The People Who Make It Happen

Development
Developers include an array of Software Design Engineers who work on the leading edge of software development and "own" a feature or part of a product. The Developer is a part of a team, working with Program Managers, other Software Design Engineers, and Test Engineers to define specifications, set schedules and design and write the program code as well as the algorithms and data structures. Projects may include personal/business applications, networking software, internet tools, multimedia, operating systems, GUI's and integrated development environments.

Testing
The role of the tester at Microsoft is unique. The tester begins their job as a "white-box tester" at the same time development of the product begins. Our testers have sophisticated coding skills and are responsible for writing and executing automated test scripts. This is a vital position in our development organization.

Program Management
Program Managers are the technical force behind the product from initial concept through release. Program Managers define the content, behavior, and appearance of the product, finding innovative solutions to best meet customers' needs. Working with technical and marketing groups, customers, usability specialists, and graphic artists, Program Managers take the product through design, specification, development, testing and documentation.

Program Managers ask questions like: "Are these the right features?"; "Is the product team creating what we planned?"; "Is everyone on schedule?"; "Is the team working well together?"; and "What important issues have fallen through the cracks?".

Product Management
Product Managers are directly involved in determining what products are needed in the market place, what features does the product need to be competitive, the distribution of the product into the "channels" and the product positioning and message. In many groups this is split into three separate positions:

Product Planner. The Product Planner is responsible for determining what the next release of the product should include. They represent the customer prior to and during the development process by helping to determine target audience and product features. They also prepare the marketing team for product launch by developing training and information on the new version of the product.


Product Manager. The Product Manager is responsible for preparing the distribution channel(s) for product launch, creating visibility and awareness of the product in the marketplace prior to and through launch, providing training and information to field sales, and creating and developing programs that will grow market share after product launch.


Marketing Manager. The Marketing Manager is responsible for a unified and consistent marketing message within product families and across divisional lines or within a specific market, such as the Far East or OEM Channel. Marketing Managers are senior people and have intimate knowledge of both Product Planning and Product Marketing tasks and activities.

User Education
The User Education team is comprised of several writers, editors, user assistance designers and production specialists. Together they function to provide education and training for the consumer on the use of the new product. To accomplish this, the User Education team utilizes print, on-line, and CD-Rom as platforms through which to reach and educate the market.

Design
The designers represent a diverse group of talented individuals including: Interaction Designers, Industrial Designers, and Graphic Designers (Typographers, Video Directors, Animators, and Audio Designers). Together, their goals of design for Microsoft products are to: provide solutions; integrate constraints and opportunities; make products more useful, usable, and desirable; and to enhance communication and messages regarding the product.

Initially, the design group functions to observe and understand the intended market, the technology used in the product, and the characteristics and needs of the user. Next, they represent identified problems and help visualize proposed solutions. Following they serve to sell the solution internally, motivating its testing and eliciting feedback. Finally, the design group integrates this feedback as it refines the proposed solution into a finalized direction.

Usability
Usability specialists work with the product teams to ensure the utility and usability of Microsoft products.

Localization Group
The localization group's task is two fold: internationalization, the process of isolating and extracting all cultural context from a product; and localization, the process of infusing a specific cultural context into a previously internationalized product.

There are several items involved in the localization process. These items include: code enabling, translation, national language support (date and time formats, currency, measurements), providing examples (scenarios, templates, art, bitmaps), and hardware configuration. The group itself is comprised of several members including: International Program Manager, Localization Manager, External Localization (Vendor) Manager, International Quality Assurance, Vendor Relations Group, and the Localization Tools Team.

Product Support Services
The overall mission of Product Support Services is to develop secure Microsoft customers at minimum cost by responding to customers with technical information, pro-actively ensuring that key customers successfully deploy Microsoft products, and facilitating the development of improved software.

Accomplishing this, Product Support Services represents over 42,000 customer interactions per day and over 4,100 support professionals worldwide. Moreover, Product Support Services is actively involved not only in supporting customers, but also participates in the product cycle and provides marketing support as its own "product".

We are an equal opportunity employer and support workplace diversity.

© 1996 Microsoft Corporation