After more than 23 years at Microsoft, I’ve decided it’s time for me to take a break. Starting March 12th 2018, I’ll be taking a leave of absence for a year. Deciding to do this has been one of the most gut-wrenching decisions of my life. As someone who has largely defined myself by the work I’ve done, it’s incredibly hard to imagine life without going to work and working 10 hours every day. But, after a few years of debate with my wife, we’ve decided that it’s time to take a break and dedicate more time to home and family for a while.
I have no fear of having nothing to do. I have learned over the past 10 years that a farm is an endless source of work. I have a farm backlog so long I’m not sure I will be able to finish half of it in a year (and yes, I use VSTS to manage it). It feels like an infinitely long list. While farming will likely be the lion’s share of my time investment while I’m away, I’m planning a bunch of other things too. We’re going to do some traveling that we’ve never gotten around to. I’m looking forward to that. There are also some “hobbies” that I’d like to spend some more time on. I haven’t had much time in a while for woodworking and I’m looking forward to getting some more time for that – particularly lathe work. I’ve also, recently, picked up baking (the Great British Baking Show was the clincher for me) and I’ve really been enjoying it. As usual, I suspect my eyes are bigger than my stomach and I’ll never get to everything I imagine I’d like to do, but I can dream, right?
Taking a year off, of course, means that I will no longer be leading the TFS/VSTS team. That’s a very hard decision for me to make. I started the team about 15 years ago and have grown it from 2 people working in a “spare room” to almost 800 people spread across the globe. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built and very fond of the team I’ve had the privilege to work with. Stepping away from both is a big decision. It’s reassuring to me that we’ve built a very strong and talented team. I know the product is in good hands and it will keep getting better.
Nat Friedman (of Xamarin fame) will be assuming the leadership role for TFS/VSTS. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Nat over the past couple of years (since the Xamarin acquisition) and I’ve always been incredibly impressed with him. I really admire the principled way that he works and the great culture that he builds. He’s a very clear thinker and an excellent communicator. He understands development and developers deeply. I’m confident that Nat is going to do an excellent job leading the team and continuing to advance the product. Please join me in welcoming Nat.
My 23 years at Microsoft have been some of the best of my life. I simply can’t express enough how grateful I am for the opportunities I’ve been given. I know there are those who don’t always think incredibly fondly of Microsoft. Although I can’t say that I agree with everything we’ve ever done, I can say, I have worked with a tremendous number of people across Microsoft and they are terrific people who want nothing more than to create great products and make customers happy. I wish everyone could see Microsoft the way I see it. I am proud to have been a small part of what we have become. It is a great place to work and a great place to do good work. I think things have gotten even better in the past few years with some of the cultural and strategic changes that Satya has brought. I’m looking forward to coming back to Microsoft and finding a new challenge in a year.
My expectation is that I’ll be fully stepping away for a year – meaning, among other things, that I will discontinue posting to this blog. I have really enjoyed sharing my thoughts over the years and engaging in vigorous debate. Through my blog, I have attempted to put a humble and understanding face on Microsoft. I’ve tried to provide my perspective on some of the things we do and why I think they make sense, while acknowledging when they don’t. I’ve also tried to be an available ear for problems and to help get them routed to someone at Microsoft who can resolve them – no matter how big or small. There are countless good leaders at Microsoft who will, no doubt, continue to do that.
There’s no good time to leave a team and a product you love. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I have to say that I’m incredibly excited about the future of TFS and VSTS. We’ve made a lot of progress over the last year or two and the next year is going to be one of the most exciting yet. We’ve been hard at work on some really cool investments that I think are going to significantly improve the experience. It’s disappointing to not be able to see those changes through to the end but I know Nat and the team will do a great job carrying forward. I encourage you to keep and eye out for great news in the coming months. The best way to continue to track the latest and greatest on TFS and VSTS is the DevOps blog.
For those of you who have been with me on this journey, thank you. I’ve enjoyed it and I hope you have too. Good luck over the next year and I hope our paths cross again. I think I will create a personal blog somewhere to, at least, continue to share thoughts and stories on farming and whatever else crosses my mind. Once I get that sorted out, I’ll post a link to it on this blog.
Thank you very much,
Brian
Congrats Brian! I’m so proud of the products and where it’s gone. You’ve been an amazing leader through the whole journey and someone I have learned so many great life lessons from them. Thank you for all of those times and the enormous amount of energy into helping make an amazing set of products!
I’m so excited you’re going to be able to spend more time on the farm and having fun!
I hope you enjoy your well deserved break. Your contributions to the developer community have been tremendous and I’ve really appreciated the insight and transparency you share on this blog. I’m looking forward to hearing some more fun stories from the farm over the next year!
