A Dutch Life

zevenseas Web Site
My zevenseas Blog
My zevenseas Launch Post

zevenseas began in the middle of last year as a series of chats between myself and Hans Blaauw. Who is Hans? Well, he is the guy who used to blog about SharePoint at http://www.points2share.com, a site Petra stumbled across while looking for my SharePoint blog at http://www.point2share.com (I have no idea why she was looking for it!). Spot the difference? After some discussion about lawsuits and take down notices we agreed instead to start working together, with him inviting me to join a team working on a large SharePoint project.

Hans is a dedicated and experienced entrepreneur, having started a number of diverse companies, always with the goal of doing more for people via technology. We hit it off immediately, and while my mind was on other things (remember “The Internet Address Book”) he persisted in reminding me of the opportunities that lie in a SharePoint world that was growing at an incredible rate.

I think it was after a Jazz Festival here in Amsterdam that we sat down and talked seriously, but modestly, leading my mind to begin to slowly switch it’s focus. The Internet Address Book had run it’s course, it came close, but in the end I needed to decide when enough was enough. During my time on the SharePoint project with Hans I also recharged, growing to love the new features, rather than fear what they meant to my level of expertise with the product. That fear was surprising, even to me, but after 10+ years of version churn, each time coping with that massive and overnight shift from expert to amateur, I needed a break.

In the 6 months after Microsoft two key things occurred to me that remain very important:

1) The inner Entrepreneur was awoken. When I was a kid I always felt I would start my own company, some day, I think it was only the incredible opportunity to work at Microsoft, at such a young age (22), that repressed it. The step into the unknown, the taking of that first big risk, and while doing it watching others follow their own ideas and enjoying it along the way (Thomas, the Wakoopa guys, the Freshheads guys, and the Fleck/Next Web guys) was so very good for me. While I’m now in a slightly different business to all of them, the basics are the same. Thanks folks.

2)  Initially though, I still lacked an important characteristic, I didn’t have the confidence in my own ideas to actually fund them. This was a mistake, I should have, I wish I did. I remain convinced, perhaps delusionally, that the ideas I brought to “The Internet Address Book” were good ones, and ones that were, if not ahead,  then on the leading edge of their time. The space now of course is incredibly crowded, but it wasn’t then. (I think I’ll dig up my old blog posts and sit them up here for memories sake). Anyway, this time around, with Hans, I’m taking risk a little bit further, I’m backing up the idea and doing everything I can to do it right. It still might not work, but a commitment of 110% certainly gives it every possible opportunity.

Already I’m feeling a little uneasy about this post, not particularly comfortable with people doing any level of public self-analysis, especially me. So, if you allow me, I’m just going to consider these my thoughts, its a look at how my perspective has changed over the last year, post-Microsoft, and how my outlook on business and career is now different.

The main reason I made the decision to leave Microsoft was to begin exercising skills that remained unused throughout my time there, I worried that they would waste away. For whatever reason, during my time at the company, I never had a discussion about a move into management, about contributing to the company as a developer of people, as a strategic thinker. My constant moving I’m sure didn’t help. Anyway, I reached the point where I felt the things I was, or could be, best at were not actually being employed in my day to day job. With zevenseas I’ve been able to manufacture something that does, perfectly. We have a great team, who I enjoy spending time with, and with whom I can learn from and share experience with. We decide together what we do, and more importantly what we don’t. When I sit in a meeting with partners or customers, I have no parameters in which to work within, and no opportunities that I have to watch pass by. This means more responsibility than I have ever felt before, even more that at Microsoft, which I took very seriously indeed. When I take that deep breath at the end of each day, the exercise I’ve done feels good.

The mistakes I’m making now are the good kind, the kind you make with all the best intentions, not the kind you make when your mind is elsewhere, when you want to be somewhere else.

So what is zevenseas? Its a boutique consultancy focused on SharePoint. Its about helping people work better together, helping business leaders make the most of their technology investments. Its about pulling together a team of professionals who are doing it because they enjoy it, and enjoy it while they do it. We are moving consulting beyond the individual, operating always as a team of experts. We are constantly improving and creating, dedicating a day a week to ideas and sharing experiences, leaving a maximum of 4 days onsite. We are returning to the days of high value consulting, not body-shopping, where skills, talent and communication skills are more important than being able to warm a seat.

Thank you zevenseas, thanks to the great team of guys that has pulled together and made this possible. I already feel a huge sense of pride at what we have been able to do in such a short period of time, and I’m impatient to look back at the year ahead!

Front left: Mark van Lunenburg, Back Left: Robin Meuré, Middle: Hans Blaauw, Right: Me (yes, I’m getting a haircut)

Just posted the next installment in my mysterious “What am I doing?” posts. Head on over to the Internet Address Blog and have a quick read:

http://blog.internetaddressbook.com/?p=57

I’ve been pretty stealthy about what I have been doing since leaving Microsoft. That is going to continue for a little while, though I do plan to write about it, and write about what it has been like away from the mother ship.

In the mean time I just finished a blog post which I think gives you a pretty good feel for my current mission:

http://blog.internetaddressbook.com/?p=55

I will be attending this years “The Next Web” conference held in my very own Amsterdam. Let me know if you will be there, be great to catch up for a chat!

