Why this Microsoft exec totally shook up the team that makes one of its most important products
Brad Barket/Getty Images for WIRED
But on stage at the Bloomberg Technology Conference, Microsoft Office Chief Experience Officer Julie Larson-Green revealed that she recently shook up the whole Office organization - because people just don't get stuff done the way they used to.
When people are working on their smartphones, or even using voice interfaces like Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, or Microsoft's own Cortana, they're not worried about individual apps, but rather the overall project they're working on.
"People want to get things done in the fastest way possible," Larson-Green says. "It's about the task you're trying to do."
Larson-Green says that she reorganized Microsoft Office around tasks, not individual software. Some members of the Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Sway teams have been retasked to work on "content creation," she says, while some of the Excel and Access teams are now focused on visually presenting data.
"We can think more deeply about 'task' versus 'tool,'" Larson-Green says.
Microsoft
The key advantage here, Larson-Green says, is that documents will "decompose into their parts." Which is to say, Microsoft can start to treat charts differently than text or spreadsheets or calendar invites. That way, for example, if you ask Cortana for all the charts you made on Monday, she can strip them straight out of Excel and show them to you.
It's an unconventional approach, Larson-Green admits. But Microsoft has a self-given mission to change the way people work. But Larson-Green is a long-time Microsoft exec who invented the Office Ribbon and headed up design for Windows 8, among other jobs, before she took her current job. And she knows that it helps to take a long view.
"You have to be willing to take risks," Larson-Green says.
- Colon cancer rates are rising in young people. If you have two symptoms you should get a colonoscopy, a GI oncologist says.
- I spent $2,000 for 7 nights in a 179-square-foot room on one of the world's largest cruise ships. Take a look inside my cabin.
- An Ambani disruption in OTT: At just ₹1 per day, you can now enjoy ad-free content on JioCinema
- Deloitte projects India's FY25 GDP growth at 6.6%
- Italian PM Meloni invites PM Modi to G7 Summit Outreach Session in June
- Markets rally for 6th day running on firm Asian peers; Tech Mahindra jumps over 12%
- Sustainable Waste Disposal
- RBI announces auction sale of Govt. securities of ₹32,000 crore
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market