I’ve been following these writings since you became the no-nonsense point person to put out useful information around the release of Visual Studio 2010, and I have to say that I’ve always deeply appreciated your transparency and forthrightness. You’re calling a spade a spade – in a company where you’re sometimes surrounded with people calling buttons “gestures” and installing a product “having an experience” (not to mention having the gall to refer to Windows 8 as having a user interface with “no compromises”), I can’t tell you how helpful that has been. You mentioned routing questions to the right person, and I can attest that I’ve never posted a question in these comments that’s gone unanswered, so I really value that.
In addition, you have done that while turning TFS into something at least I looked at skeptically as “SourceSafe .NET” into a relevant product that you’re making scale to really host the deep dogfooding operation Microsoft was always a bit too shy of going for. You’ve earned a year or two off to take a breather and tend to some hobbies and/or cows.
I have heard good things about Nat and Xamarin does have a great track record of bringing basically every conceivable software feature in history – *except for the text editor word wrap*, he said, pointedly – into fruition, so I think he will do a bang-up job in your absence. Good luck to you both.
Mr Harry… well… well… well… it’s been awesome to be one of your ALM MVPs for more than 10 years. It’s been an honor to work closely with you and your awesome team since the beginning of TFS (with its big install) to the current online VSTS.
You’ve responded to my feedback, you’re fixed bugs for me and you’ve even taken my calls! You’ve managed to corral 100 noisy MVPs while dealing with big issues that affect monster customers.
You’ve made me feel it’s worthwhile drafting you a detailed email. I watched you deal with all sorts of problems … and I’ve learnt so much because of your considered approach.
I’m sad 😢
-a
http://www.adamcogan.com
Congratulations on all that you’ve done with the product, and enjoy the well-deserved break. The product has come a long ways, and you’ve had the foresight to steer it in all the right directions. The transparency which you offer into the product is wonderful, and provides confidence in the product and the team behind it.
We will miss you. Judging from the quick responses we received on internal DLs, I always wondered if you ever slept (or secretly invented cloning). Well, it looks like farming is going to be revolutionized now… 🙂
Hello, Harry,
I am an avid reader of your blog from Germany and have been following the development of the TFS / VSTS since version 2005 and have been using the product all these years. And I’m thrilled by the trip you’ve all made with it. Your team and also Microsoft as a company. And I think – at least that’s what matters here in the distance – you have a big part to play in the fact that this product has developed in such a way and the team is as it is today. Thank you for that!
I find your decision to take a year off from your job very brave and I admire it. Exactly because, as you say yourself, you have defined yourself very much about the job. I wish you a lot of insights into yourself and the pages in you for this year, which you don’t know so far (but maybe your wife does already). And I wish you a good time and that you will be able to recharge your batteries and then maybe somehow show up again at some point; or maybe you’ll stick to farming:)
Andreas from Germany
Congratulations, Brian!! It’s a good decision to step away and focus on other things while you’re still relatively young and healthy. 🙂
And if you’d told me in 2000 that Nat Friedman would be heading up Microsoft’s source control efforts, I would have probably fallen over laughing in disbelief. He’s a remarkable talent.
Today, I take a moment to thank Brian Harry after a good time of hard work, commitment and diligence. It is time to rest. Congratulations to the Father Of TFS. All the best for your future endeavors 🙏
Thanks for having the most honest blog, and yes I also wondered when you slept, because there was always time for helping, either directly or pointing to someone.
When you have the farm backlog in VSTS, it must be time for some Farm automation 🙂
Thanks
Kim, Denmark
Brian,
I pray that the Lord God blesses you in your new endeavor and thank you for all you’ve done over these years.
Good luck Brian and have good quality time with your family. I have enjoyed working with the VSTS team supporting the internal backend of BGIT and the general infrastructure of WDG. I got to meet you once at a big meeting about TFS strategies along with Grant Holiday and others.
Brian, have an excellent year ahead! Thanks for sharing so much over the years on this great blog and good luck to those you have passed the torch to!
I hope you have a very rewarding and restful time off Brian.
Thanks Harry for the awesome blogposts and you really helped to shape TFS/VSTS with your team!
Best of luck in the future!
@Brian
I would give much to be able to do the same thing, medical expenses and a couple of sink holes opening in my front yard have eliminated any savings I may have had, so I definitely envy you. It seems I have spent most of my life working 12 hours a day and my kids have turned 18 and 21 in the blink of an eye so enjoy the time you have with your family as it is precious.
While I am not a fan of the current direction Microsoft is taking, the accelerated releases and forced upgrading that makes complying with development environment certification requirements near impossible in particular, I have enjoyed your blog more than any other and will miss your discussions.
Good journey’s.