Geek in question: Shannon Loftis

Job title: Studio Head – Good Science Studio

Shannon Loftis can barely walk ten steps on campus without someone waving to her, saying hello or shouting her name. Since starting as a temp at Microsoft in 1992, Shannon has spent almost 20 years rising through the ranks of gaming and making more than a few friends and admirers along the way.

As the head of the company’s prestigious Good Science Studio, her team was tasked with creating the original games for Xbox Kinect. Good Science’s first release was Kinect Adventures, which shipped with every first-generation Kinect.

I met up with Shannon to find out the secret of her ongoing success in one of the most desirable and competitive areas in the tech industry.

How did you get your start in gaming?
In the mid 90s, I was doing database design and project management for Microsoft. The story I heard was that Bill Gates was really into playing online bridge and decided that we should have a version of the game on the then-emerging technology of MSN.

I came to games to work on that project, which evolved into a virtual card table, which evolved into an online gaming service, which evolved into a lot of other new things. At the same time, Microsoft was ramping up in sports games, flight simulation games, and was inventing new ways of PC gaming.

You must have seen gaming change quite a bit since then.
Gaming is big business these days. It is huge compared to other types of entertainment - even movies. The industry has a lot of creative brilliance and with Kinect we are really pushing the boundaries of technology. The technology is just so much more powerful now, and we can do so much more for people.

While some people dismiss gaming as too violent or just for kids, there is much more to it than that. It’s critical work. Entertainment is a fundamental human need, and gaming is a great way to give people a moment of pleasure and enjoyment in an otherwise stressful day. Life gets faster and faster paced and interactive entertainment is a great release.

There are a lot of other game studios out there. Why have you stayed with Microsoft?
I fell in love with the culture and still find it intoxicating that everyone around is so smart and is somebody you can learn from.

That and Microsoft’s huge range of opportunities. You never find yourself at a dead end here. There’s always something new and exciting and the company keeps evolving. For example, it is the only company that could pull off something like Kinect.

How did Good Science start?
A bunch of people started working on Kinect when it was still “Project Natal” back at the end of ‘08. All that we had at that point was a rudimentary camera duct-taped to a very expensive PC with a high-end graphics card. It was up to us to turn that into a consumer-friendly product.

I was working for Microsoft in the United Kingdom at the time and the company asked me to move back to Redmond to start Good Science in ‘09. Our goal was to figure out what kinds of experiences were best to introduce Kinect to the world.

And how did you structure the studio?
Good Science bridges the gap between incubation and research. The goal was to make a team of flexible creative generalists. We wanted to find the best way to introduce the world to full-body, no controller gaming and no-barriers UI. Hence, Kinect Adventures. And we’ve got some great new stuff in store too.

How many people work at the studio?
The size of Good Science is wildly variable as it expands and contracts depending on the projects at hand. At the smallest it can be 45 people and at the largest it is about 75.

So, it’s like its own startup within Microsoft?
Microsoft is a fairly fractal company, so teams must know how to stand on their own. Good Science has a ton of creative freedom, like a startup, but we’re able to tackle big challenges and boldly move forward with the support of Microsoft.

Unlike a lot of startups, we have the focus and depth to make really big bets.

Did you know right away that you were onto something huge with Kinect?
We had lots of challenges to overcome but knew pretty quickly that what we had was magic. Seeing the crowd reaction when we showed it off at E3 in 2009 was one of the most exciting experiences of my life.

Do you plan to stay in gaming for the rest of your career?
It’s likely too late for me to cure cancer or go the moon, so this is still my shot at deep, fulfilling work.

Kinect is already profound and will be even more so in the future. For example: there is a Kinect “hack,” Jewel Mine, that helps rehabilitate people who have had strokes as the interactive movements can repair neural damage.

This is all just the start. I look forward to being along for the journey.

The end of the year is a blur of traditions, predictions, champagne, diet resolutions, family time and, of course, annual “best of” lists for everything and anything you can imagine.

As we don’t want to be left out in the cold, we’ve compiled a list of the Top Ten Microspotting profiles featured on JobsBlog in 2011. With one twist; our list goes to eleven.

This year, we interviewed lone employees who pioneered roles as female developers and employees overcoming challenges. We also got to know groups like Microsoft’s a cappella choir and couples who found love at the company. We met those who are exploring the frontiers of technology and others who are educating the next generation of tech innovators. And, of course, we sniffed out the unexpected from the former NFL prospect who went pro at Microsoft to the employee who moonlights as the mascot for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks (and uses the position to raise money to fight multiple sclerosis).

