Ted Kummert,
S. Somasegar and Bill Laing are the heads of state of the Data Division, Developer Division, and Windows Server respectively. Since we just launched three
major products, Visual Studio 2008 (RTM), SQL Server (not shipped yet) and Windows Server 2008 (RTM) we thought it would be a good idea to get the three leaders of these product organizations to sit down together and talk about how they work
together as divisions and as leaders of divisions.
So, how do leaders work together effectively? What do heads of product groups actually do? How technically involved with product development are vice presidents? How do they work together to minimize technical reduncancy across divisions (innovation happens;
sometime innovative technologies arise independently and in parallel. They may represent the same solution to a given problem or problem set. What's a VP to do in this case?).
As always, it's an extreme pleasure to get to talk with senior leaders of Microsoft who are responsible for a large chunk of Microsoft's continued success as a business in an insanely competitive industry that constantly changes.
You've heard all about the products that have launced today if you follow product launch events and read the news. It's truly a momentous day for all of us at Microsoft and especially for you, the consumer and developer who use and rely upon these great technologies.
Now, meet the heads of state who are responsible (and ultimately accountable) for your overall satisfaction. We're all lucky to have Ted, Soma and Bill running the show for SQL, VS and Windows Server.
Enjoy!
Low res version here.