Any of our competitors can install our pre-release builds – anytime, anywhere. Let’s backtrack a little bit to the idea of ‘open development.’ Can you elaborate on what that means in the context of the Microsoft beta program?ĭona: When we say ‘development in the open,’ we really mean it. The community is nearly 17 million users strong. Fast forward to present day, we’re getting approximately 8,000 sign-ups every day. To our pleasant surprise, we saw one million Insiders register within the first week.
#Recruit dona dona windows#
So when we made the public announcement to open up the development of Windows 10, which would give interested parties access to the binaries in real time, we expected maybe 100,000 would register. We already had approximately 50,000 beta community members who had given us quite a bit of feedback in previous programs. That marked an opportune time to try this new approach. With the release of Windows 10, we shifted from a 3-year product cycle to a 1-year cycle. We found a solution to these challenges of scale by adopting a co-creation framework. And if we attempted to do that testing ourselves? We’d never manage to ship ever again. If we were to test for all of these combinations, it would be a greater number than the stars in the sky. All the different apps, different usages, different types of customers and customer needs. Microsoft did that everybody did that.īut then we came to recognize how many technographic combinations there are within our customer base. That’s in stark contrast with the way most companies previously developed products: corralling a bunch of engineers and product people, making products and testing them in house, then shipping them off around the world. Can you explain how it was rolled out at Microsoft?ĭona: Co-creation is definitely the way to go, but it requires a complete shift in company culture, strategy, and operations. Many of our customers have also started to adopt a co-creation framework. It’s an amazing job because we get to deal with the most fascinating people and the most fascinating technology, all day, every day. This means representing the needs of the Insiders to Microsoft and vice versa. It’s me and my team’s job to be the conduit between Microsoft and our Insider community. These are customers who have decided that they don’t want to receive Microsoft products once they’re already built – they want a hand in creating them. It’s a community of nearly 17 million “Insiders” across every country in the world. Can you give a brief intro of your role?ĭona: I currently lead the Windows Insider Program at Microsoft. You have arguably the coolest job at one of the largest tech companies in the world. In our interview with Dona, she shares how Microsoft integrated co-creation into their product development approach, as well as inspirational yet pragmatic tips for running a successful beta program. As the leader of the Windows Insider Program – Microsoft’s 17 million user beta program – Dona’s focus on co-creation is empowering Microsoft’s customers to build the new generation of technology. That’s what makes the work of people like Dona Sarkar so compelling. Technology is developed to serve people, but those people – customers – haven’t always had their own seat at the product development table.
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