TLDR: I believe the ability to work with your manager to advance your career is a key skill for professionals. It may be an uncomfortable topic due to reasons like workplace culture, but there’s no harm and a lot of goodness to work with your manager to identify career goals clearly and build concrete plan…
How to display an Outlook calendar in Google Calendar
Recently I learned how to import and subscribe an Outlook calendar into Google Calendar. I did this because I manage two different calendars: Outlook for work, Google for personal stuff — and I wanted a consolidated view of my day. It took a bit of research so I document it here for others and my…
Azure Communication Services was launched at Ignite!
I’m really proud to share that Azure Communication Services, which I have been working on since July, was announced at Microsoft Ignite by CEO Satya Nadella! What is Azure Communication Services (ACS)? You can find a lot of descriptions out there, but quoting the official ACS webpage, Azure Communication Services brings rich communication APIs to…
Doing 10-K research on Canadian public companies
In a nutshell, this article answers the following question: What is the equivalent of form 10-K for companies publicly traded in Canada? And the answer is: the equivalent consists of 3 forms, namely the Annual Information Form (AIF), Annual Financial Statement and Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A). Summary U.S. tool Description Canadian counterpart EDGAR database…
See you later, USA!
(Image source: US Embassy & Consulate in Canada) I recently left the US to move back to Canada. In this article, I share my thoughts and reasoning on this move. I came to the US at the end of 2019 on an H1B visa, which I got on my 3rd attempt towards the H1B “lottery”….
Transcending storytelling
As a PM, I always see storytelling as one of the most important communication tools. Whether I am trying to get buy-in, build alignment, explain a strategy or share my learning, stories are usually a powerful way to retain attention and elicit empathy. But as I keep practicing storytelling, I am gradually realizing that as…
Diagnose before Prescribe: A lesson in empathetic customer listening
A few weeks ago, a customer told me that my product is so good that he plans to stop using it. A bit of context here: As you may know from my blog, I am the product owner of a wiki-as-a-service documentation web app at Microsoft. Our service offers multiple managed wiki sites to various…