It’s a Small World (after all)

To say that Microsoft is a huge company would clearly be an understatement. There are tens of thousands of softies so connecting and navigating the organization structure is, what’s the word I’m looking for…Difficult. Never the less, there are ways to make such a large chasm seem small. From Lync calls to attending events, connecting with peers/senior leadership in another part of the country or world is entirely possible.

I mention this as after attending a recent event in Redmond, where I got to know a group of Application Development Managers (ADM’s) and consultants from the United Kingdom. I found out that they had the same pain points as I did as well as other things in common. Not to mention that these guys could easily win a professional drinking contest so be forewarned if you think you can outdrink a person who’s from the UK. From my experience, it’s not a challenge I’d undertake what so ever but YMMV.

Most are active on the UK’s official PSfD blog and there are plans to incorporate their blog with the US version as they have a wealth of information that should be shared with the broader technical community.

Since most of those ADM’s also have Twitter accounts and actively tweet, I’d also recommend following the newly created official PSfD Twitter account which will keep you updated on activities here in the US as well as what the folks “across the pond” are doing.

While I’m hoping to join my newly found friends for another beer in the not so distant future, at least with today’s technology I can communicate with them and keep the friendships I’ve made going until a plane ticket with my name on it appears in my inbox.