Apologies in advance for any sentimentality, I’m not usually one for it, suspect the view I have as I type, being my beautiful sun lit Amsterdam canal, is having an effect. <grin>

Microsoft has never been just a job for me, it has always been the place where I dreamed I would work. I have to admit that this does feel a little weird to say now, after 9 years and as a very serious 30 year old, but believe me, when I was a 19 year old kid without the stamina for studying at University, working at Microsoft really did qualify as a dream. I actually still have the letter I wrote to Microsoft when I was that 19 year old chasing his dream, it was addressed to Chris Kelliher (Microsoft Australia, GM) on September 10, 1995, and here is it’s opening sentence:

“I powered up my first PC 9 years ago at the age of 10. Naturally I was immediately introduced to the name Microsoft. It was at this exact moment that I chose my career path. I wanted to make a career out of technology, and I wanted to build that career at Microsoft.”

Despite a member of my clan (Elizabeth McPherson) replying to me from HR, I simply got one of those “we will keep you on file” letters, which was actually all the encouragement I needed! After a couple of pretty lucky turns I came across an advert from Microsoft in Adelaide’s Saturday paper, I still remember the feeling of excitement, “Microsoft in ADELAIDE!”. I wrote my application that morning, a letter I still have, and here are a couple of choice quotes (dated December 7^th, 1997):

“There are a number of factors that make me an ideal applicant for this position. A standout, and something that I cannot over emphasise, is my desire to be a part of Microsoft. This desire has existed since 1988, when I first turned on MS-DOS 3.3 and every move I have made since has been made with Microsoft in mind. Your advertisement asked if I was passionate about a career in IT, I’m passionate about a career with Microsoft in IT.”

“I cannot convey my excitement at the prospect of continuing my career with Microsoft. It would be there that I could progress unrestricted, full of confidence in the products and services I would represent. I feel that my ability to understand client needs, my desire for greater responsibility and commitment to excellence will make an invaluable addition to the Microsoft team.”

I really was quite enthusiastic! <grin> Lorrin Maughan called me soon after for a chat on the phone, I think at some stage it turned into an interview. She must have thought I had a nice phone voice as I was soon after in a meeting with Rick Clise, he must have liked my tie, because soon after that I was Adelaide’s first Microsoft intern, or T-Dash as they called me. As a result my dream came a whole lot closer. I often wonder what I might have done had Microsoft not come through, I was certainly going to be heading over here to Europe, but the opportunity to work with people like Mike Seyfang, Rick Clise, Chris Blake and Ian Brennan as closely as I did, when I did, was really my making.

Of course the internship was just a year, the next, and even more exciting step was getting that “blue badge”. This meant a move to Melbourne, and a huge step up. It was made possible by another amazing group of people including Steve Jackson and Ralph Garbers, both of whom really placed a lot of faith in me. I was actually only in the Melbourne office for 2 years but it looks much longer from here. There are too many people to name, but it was probably the most fun I had in my career, as evidenced by the mates whose houses I’m free to crash at whenever in town, even some 6 years later.

Getting to London involved taking Darren Strange out for beer every time I bumped into him at a conference. Not sure how big his tab got to before he finally managed to swing an opportunity for me. It was a pretty big call on his part, taking a young Australian SE/TS and looking to chisel him into a consultant. Of course Microsoft was incredibly supportive of the move, as they always have been, practically encouraging me to see the world at their expense. I underestimated both how hard moving country is and how hard consulting is, but guys like John Hooper and Maurice Magnier kept pulling me along. Of course I made more mates in the UK, many of whom will be drinking beer with me in Vegas in a couple of weeks for Jessica Grubers wedding.

MCS is hard folks, like really hard. It’s one of those things I never really felt natural at. It is certainly good for you though, and for me, 3 years of goodness was enough for a lifetime, so I moved into support. It also completed the software “Circle of Life”, pre-sales to consulting to support. It came with a great title “Rapid Response Engineer” and was a great role, I traveled to countries I never thought I’d see, including Lebanon, Israel, Estonia, Oman and Saudi Arabia, over 100 trips in just over 2 years. Simply awesome. Then life got in the way. I had originally planned to leave Microsoft about now anyway, heading back to Australia, instead I met Petra. Moving to Holland has been a great decision, moving back to MCS, for me, was not. Despite the great team here, the fantastic customer projects, my heart just wasn’t in it.

In the words of Steve Ballmer “I love this company”. I’m leaving purely for a change. Microsoft is still the only place I could ever imagine working and I’d never say I won’t be back, in fact I almost hope that one day I will get the opportunity again. Of course I’m not sure that even I could be that lucky. One of the problems with getting your dream job so young is that you don’t get the chance to try anything else. I’m leaving now, while I still can (really, I’m getting old!), to try other things, just to see if there is anything else out there that I just might be good at. I’m keeping an open mind, there are certainly no guarantees, but I’m going to play around in the web arena, consumer facing, I have some ideas. I’m also going to look at my options around starting my own consulting business. Of course more than all this, I’m going to relax, going to read, going to ride my bike, grow tulips and spend just a little less time in my inbox.

Anyway, I have had just the most amazing 9 years, thanks for everything, see you soon,

Daniel McPherson
Senior Consultant
Microsoft Consulting Services, Netherlands
Email: danmc@microsoft.com
Blog: http://www.point2share.com