Without further fanfare, here is the list of our favorite Microspotting stories from 2011. The stories are not ranked in any particular order, but all are sure to inspire.

1. Ben Martens, North America’s most ambitious ski bum

2. Our Valentine’s Day tribute to love found at Microsoft

3. Janet Galore, explaining the future of technology

4. Ryan Asdourian, Microsoft’s #1 Seahawks fan and superhero fundraiser

5. Ed Donahue & Ashley Myers, two-time Imagine Cup finalists and Microsoft co-workers

6. Sue Loh, inspiring future coders through retro gaming

7. Betsy Speare, blazing trails and building community for female developers

8. Jenny Lay Flurrie, embracing disability, finding success and helping others do the same

9. Boris Erickson, Xbox LIVE’s Enforcement Unicorn Ninja (yes, you read that correctly)

10. Albert Rocker, former NFL prospect goes pro at Microsoft

11. The BaudBoys, Microsoft’s Kings of Geek-A-Cappella

‘Softie in question: Jenny Lay-Flurrie

Job title: Senior Director - Advertising Support and Services (AdSS)

By any standard, Jenny Lay-Flurrie has enjoyed an impressive career in the technology industry. But Jenny’s success is even more remarkable when you consider that she spent her education and much of her early career privately struggling with a hearing impairment.

For years, she was able to cope using hearing aids and lip reading, but when Jenny moved from our London office to our Redmond headquarters, she finally embraced her disability and reached out to management for support. We met up with Jenny at her office to talk about her experience and how she’s gone on to spearhead a company-wide cross disability group.

Jenny, did you always want to work in technology?
I actually wanted to be a musician. When I was a child, my mother would have me sit on speakers so that I could feel the music. I played the recorder and then flute, clarinet and piano. I studied music at university with an eye on a career as a musician or music therapist.

Did you do a special music program at school?
I didn’t take special classes or attend special schools. I was in the same programs with everyone else. I have had hearing aids since I was a small child and had some help at different points, but, for the most part, I simply did my best to get by.

In music, it’s very important to prove yourself on your own merits and I wanted to be sure that my work stood for itself.

Tell us about the transition from music to technology.
Alas, when I moved to London after university, like many others, I found it very hard to make a living in music. But I was good with computers and found work at the Daily Mirror doing tech support.

I’m what I call “deceptively deaf,” and rely mostly on lip reading, so my disability remained under the radar. However, it was still challenging to deal with the constant phone calls from anxious journalists with computer problems. I would say “thank you so much, but could you please follow up with an email” and put the phone down. That way, I was sure to get the essential information.

It’s a miracle that I didn’t get fired!

You not only kept your job, but it seems that you excelled.
Again, I made sure that my work stood for itself. I went on to manage helpdesk, technical support and ISP work for Cable and Wireless, T-Mobile and then moved over to Microsoft’s London office.

Was there a catalyst that led you to open up to HR about your disability?
I have to admit that Microsoft is no easy place to work. It was extremely challenging with all of the conference calls, dozens of acronyms and everyone talking a million miles per hour. Suddenly, I was like “whoa there, I’m in over my head, maybe I shouldn’t be doing this.”

Finally, the mentality, tactics and technology that I’d relied upon since my music education hit a wall. I decided that it was time to reach out to Microsoft Human Resources.

And how did they respond?
They really exceeded my expectations. You can be completely open about who you are here. It’s OK to be an individual and your differences are valued. HR put me in touch with all sorts of accommodations and provided support such as ASL interpreters and captioning. I am not told of the cost and my manager does not see the cost either. My challenge now isn’t if I can hear what’s going on, it’s how well I perform my job.

I love that I’m totally supported to do my best work and evaluated on my work performance alone.

Were you directed to employee groups for others with hearing disabilities at Microsoft?
I was directed to an online “huddle” for people with hearing disabilities. It was great as we could discuss everything from the best new hearing aids to how to deal with those pesky conference calls.

The value of our group got me thinking about people with other types of disabilities – some less represented at Microsoft or not represented at all. Disability affects one in five in the global population. Along with some others, we decided to create an “all up” cross-disability group - “The XD.” It’s an umbrella group for all of us at Microsoft and we’ve found amazing company support from Microsoft Global Diversity and Inclusion.

