Yearnote 2011

Another year whistles past, and so some reflections on another big year for me:

The year I went to the darkside (1)
I joined Microsoft back in April, after the majority of my career working in IT departments in various organisations in the UK. It’s been a heck of a learning curve, but as we enter into 2012 there are exciting times ahead as the company continues to embrace the twin forces of Cloud and consumerisation.

The year I went to the darkside (2)
Not only did I go to the supplier side of the industry, but 2011 was also the year that I became a marketer. Or marketeer. (Never really understood the difference between those two things, but I presume the latter comes with a set of mouse ears).

See: My New Role

The year I spend thinking about consumerisation
Probably more than any other topic, consumerisation has been something on which I’ve spent the most mental energy in 2011. It’s not a matter of when it might happen, but now about what effects it is having. From Bring Your Own Device, to the rise of smartphones, to touch screens everywhere to the Appification of life, there is profound change that is going on that has happened remarkably quickly.

See: The Battlelines of Consumerisation

The year I broke my blog
Back in August I wrote an article about what might be the things that motivate software developers. Somehow it hit a nerve, and 7,000 views later my ISP turned off my blog (thanks…).

One of my colleagues has since pointed out that rather than just because of my scintillating prose, the success might have more to do with my name now being Matt Ballantine from Microsoft. And I’ve taken that “feet back firmly on the ground” feedback onboard. However, the thinking underpinning the article is vital in my work in the next year or so.

See: What motivates developers?

The year that I realised that it’s mostly mysteries…
After serendipitously stumbling across an old blog post, I revisited a bit of Gladwellia about the difference between puzzles and mysteries. I guess that the ambiguity of the future in the tech industry means that we are mostly looking at mysteries, but the engineering culture of the industry craves everything to have puzzle-like solutions…

See: More mystery than puzzle…

The year of some great conversations
One of the best things about my new role is that it gives me good opportunity to go and have coffee with people to chat about what they are doing. That’s a wonderful place to be. Thanks go out to everyone who has given me some of their precious time in the last 12 months.

And with that, here’s wishing a very Merry Christmas, and all the best for 2012.