"I love working here because we make technology scale to work for people in a real way."

There's a lot about Stan Freck that you wouldn't expect if you knew only that he was the Group Manager of the Digital Dashboard Sales and Marketing Team. You might imagine him as hard-edged or harried. Nothing could be further from the truth. I arrive at his office just as he's wrapping up a meeting. As he exchanges papers with a colleague, there's an easy, friendly banter you wouldn't expect among people who work on a business solution component that sounds as serious - and, indeed, as high-pressure - as the Windows Digital Nervous System.

"The key isn't really gathering information any more," explains Freck, when I ask about Digital Dashboard. "It's making the vast amount of information out there available to people in the most useful way. Managing information is the next step in IT, and we're figuring out how to get there."

Stan Freck's team, the Customer Systems Group, is developing the Digital Dashboard, a customized user interface that gives knowledge workers single-click access to the sources they need -- a business application, a Web site, an internal database, or e-mail -- in one consolidated interface. Cutting edge technology is built with cutting edge tools; in this case, the team uses tools like Extensible Markup Language, Extensible Stylesheet Language, Microsoft SQL Server, Internet Information Server, Java Scriplets, and ActiveX Data Objects.

"The great thing about this technology is that you can design your dashboard any way you want it. Think of it this way: your computer is your vehicle, and you decide what you need to drive it. Maybe you don't want the entire stock ticker running, you just want the stocks that interest you. With Digital Dashboard, you can say, I care about these companies, and then have your stock ticker, news feeds, and other stuff all change at once. That same principle can be applied to your e-mail traffic, or your key revenue data. Anything's possible. That's what I love about working here, the way you can make technology scale to work for people in a real way."

Making big waves

Freck began his working life as an aerospace engineer, developing simulations for a defense contractor. "After twelve years, I was ready for a change. I was thinking about going back to school, getting an MBA in entrepreneurship or something. I wanted to work someplace where you could make big waves. Microsoft turned out to be that place.

"Despite its size," Freck says, "Microsoft has a live, dynamic, entrepreneurial atmosphere. It's still like a start-up in that way. Even though it's a big company, it has the maneuverability of a small one, and the ability to manage shifts in perspective. And you've got the resources here to really do things right. Rather than having to choose between two so-so alternatives, you can devote the time and energy to discovering the very best way to do something. I love that about this place. It's still completely open to new thinking."

The Digital Dashboard is just such an example of that thinking. "A lot of groups within the company are interested in what we're doing. They see ways in which our technology can enhance the projects they're working on now, as well as what's still coming down the pipe. There's a great sense of collaboration and anticipation about it because we're building something new that everyone-internally and externally-is going to be using. When we market the product to outside customers, we won't just say, 'This is what your organization can do with Digital Dashboard,' we can say, 'Let me show you how I use it.'"

What does Freck keep on his Dashboard? "I have about a hundred different Dashboards!" he says, laughing. "That's what happens when you're developing a technology. But in the finished product, I'll have my e-mail, my tasks, my team stuff, my corporate news, links to news feeds, my stock portfolio, HR reports and forecasts, and my links to the outside."

Passion is primary

When asked what it takes to succeed at Microsoft, Freck considers before saying, "Two things. One, passion -- for whatever you're doing. If you're on the technical side, if you're on the sales side, whatever you're doing. And, two: analysis. You learn to defend what you're saying with the facts. Passion gets you in the door, but good analysis gives you credibility."

As we talk, the faint sounds of a ping pong game come from just around the corner, and there's a low-level buzz of conversation as people pass in the hall. "This place has a great atmosphere. We work really hard, but I think people would be surprised to know how human a place this really is. I know that's not the perception, but it's true. And not just up and down the hallways. I mean in a corporate sense, too. Microsoft puts so much effort - and money - into the community, into sponsoring non-bottom-line enterprises."

Freck works hard, too, though he says he feels he's worked only three days in five years. "I mean, work has this negative connotation, right? Like, Oh, well, time to go to work. I don't think of this as work, exactly. I come in, do a bunch of stuff that I really like, and hey, I get paid for it! Of course there are crunch times now and then, but everybody pitches in."

Freck has the air of someone who's achieved that elusive work-life balance. With his sharp mind and a genial, open manner, and the picture of his 8-month old daughter, Simon, on his mouse pad, he seems like someone who, at the end of the day, is satisfied. How would he sum up his job? "You make sure the people you work with have fun. You get rid of roadblocks, so other people can get things done. And you work to make a great product that helps all kinds of people to make their lives better."

Click http://www.microsoft.com/jobs/strategy.htm for more information about exciting opportunities in Stan's group and other strategic positions at Microsoft.