TonyL. I had no idea. 😏 And I recall folks were still not sure if they should call you Steve of Steven when you first came to Office. I remember you being introduced on your first day and somebody introduced you as Steve Sinofsky. You snapped back, "STEVEN". Message received. ;)
In our first team meeting in 3002? I don’t think I snapped but I might have corrected people :-) Back then it did hurt my ears. Stay tuned, I recall that first offPM meeting. @JonDe was always the champ at correcting people!
This is so enjoyable to read - it’s great that you’ve kept so many items and mementos also. Always wondered if the X shaped buildings had some architectural significance? Or just to maximise windows in offices?
There was a popular book about managing software engineering projects - unfortunately I forget the title - that was a proponent of every programmer having an individual office with a window to the outside. I remember they used hotel architecture as an example of buildings where every room had a window. I seem to recall the X buildings were Microsoft's solution to the window problem.
I dropped out of music college and had to work at factory jobs, one of which was for Acco International - the company that made those staplers. I remember putting them into boxes and shipping them out.
Later on got sick of factory work, went back to school and got a computer science degree and ended up at Microsoft in 1994. Started in Developer support for C++. Finally retired from the SQL Server group in 2014.
hi Steve(n) - in what year do these events take place in? I know it is sometime in the 80s but it would be fun to know precisely when the things you describe (in this and future articles) happened
Wow - memory lane - great reading! i started in '87 supporting the LAN Mgr and XENIX business units. Interesting about the SteveB email address comment - his name in the closing on letterhead correspondence was always Steven A. Ballmer. I used Steve A. Ballmer once and never made that mistake again! :-)
TonyL. I had no idea. 😏 And I recall folks were still not sure if they should call you Steve of Steven when you first came to Office. I remember you being introduced on your first day and somebody introduced you as Steve Sinofsky. You snapped back, "STEVEN". Message received. ;)
In our first team meeting in 3002? I don’t think I snapped but I might have corrected people :-) Back then it did hurt my ears. Stay tuned, I recall that first offPM meeting. @JonDe was always the champ at correcting people!
This is so enjoyable to read - it’s great that you’ve kept so many items and mementos also. Always wondered if the X shaped buildings had some architectural significance? Or just to maximise windows in offices?
There was a popular book about managing software engineering projects - unfortunately I forget the title - that was a proponent of every programmer having an individual office with a window to the outside. I remember they used hotel architecture as an example of buildings where every room had a window. I seem to recall the X buildings were Microsoft's solution to the window problem.
I wonder if it was Spolsky's book? Or do you think it was earlier?
If I had to guess, I'd guess Peopleware, but it might be even older than that.
Oh yes, that book definitely had that point in it. It was also one of the books new hires received or could request.
Very interesting! thx for the details Rick, I’ll have a read of Peopleware
I'm late to this party. So interesting.
I dropped out of music college and had to work at factory jobs, one of which was for Acco International - the company that made those staplers. I remember putting them into boxes and shipping them out.
Later on got sick of factory work, went back to school and got a computer science degree and ended up at Microsoft in 1994. Started in Developer support for C++. Finally retired from the SQL Server group in 2014.
Great read! I remember being assigned t-jacqb for my first internship and being called "tee dash JA-kwa-buh" the whole summer.
It was much worse for interns and vendors who had only 6 letters to work with!
hi Steve(n) - in what year do these events take place in? I know it is sometime in the 80s but it would be fun to know precisely when the things you describe (in this and future articles) happened
This chapter starts in 1989. At the start of a chapter I will give the year.
Wow - memory lane - great reading! i started in '87 supporting the LAN Mgr and XENIX business units. Interesting about the SteveB email address comment - his name in the closing on letterhead correspondence was always Steven A. Ballmer. I used Steve A. Ballmer once and never made that mistake again! :-)
Yes. We’re all Steven!