Microsoft: I want my TWO DOLLARS….

Dennis — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 16:23:19 +0000

In the never-ending saga of Xbox 360 hardware maintenance agreements, I recently received three refund checks for the one extra maintenance agreement they accidentally charged to my credit card. The backstory can be found here, but I’ll just say “wanted ONE, got TWO due to their double entry” and it’s been almost half a year since I spotted the problem.

I called the team at Xbox support to inform them:

I have received three checks
I will cash one and shred the other two
I still want the first contract I purchased

..and I was told:

Hey, you might get full coverage until 2010, we don’t really know. [shh] don’t say anything
That department’s kind of weird to work with (you think!?)
Call back in a month to find out if you still have a service contract (great, this will never end!)

I have such high hopes for Microsoft’s in this business, but occasionally you see a sign they still have work to do handling hardware. Sometimes that sign haunts you like the paperboy in Better off Dead. Wait, I think in this case I’m the paperboy and Microsoft is John Cusack. At least in this case, “I got my two dollars.”

How Bill Gates Works

Dennis — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:30:08 +0000

I recently read an article describing ten leaders of business and non-profit organizations and how they use technology (look for link on same page as this article). I was amazed at the number of leaders still not using even email or relying purely on a team of admins (read as “very smart human based filtering systems”) to organize their time and information. A few were using technology on a daily basis, but like many of us they understood the 20% of a tools functionality that allowed them to accomplish 80% of what they wanted to get done. I recall one company executive that never quite figured out how to initiate an email from her Blackberry, but could respond to ones that came in.

CNNMoney recently published a good article on Bill Gates and how he deals with these issues.

Things Bill does:

Minimizes paper
Uses a multi-monitor rig on the desktop to spread work out (see photo)
Uses filtering and only receives email from parties he already knows or communicates with (has administrative support to filter others)
Mostly ignores “the toaster”, i.e. the Outlook notification that messages have just arrived
Uses desktop search to find data on his local machines
Uses project focused collaboration sites/tools like SharePoint
Synchronizes mobile devices with his office PC

Staying focused is one issue; that’s the problem of information overload. The other problem is information underload. Being flooded with information doesn’t mean we have the right information or that we’re in touch with the right people.

While I do have a multi-display approach, I haven’t managed to get the adminstrative staff to filter my requests. Regardless, it’s great to see how a modern executive of a technology company manages the same issues we all face.

InksEnd » microsoft

Microsoft: I want my TWO DOLLARS….

How Bill Gates Works