I've been a mess all weekend. Truly. I've been as stressed as I've been in my life, trying to learn a new technology deeply enough to teach it. It's one thing to learn a tech enough to be capable, but in my new role at Microsoft I'm feeling more of a sense of responsibility than I did when I was just Joe Public Who Talks Loud.
I mean, if you speak with authority, you ought to know something about the topic, right? ;)
Anyway, I finally realized that I wasn't reaching out enough to my network of friends/peers/colleagues. This is probably because I'm still getting used to working from home. It's lonely sometimes, and I can't just drop over to a friend's cubicle. This solitary feeling has made me "buckle down" and try to figure things out more that I used to, since I can't just pop into an adjacent office.
Well, my personal lesson for today is knowing when to ask for help.
I've become REALLY good at remote tools since I've been doing this remote thing (even before). I've used NetMeeting, Remote Assistance, GoToMeeting, VNC, CoPilot.com, LiveMeeting, Hamachi and a dozen things in-between.
Nothing has come close to the ease of Microsoft SharedView. It isn't heavyweight like LiveMeeting or fuzzy like VNC, plus it lets you show your screen to up to 15 other people.
One of the coolest things is that everyone gets their own "personal mouse pointer" with their name hanging off it, so you can see what someone is referring to when they are talking!
Today when I was at life's lowest ebb, I called Rob and Phil and said "guys, I need a code review." I did a Vonage conference call and they logged into the Shared Session using just my email address. Bam. No pausing, no firewall futzing, it's the greatest thing since FolderShare.
I hope it stays free and wonderful, because it saved my bacon this evening. Whew. Now I can sleep.
Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. I am a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.
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I've been as stressed as I've been in my life, trying to learn a new technology deeply enough to teach it. It's one thing to learn a tech enough to be capable, but in my new role at Microsoft I'm feeling more of a sense of responsibility than I did when I was just Joe Public Who Talks Loud.I mean, if you speak with authority, you ought to know something about the topic, right? ;)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.