A Bit Of Fun With Office Add-Ins

One evening, in a pub, having a well earned pint with Michael McClary after one of our Microsoft events, I had a brilliant idea - why not write a Microsoft Word add-in that randomly added management "buzzword bingo" phrases into a document or email. It would be kind of fun, especially in light of some of the emails that fly around our offices at time.

The big difference with this idea is that, rather than forget all about it (which is the norm, for "great pub ideas"), the next day I actually sat down with the beta 2 version of Visual Studio 2008 and wrote it.

Obviously there is so much management buzzword bingo stuff about I feel guilty about creating more, but then this is science . . .

Here is what it looks like:

You select the level of obfuscation you desire, and hit "Buzzword My Document". Here is the original text:

There are a number of DPE OBA and SharePoint events happening between now and the end of the year. It seemed to good idea to do a quick summary of what's happening, so everyone knows.

Everyone on this email is involved in at least one of the events or has expressed interested and may want to be involved or just be aware.

Once again, many thanks for your help in supporting these events. If you have any questions, or don’t have these events in your diaries, please let me know.

After applying my Buzzword Bingo on full House setting (with the new text underlined):

There are a number of DPE OBA and SharePoint events happening between now and the end of the year , and check if it is in the frame. It seemed to good idea to do a quick summary of what's happening, so everyone knows, if only to ensure we have names in boxes.

Everyone on this email is involved in at least one of the events or has expressed interested and may want to be involved or just be aware, which we need to bottom out.

Once again, many thanks for your help in supporting these events, and ensure we have ticks in all the boxes. If you have any questions, or don’t have these events in your diaries, please let me know, so just checking we are on the same page.

Most of the time it is uncannily accurate and will generally pass the Turing Test :-). I'll post the source code if anyone is interested.