The really surprising thing is somehow this seems to have translated into greater technical insight as well.
    
   Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but since I’ve been a lead I’ve also done more "architect" type work than ever before. I already mentioned the prototype work I did last month — now I’m working on a patent proposal for one of the ideas that came out of that. And this past week I wrote an 11-page paper proposing a radical change to the way my team approaches some other major technical challenges we’re facing now and in the future. (I’m still waiting for feedback on that.) I hope that between all my management responsibilities I continue to have time for this deeply technical work, because I still really enjoy it. The roles do seem to complement each other well — I understand better why some managers and even execs occasionally switch back and forth between people-management roles and high-level technical roles.
    
4. I am responsible for developing other people. People are harder to develop than software. This will be the biggest challenge for me in the new role, and I’m sure I don’t yet fully appreciate the magnitude of that challenge. Part of my difficulty is I’m a very easygoing person by nature, so I never focus on peoples’ failures and rarely even notice their deficiencies. But now I’ll have to be very aware of things like that if I’m to be able to give people constructive feedback, to help them improve their performance and advance their careers. At the same time I’ll need to be more forthcoming with positive feedback, which while not as difficult is still an area where I can improve.

I hope this doesn’t all come across as me bragging about my newfound power. :) Honestly these things have just been on my mind a lot recently, and blogging always helps me think. And maybe if anyone else who reads this is considering management, this will give you some sense of what you would be in for.

Hard work pays off

For the past six weeks I’ve been working some evenings and weekends on a side project related to my job. My manager basically told me "here’s this thing you might look into if you have time, but don’t let it get in the way of all your other full-time responsibilities". So I’m not sure if she was expecting much, but I got really into this project because I especially love this aspect of my job.

 

I’ve been researching some upcoming technology, investigating ways to apply it to some problems we have on my team, and coding some prototype software that demonstrates my ideas. I can’t say here exactly what it is since it’s all confidential, but it has the potential to significantly impact future development projects on my team, and maybe several other teams at the company. Yesterday I finally gave a presentation and demo to my manager and a few reviewers, and apparently they were really, really impressed!

 

While I’ve always been good at my job, I don’t think I’ve ever received this much praise before. (Please excuse me while I bask…) I got requests to give this presentation to at least three other audiences, and my manager couldn’t stop telling me what a great job I’d done. Also, without me saying anything, she recognized how much after-hours time I’d put in and told me not to come to work today. :) So that’s why I’m sitting at home blogging now instead of working.

Update on the Japan job

Right now, it’s looking like there is a good chance the Japan job won’t work out. Apparently the hiring manager is looking for someone with a lot more TV experience. I will probably still interview, but unless I really impress them in interviews they may decide I’m not a good fit. Or there’s a possibility I could work on the team here for several months before going to Japan.

 

At the same time, I’ll also interview for one or two other teams, which I may talk about later.

Work in Japan?

Maybe. Well, it’s just an idea now… I still have to think about it some more and work out the details.

 

After my great 3-week experience in Tokyo last fall, I always said I wanted to go back. Not permanently, but I really feel like I could get a lot out of an extended time abroad. And now would be the time to do it, while I’m still young and unattached.

 

I toyed with the idea of quitting my job and going to Japan for a year or two. Maybe I could go to graduate school there, though my Japanese certainly isn’t good enough for advanced study. Or maybe I could find work there, except it would be hard to get any kind of decent job without knowing the language better. (While English teachers are very much in demand, compared to my current job the pay is not so great, around US$25-35k/yr.)

 

The main reason I never entertained that idea seriously is because I really don’t want to leave Microsoft. I love working here, and can see myself continuing to have success with the company for the forseeable future. I think it fits me better than any other company, because it perfectly matches up with my passion for technology, tenacious problem-solving skills, addiction to writing code, and desire to have a positive impact on the world. I have a lot invested in this career, both intellectually and financially, and it would set me back a huge amount if I were to leave the company. Even if I returned later, I would forfeit all my unvested stock awards and stock options — nothing to consider lightly.

 

Microsoft does have offices in Japan, though they are primarily just for localization (translating our software into Japanese), marketing, and distribution — mostly nothing I would be interested in or even qualified to do. However, I recently learned of a little bit of actual development activity going on in Japan. The Windows Media Center team is working on integrating the Japan digital TV format into the whole Media Center experience. They are building a small team in Tokyo which works closely with the main Media Center team here in Redmond.

 

I’ve you’ve watched TV at my place anytime in the past four years, you know I’ve been tinkering with Media Center since that product first came out. While early results were sometimes buggy and limited, it has improved a lot over the years. The product has a great future, and is definitely something I’d be excited to work on. Anyway, I had been informally exploring (local) job opportunties through some contacts I have on that team, and I came across a Japan position that just might fit me perfectly.

 

The Media Center team is looking for an experienced developer here in Redmond who is willing to relocate to Japan for one to two years to not only help with development, but also interface between the two development teams across the Pacific and help the Tokyo team learn standard Microsoft development practices. Since Microsoft has historically not done much development in Japan, most or all of that team has yet to experience development the Microsoft Way. So I would get to work in a great location (Chofu district of Tokyo, just west of the Shinjuku business center) on a cool product, not only writing code but getting leadership experience which will help my career.

 

At least, that’s what I understand about the position so far. I’ll be talking about it more with the hiring manager after he returns from Japan next week. I should be well-qualified, since I’ve had a reasonable amount of leadership experience in my current position, and am somewhat familiar with most of the Media Center technology. Japanese language communication is not even required for the job, because most of that team is required to speak English since they work closely with the main Media Center team. But I’m sure they will find my current Japanese ability, and desire to learn more, a big plus.

 

Unless I learn some unexpected reason why I can’t do or don’t want the job, I plan to go ahead and interview for it. But other than that, there are still a lot of questions to answer and logistical details to work out with my life. I’d really want to keep my house so I have something to return to in a year or two, and that should be possible as long as I have one or two people renting. Selling my car would also help cover the mortgage, since I wouldn’t need a car in Tokyo anyway. But who will take care of my cat? And do I really want to leave all my friends behind and start a new (or alternate) life?

 

It’s scary but exciting. I could really use some more excitement in my life about now…

I have been cubed

This cube was dropped off at my office today. It is an award for my first filed patent application. I actually submitted it last November (the date printed on the cube), but now I finally have something to show for it… err… besides the small cash bonus I got in January.

I never realized from looking at others, but it’s surprisingly heavy! It’s a solid block of stone, marble I guess, and though it’s less than two inches on a side it must weigh a couple pounds.

Of course the patent application is still pending, and it will be for several years I’m sure. The title is: System and Method for Expanding the Range of a Mesh Network. Ask me if you want to know more about it.