Did management get involved too?
Steven Sinofsky, President of Windows and Windows Live, became our management representation and brought a lot of passion and momentum to the table. With his support, we made a video for Microsoft Global Exchange (MGX) - an annual employee event - that was very well received. Steven has a great enthusiasm for accessibility. He, like us, really wants to enable people to be successful. But this has mostly been a grassroots effort and there are some amazing people at Microsoft that are passionate about this issue.

What’s next? 
We’re going to continue to build our internal community and raise awareness with events such as Disability Day and getting events like the company meeting captioned. But we’re also looking forward to raising visibility externally, encouraging people to join and recruiting folks with a diversity of life experience that can bring different ideas and perspectives to the company.
 

Fighting chronic illness in a giant bird suit, Microsoft's own Ryan Asdourian—and the Seattle Seahawks' mascot Blitz—gears up for the Walk MS event this Sunday at University of Washington's Husky Stadium.

The 'Softie in question: Ryan Asdourian
The job title: Hardware Marketing Lead

It’s no coincidence that Microsoft is full of folks whose outside lives are just as fascinating as their careers. Microsoft’s workplace flexibility attracts those who understand that an ambitious career and outside passions need not be mutually exclusive.

Take, for example, Ryan Asdourian: Microsoft Hardware Marketing Lead by day, he suits up at the Seattle Seahawks’ mascot, Blitz, during football season - all the while raising significant sums of money for multiple sclerosis research.

We caught up with the man behind the beak for a few questions:

Ryan, we’re dying to know, which came first: Microsoft or Blitz?
Microsoft was first. I came here as an intern, eventually got a full-time position and, two years into it, I reached out to the Seahawks. Next thing I knew: I was Blitz, leading insane cheers at the NFL’s loudest stadium.

Just like that? Seems like you’d need a slightly different skill set from hardware marketing.
To be fair, I already had a lot of mascot experience. I was the Gator at the University of Florida back in college. Now, I’ve been Blitz for five years and even have a backup Blitz if I can’t make it to a game. That said, I rarely miss a game.

Considering that you put so much time into Microsoft and being an NFL mascot, where do you find the motivation to do all of this fundraising work we hear about?
In December of 2008, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). It was devastating at first. But, I learned that there are lots of treatments out there, and you can still lead a very active life. I decided to use my position to raise awareness and show people that just because you get diagnosed with MS, it isn't the end of the world.

How did the diagnosis affect your job at Microsoft?
Microsoft was and continues to be super-supportive. No matter what I need, whether it’s a special Vitamin D office light or an MRI, I know that Microsoft has my back - that’s one of many reasons that I love this company. Plus, as a Microsoft employee, I have the best insurance on the planet!

Excuse the pun, but it seems like you were uniquely suited to become the mascot for multiple sclerosis fundraising.
Exactly. One of the first things I did was start Team Blitz for the MS Walk event. And we’ll be doing the MS Walk again this April 3rd at 9 a.m.

The best part is that 11 of the other NFL mascots are flying out here to help kick off the walk. We do a convention every year and this year some of the veteran mascots said they wanted to have it in Seattle to support me and help with fundraising. So, even though the NFL is in lockout, all of the mascots are going to come together this year for a common cause.

Do you have an overall fundraising goal this year?
Well, I have this whole theme based on the capacity of the stadium, but if every Seahawks seat holder donated two dollars, we’d have way more than $134,000. All I’m asking for is for two dollars from every Seahawks fan.

One of the coolest things we’re doing is that I have a big prize for $5,000 donors. One donor per game gets to be Blitz’s assistant. You get to be on the field and backstage with me and up to the 300 level with me when I play drums.

Have you involved Microsoft in the fundraising?
Of course. Microsoft will match every dollar employees donate, so a $5,000 donation becomes a $10,000 donation from Microsoft employees. And Microsoft also matches for all my time that I donate to organize the event, which is phenomenal.

I also started an "MS @ MS" email alias at Microsoft. We got the MS Society involved and now have 75 or so people onboard, and it’s been the greatest resource. It’s become a real community.

Do you plan to branch into additional fundraising and charity work?
I am already doing all sorts of work as Blitz, from the Special Olympics to autism walks to kids’ birthday parties, you name it, I’ve been there and done that. I probably do 40 to 50 appearances a year. I’d say that I am booked pretty much every other weekend.

