Microsoft

OK let’s not mention how long it has been since I’ve blogged. Just sit back and enjoy my website refresh and let’s move on ….

Amongst the craziness of my life now I’m full-time at Microsoft, I tweet the occasional #CloudAdvocateLife moment to give you some insight into the highs and lows of my day. Here I can expand a little more on the work I’ve been doing and how I maintain my work/life balance and my mental health. Today, let me catch you up on how the Cloud Advocate role has unfolded so far.

�How is Microsoft?� �It must be amazing!� �What are you working on?�

This is how the conversation goes with anyone who knows of my July 16 start date as a Microsoft employee.

If you missed my announcement (because I�recorded a video�instead of blogging about it), I�ve joined the Cloud Developer Advocates who report through to Azure engineering. I�m part of a new, global team focusing on IT Operations in Microsoft�s cloud. We have strong connections to our technical �IT Pro� communities, to help make Azure and its resources even better for people who are wrangling virtual machines, storage, backups, identity management etc etc.

Want to know a productivity hack to tidying up all those loose ends? � Schedule some time away from the office. There�s no motivation like an immovable deadline!

Next week I�m travelling to Sydney for three Microsoft events. This time I�ve booked an AirBnB and the family are coming with me. I�m looking forward to some quality time with them, when I�m not mingling with my tech friends.

You�ll find me:

After the announcement of Microsoft 365, I�d pushed it into the �look at this�later� pile. A recent Microsoft presentation at a reseller event�flicked the switch for me on how Microsoft 365 Business�could really help SMBs who are still stuck on Windows 7 or Windows 8, and how the device management can help with Macs, Android and iOS.

I blogged about my thoughts for 24�7 IT Connection:�https://24x7itconnection.com/2017/10/17/microsofts-strong-smb-story-with-microsoft-365-business/

If you�re looking for more technical information on Microsoft 365, here are blogs from some fellow Microsoft MVPs. If you have any other good resources, feel free to leave them in the comments:

I used a Fitbug Orb for a while. It did a good job of reporting steps & sleep back to an iPhone app but I got annoyed that it had a CR battery to replace (non-rechargeable) and the rubber wrist strap was annoying (it would come off in the night while sleeping). I was tempted to get a Fitbit purely to have a silent alarm, but I never went and bought one.

As a ‘partner’ in the ‘channel’ (just imagine the air quotes), I’m going to stand on my soapbox and have a little chat about the role that we play in making software & hardware companies successful. Yeah, that totally sounded conceited, but follow along with me here.

There are so many facets to this chat that this post won’t be published in its original form. It’s going to take time to organise these thoughts into a logical sequence that flows, because the partner relationship is not a simple conversation.

Did I mention how well my laptop has been running since the Vista reinstallation?� Oh yeah, except I still haven�t tackled iTunes again�🙂

Here�s one that�s caught me out before .. and, as I didn�t reinstall the applications (hubby did) .. it snuck back in again.� Small business owners in Australia & New Zealand may be familiar with the MYOB suite of accounting/bookkeeping software.� It literally stands for Mind Your Own Business.� Well, Accounting Plus v17.0.0 (and some earlier versions) don�t play well with Microsoft Office 2007.� In particular, when you try to display a payroll advice, MYOB crashes with a �stopped working� error.� Very frustrating when you are trying to process the salary payments.� Even more frustrating when it�s your own salary you are trying to pay.

Save � of the critial �protect your data� type, not the �look how much money I saved in this sale today type� (though arguably they are just as important as each other).

Normally my favourite rant is regarding backups (and, more importantly, testing your data restorations), especially where small business is concerned. And I�m talking real small business (1 � 20 users). But I�ll save that for another day.

No, today�s rant is about saving your progress as you go. Though the concept was made famous when Microsoft Word crashed during that business report/university paper you had nearly finished .. and hadn�t saved .. and couldn�t be recovered � saving as you go is important for other applications too .. and not just software applications.