The Buddy System: an innovative idea from Microsoft

Thu 8 Jul 2004, 10:29 PM

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by Ben Langhinrichs
Rich Schwartz provided a link to an article about a very interesting new program inside Microsoft.  The idea is to set up a buddy system between ISVs and Microsofties, thus giving each ISV an "in".  It has long seemed obvious to me that many successful IBM BPs used to work for IBM/Lotus.  That is their "in", and provides a connection within the organization that facilitates getting things done.  I have never worked for IBM or Lotus, but have developed enough rapport with various people at IBM that if I really, really need a question answered, I have people to turn to.  But what of those less well connected, who have not been at the past umpteen Lotuspheres making connections?

That is the cool thing about the buddy system in my mind.  It gives people a connection when they need it.  And what makes it even more cool in my mind is that the connection is a bit random.  IBM did a great job at Lotusphere earlier this year meeting with any BP who wanted to to form a connection, but the organization itself gets in the way.  The buddy system seems to me a bit less likely to provide "answers", and a lot more likely to provide serendipity.  If your MS buddy knows more about security than you (OK, bad joke intended), you could come up with an idea together that used your strengths in the security area.  If you are interested in Exchange, but your buddy is an expert in SharePoint, you might open your eyes a bit to the possibilities there.  I'm not sure how well the program will work, but it seems worth thinking about.  

Good "outside the box" thinking for Microsoft!

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