i spent the past couple days with good friend and colleague, larry clarkin, going through some final thoughts on our community plan for this year (msft fiscal started beginning of july). these are the times that are most challenging since we really have to be precise on what we think we can work with the community to do throughout the year. i find myself saying "this is stupid" and "i am gonna punch this spreadsheet in the face" quite a bit during this time.

what is not stupid is the end result that comes from putting all this hard work into a plan. it is about ensuring we are putting the right resources in the right places to better serve the community of developers we so love. that same community provides to us feedback throughout this process so that we are not making decisions without their best interest in mind. that is the part i love.

what i hate are spreadsheets. i am a developer and i love to code so unless i am building some sweet ass obas, then keep me out of excel. it is the necessary evil that keeps us on track and not all over the place throughout the year, so i can't complain too much (although i am).

the beginning of the fiscal year is always stressful. being at microsoft for over 3 years now, you would think i would be used to it, but i am not. so that is why i go dark around this time of year with my family on a beach in the outer banks with limited access to just about anything but sand and ocean. however, someday i will learn to leave the laptop at home and let the email build. but until that day comes, gorbett is still open for business.