Russell Williams's answers

Microsoft interviews are well documented, but it generally involves several informal discussions, then an all-day round of hour long interview sessions. The interviewers divide up responsibilities and questions, consult between sections, and then send email about results throughout the day. At the end of the day there's an "as appropriate" gatekeeper interviewer who the candidate isn't told about until they get enough hires to be considered hireable. The AsApp is a gatekeeper who has the final say and can overrule the rest of the interviewers....

When the Microsoft methodology works it is stunning how much reach your work can have. My work on Excel and other projects reached literally hundreds of millions of people, I could see it in books in the bookstore, and in people's everyday work.

When the "integrated innovation" methodology breaks down it is also stunning how inefficient and poorly designed the results can be....

1. Very nice landscaping with pond outside the window.
2. Not much else - Microsoft likes separate offices which tend to isolate people.

Lots and lots of meetings. Some days were back to back for 8 hours in a row. But sometime I got to do real work and satisfaction went up a lot when that occurred.

From the Redmond campus, mostly other buildings on campus. Microsoft Redmond is in the burbs and there's little to walk to around campus other than other offices or houses.

There are excellent paths through the woods and natural areas on campus which are great for decompression, jogging, or just relaxing while moving between buildings....

Windows SharePoint Services was a startup group, and it wasn't the core bet which gave us a lot of flexibility. It was also a web product which was totally new for Microsoft information worker apps at the time. A great experience, but it is risky within Microsoft to not be using "safe" technologies....