My Team

On Dec 1st we had a very important occasion in our team's short and sweet history. We celebrated our first birthday in Microsoft. There was cake-cutting by the newest member of the team and we signed on a team poster to mark the occassion



WinSE-the name might not ring any sense of familiarity to an onlooker, but to those who are part of this team it means a way of life, a discipline, ceaseless learning, incredible amount of fun (many of my friends in other teams are definitely envious of our parties;) and a lot more....



I will not talk about anyone in particular here, but a few things I have learnt in the short span of six months that I have been here are:



Team Building, I mention this first as this is the feeling that is topmost at everyone's hearts here. I have seen (and am still seeing) how a team gets built up from scractch-the challenges that crop up with that, the opportunities that lay outstretched like a gold mine for each person to explore and reap, the immeasurable hard-work and above all the urge to help each other out to better in their jobs and progress together. People work hard, really hard, we are one of the few teams where almost every member would be working till late in the night and at 11pm, it would be really hard to tell whether anyone even realised that it was so late !!!



Leadership, We have a few eminent leaders here who have been there in the industry forever, who know exactly what to do when to do and most importantly how to do it. The thing that has never failed to amaze me is the emphasis on doing the right thing each time, everytime. Decisions are based, not on what appears to be provident at the moment, but on what is the right thing to do for the customers, for the company and for the people.



Customer Focus, this is one quality that is common to any team in Microsoft and we being the ones who directly help the customers out, are foremost in focussing on customer needs. Even the employee at the lowest rung of the hierarchy thinks about customers before making his/her everyday decisions. Every decision is preceeded by a thorough analysis of the customer impact, any workarounds available and the risk involved.



Finally Fun, Initially I was a bit sulky at being given a cubicle when all the stories I had heard about Microsoft in college talked about individual cabins. But now, I am thankful for this arrangement , for it develops a kind of closeness in the team which would never have been possible with cabins. We tease each other, call out for help across cubicles (and there is always someone to help you out;), at times we even have crazy stress-releivers like a small piper which produces a strange noise when blown and there was almost a competetion on who blew it louder!!! When there is a party our team would always be seen together, dancing our hearts out and partying hard.



Every person here is conscious of the fact that we are new-new to Microsoft, new to work culture and new to the industry and it is this very feeling that urges everyone to do better, better than the previous day, better than the previous release. There is just one way to move now....Forward;)