A Simple Pixel

Leaving Microsoft HQ

I was hired at Microsoft on Dec 07, 1998 as a Technology Specialist for developer tools in the Dallas, Texas office. It was very exciting because I always wanted to work at Microsoft and knew that the smartest people in the industry worked there. I was amazed at what we were doing at the time and loved talking to people about our technology.

A few months after that I went to the PDC and saw our vision for .NET. I thought to myself, “this is going to be a radical success or a glorious failure”, either way I wanted to be a part of it, so I packed up the family and moved to corporate to be one of the first .NET evangelists. I have been fortunate and just damn lucky to be a part of some pretty incredible things (e.g. HTML5, MIX Online, MIX, ASP.NET, .NET, etc.). I have also had the opportunity to meet some amazing, human, wicked-smart people that I will always appreciate getting to work with/know them.

Without further ado: My last day at Microsoft HQ is November 1st.

What’s next? Me and my family are moving to Vancouver, Canada!

So the first question you may have is, why are you going to Canada? Well, if you know me then you know that we go up there 4-5x a year on mini-vacations. We caught the “wouldn’t it be great to actually live here?” bug that many folks get. Having been a military kid growing up, I am used to moving around so staying somewhere for 10 years is definitely an anomaly. Also, the Tenderoni and I always talked about moving there and a rare thing happened that a role I wanted became available. So when an opportunity presented itself, we grabbed it! 

Whoa! Are you leaving Microsoft? Sorry suckers, NO! I am going to be bringing it with HTML5 & CSS3 and other Microsoft greatness as a Developer & Designer evangelist working out of Vancouver for Microsoft!

I am totally stoked that I will be able to work for Microsoft, doing what I love in a country that we always talked about moving to. I will still be talking about and pontificating on the things you have seen on this blog (including pet pictures!), but will probably add a little Canadian flair. 

You can follow my adventures on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tommylee. If you are Canadian, please say hi!

New York City + HTML5 + DevCon 5 = Brutality!

This month I am going to be back in one of my favorite cities, New York. In Manhattan specifically for a conference called DevCon 5. It is an HTML5 conference for web developers and designers. I will be presenting a 1 hour and 15 minute session on HTML5’s <canvas> feature.

I plan on showing some examples of some great games and experiences built with <canvas> and delve into the fundamentals of canvas. I will also spend some time talking about “how” these apps can be built and some of the tools that are out there. I am excited about it because I mostly do CSS3 talks and this allows me to get into a feature of HTML5 that is truly a “blank canvas”.

It is going to be fun and hopefully will have a chance to see the big city. If you are at the conference, please say hi. If you are in NYC and want to hang out and talk HTML5 and CSS3, then ping me. Also, I am available to present in front of groups as well.

Best way to keep up with me is on Twitter, so feel free to follow me on Twitter with the latest updates.

A Week with the Pomodoro Technique

I spent the last week using the Pomodoro Technique as I mentioned in the previous blog post. I wanted to manage my time better, get a reality check on what can truly be accomplished with limited time, and minimize interruptions. 

Overall, I would give a thumbs-up to the Pomodoro Technique. Here are some conclusions and findings for myself:

• There are a lot more interruptions on my time than I originally thought. I was surprised at how often I was interrupted during a Pomodoro (25 minute timeframe for focusing solely on the task at hand).
• Meetings suck…a lot. When you realize that the average meeting can suck up between 2 to 3 Pomodoros, you really question if a meeting is truly necessary. (Although I can’t disregard all meetings. In fact, two meetings I had I walked away feeling good about them and put me in a good mood. So YMMV.)
• Typically a task will take more Pomodoros than you would expect. 

Using the Pomodoro Technique, I found it valuable and here are some of the reasons I like it:

• With a pen, a timer, and my Field Notes notebook I was able to use the system. In other words, it is simple and effective. I don’t have to go to a class (I read the free e-book during 2 Pomodoros) and the process is pretty simple.
• It gives you a dose of reality within the first week. You realize that as much as you would like to accomplish in the small amount of time you have available, it is not realistic. You cannot work on 10 project simultaneously (but you can break them up and apply milestones, true priority and time spent).
• It is adaptable to the way I have to work. Priorities can change constantly in my environment and the technique allows you to adjust to that. 
• I like that even if you are done during the middle of a Pomodoro, you are encouraged to review your work and think about it which leads to better quality of work.
• I tend to think about Italian food and wine more than I did.

I think the Pomodoro Technique will be able to stick around for me and would recommend it even if you feel you are pretty good at time management. 

Feel free to follow me on Twitter for news on my use of the Pomodoro Technique or other things that I am interested in.

Simplifying, Finding Time, Starting Pomodoro

Every year I start out with new themes (notice I did not say resolutions) for the year. One theme I decided to take on was simplicity. As you can imagine, trying to simplify your life is not simple. Lots of things get in the way. I was thinking about this at the same time I was looking at my project list for work. It contained:

• Seven projects.
• Twenty-three action items.
• Four projects that will ramp up in three days.
• Eleven ideas for “cool” things to do when the other projects are complete.

This does not include anything outside of work which looks a lot like the “work” project list. In fact, I began to run the numbers and realized that I would need to take a two week vacation to mark off all these as completed without interruption. So I came to the conclusion:

“I’M DOING IT WRONG!”

Since we have a three-day weekend here in the United States, I spent some time thinking about my theme of simplicity as well as the interruptions. I also remember bookmarking something called “The Pomodoro Technique”. 

Wondering if it might help me, I checked out the website. With a quick overview of the site, I have decided to give it a spin. Here’s why:

1. The site is nicely designed. I know this may sound shallow, but if the site is hideous, I know that deep down inside that I am not going to give it credibility.
2. The technique is simple. You only need simple tools and basically five steps. Too many time management techniques have you preparing vs. doing. Also, I know if it is a complicated system, it won’t last for me.
3. It is social. I like that they have Twitter and Facebook to keep me motivated and see how others are using it.
4. Creative Commons for the book. The book written about the technique can be downloaded for free and is under the Creative Commons license.
5. Accepts and understands interruptions. At Microsoft, interruptions appear to be mandatory. So this is a perfect fit.
6. Lots of tools to help, but not mandatory. Again, I like the simplicity of it. There are worksheets you can download and a ton of mobile apps. I am going to try and stay away from them as possible since I want to simplify my time management.

The good part is that I am brand spanking new to the technique. Haven’t even read the .PDF yet. So I will keep you dear readers (my mom and my stalker) up-to-date on how it goes. Good, bad, either way. I have a pencil, a Field Notes notebook, and a timer. I’ m ready.

Here’s to simplicity, finding time, and starting Pomodoro. You can also follow my adventures on Twitter.