All the while, Microsoft has not only been supportive, but has never made me choose between my passions. 

The ‘Softies in question: Ed Donahue and Ashley Myers

The job titles:
Ed: Academic Developer Evangelist
Ashley: SDET, SharePoint Service Experiences

Ed Donahue and Ashley Myers (Tech)cellent Adventure started when they met as undergrad computer science students at DePauw University and competed together in two Imagine Cups (’09 and ’10). Their team, MangoBunnies, made it all the way to the US Finals – not once, but twice. 

These two dynamic, young technologists are now both employees of Microsoft with Ashley on the Redmond main campus and Ed holding down her own home office in Washington, D.C.

Microspotting caught up with the two to get the inside scoop on Imagine Cup and life at Microsoft.

First off, I’ve gotta ask: where’d the name MangoBunnies come from?
Ed: It’s ridiculously simple, actually. I thought, mangos are delicious and bunnies are adorable, so, how about MangoBunnies?

Even though your team has a warm and fuzzy name, I hear that you took on some very serious world issues at Imagine Cup. Tell us about your team projects.
Ed: In ‘09, we made Computer Assisted Medication Regimen Adherence, or CAMRA. It reminds HIV/AIDS patients when to take their medication. Keeping patients above a 90% medication adherence rate helps to avoid drug-resistant virus mutation.

Ashley: And in 2010, we made the Light Alert app, which notifies women on their smart phone when they are in an area that has a history of sexual assault.
 

What are some of the challenges from those Imagine Cup projects that have served you well in the tech industry or specifically at Microsoft?
Ed: I had to make a 20-minute presentation on the CAMRA project, but I’d never spoken that long in public before. I was really nervous. I attended a seminar at Imagine Cup on how to make a presentation, and ended up going back to the hotel that night and making a lot of edits to the speech. The next day: I nailed my presentation.

That success gave me a lot of confidence moving forward and now I’m an Academic Evangelist so I get in front of crowds and have to make presentations at the drop of a hat.

Ashley: I was the lead developer for MangoBunnies, so my experience was a little different, but Imagine Cup was a great bridge for me from academic thinking to industry thinking.

Building an open-ended project taught me the importance of a long-term business plan and helped me to understand how all of the pieces fit together.

What would you say makes Imagine Cup different from other tech competitions?
Ed: At the core, it’s a student tech competition hosted by Microsoft. But, what makes it different from other exam-oriented competitions is that it’s about thinking outside of the box and building a complete end-to-end project.

Ashley: I’d say Imagine Cup is really about inspiration. It's not a Microsoft recruiting event and doesn't even feel like a competition. It asks students to try to solve the world’s toughest problems and it’s a place to incubate ideas and get feedback from CEOs, CTOs and more.

Did you always have your eye on a role at Microsoft?
Ashley: No. I was always planning to have a career in my hometown in Indiana. It wasn’t until Imagine Cup and all of its related conferences that I started to meet so many Microsoft employees. They were from all different areas of the company, but everyone was passionate about what they were doing. The excitement was contagious.

Ed: For me, I came to understand that I had two career passions: I love sharing ideas with people, but I also love coding and building things. The evangelist role at Microsoft was the perfect marriage of my passions.

Competing in Imagine Cup seems like quite an inspiring experience. What’s it like now that you are actually working at Microsoft?
Ed: I love it here. I’m also really passionate about “women in technology” and “technology in the classroom.” Microsoft is so supportive of those initiatives.

I ask different Microsoft teams for back-up on projects and the answer is always “Let’s do it.” They understand that it’s not just about a product or even about Microsoft, but about the future of the technology industry and how technology can change people’s lives. They’re always looking 3, 5 or 10 years ahead.

And are you two involved with the Imagine Cup this year – from the other side?
Ed: The academic evangelists are supporting the US Finals. So, I’m already busy with a lot of different aspects of it.

Ashley: I’m super excited because I have the opportunity to be a judge for the US finals. And again, as the whole Imagine Cup is really like a dialogue between the students and other professionals, I know that I will come away from it having learned a lot more too.

Any plans for new MangoBunnies projects?
Ed: Not yet. I’m really involved with Microsoft and outreach work right now like DigiGirlz.

Ashley: Yeah, I’m working on Teaching Kids Programming and IGNITE!

Ed: Maybe when I’m next in the Pacific Northwest, I’ll have to proctor some of Ashley’s classes. It’ll be a MangoBunnies mini-reunion.

Learn more from (and about) Ed and Ashley at “Ed & Ashley’s 5 Minute Show” vlog.
  

You might know that Craig Mundie is Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer. But you might not know that he sits on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, participates in roundtables at the World Economic Forum and travels frequently for speaking engagements worldwide.

And you might never guess that Janet Galore is the speech manager responsible for creating the presentations Mundie uses to inform and inspire. We tracked her down after TechFest to find out how she helps bring these tech talks to life.

The ‘Softie in question: Janet Galore
The job title: Senior Program Manager for Craig Mundie in the Advanced Strategies and Research division

First things first: What does a speech manager for Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer do?
Primarily, my job is supporting Craig for all of his speaking engagements, especially the ones that require visual support. Helping him tell stories about the future of computing is the best way to describe it.

Some people think ‘speechwriter’ and think you are writing what he says, but that is not true at all with Craig. He speaks extemporaneously; we provide an outline and the tools he needs to give that presentation. Then he very much makes it his.

Walk us through your typical preparation for a speech.
We usually start off meeting with Craig to understand where he is headed and to get his take on what is important. We also work with the team who is requesting the engagement—which might be within Microsoft, or might be a university, business organization or a government agency. Then we’ll take that away and refine it, coordinating with other thought leaders within the company and with corporate PR. 

I’ll work on an overall flow for the talk as well as thinking about the points we want to cover, the best way to tell that story and the visual assets—pictures, photos, videos, diagrams, live stage demonstrations—we need to line up to make it really great. Then I’m responsible for working with my colleagues to put that together.

What is it like to travel with him and see a big speech through execution?
It definitely helps to be an adrenaline junkie for this job—it’s very intense. The deadlines don’t move and you do whatever it takes to get ready. When you are on the ground, it’s just focused on making sure everything comes off well.

We rehearse a lot, fix all the bugs, work though it with Craig and make any changes he wants. On the ground there is a lot of prep and then it’s watching him deliver something really compelling and inspiring to people. Afterwards it’s just this elation, if it goes well.

What was the most interesting speech you’ve worked on in the past year?
Craig’s most recent speech at the Cleveland Clinic was a new speech platform. Every year we update the big themes that he is talking about and then we’ll evolve that and customize it for different audiences. This one was a refresh of all of his materials, and it seemed to resonate. It was the biggest audience they’ve ever had for this speaker series—Craig beat out previous speakers like Oprah, Tom Brokaw and Michael Dell.

We used a very visual presentation. I based it more on film titles and telling a story through visuals. In general, we want to give him the raw materials to use to tell his own stories. It was great to see him do that in Cleveland and be very engaging.

It must be pretty cool to get such an inside view into where Microsoft’s technology is moving.
That is what I live for. But, because we are thinking so far ahead, sometimes it feels like things take forever. Things that are happening today we’ve been talking about for a long time. So sometimes it’s frustrating but we also understand it takes a few cycles for technology to catch—the market, the infrastructure and the audience all need to be ready for change to be adopted.

On the flip side, there is also this feeling that things are really happening quickly now—especially in the areas of mobile and new types of interfaces.

How have the presentations changed to reflect the changes in technology?
It’s interesting. Events like TED put exemplary talks online for everyone to see, and it is raising the bar. Sharing great presentations and stories online does elevate the expectations of audiences—when they come to see a talk, they don’t want a bunch of bullet points.

We use PowerPoint as a framework, but now a lot of different media are very well supported. We’ll push the boundaries, but the software doesn’t necessarily dictate how the content comes across.

The prevalence of video and media everywhere has changed the way we communicate, as a company, to large audiences. The bar is high and that is part of what makes the job fun. Otherwise, why bother?

And you have even had the chance to present yourself?
In my core job my role is behind the scenes, but sometimes we are asked to present. So, in 2009 at the Consumer Electronics Show, I presented with Steve Ballmer.

Wow, that must have been really intense. 
Yeah, it was an out-of-body experience. It was really fun and he was great to work with, but all the media were taking pictures, and every word you say gets tweeted out, so it was a bit intimidating. I taught in grad school, I’ve done some theatre, and in my previous role I led tours of the Microsoft Home, so I’m not uncomfortable being in front of people.

Does it ever get boring?
Nope. It can’t.