{"id":5191,"date":"2020-03-20T13:46:27","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T20:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=5191"},"modified":"2023-06-08T12:57:04","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T19:57:04","slug":"how-citizen-developers-modernized-microsoft-product-launches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/how-citizen-developers-modernized-microsoft-product-launches\/","title":{"rendered":"How citizen developers modernized Microsoft product launches"},"content":{"rendered":"
This content has been archived, and while it was correct at time of publication, it may no longer be accurate or reflect the current situation at Microsoft.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
When Microsoft set out to transform the way it launches its products, there was a lot on the line.<\/p>\n
The company rolls out hundreds of new product offerings a year, representing billions in projected revenue. Each division of Microsoft had developed its own approach to releases and built up disconnected and inefficient processes. While the launch managers would sometimes cross paths, they didn\u2019t share metrics or have many opportunities to discuss best practices. Often, they had to complete repetitive, manual tasks to move the process along or provide timely status updates. The few governance procedures in place were either low-value, \u201ccheck the box\u201d activities or over-engineered processes that slowed time to market.<\/p>\n
With this as the backdrop, a small group of people from Microsoft Business Operations in the Microsoft Digital organization decided to make a change. They hoped to weave all the existing launch procedures into one centralized application that would showcase the latest cloud technology and Microsoft 365 functionality.<\/p>\n
The challenge was massive, even audacious. To tackle it, the team would need help. Where would they turn?<\/p>\n
They turned to some of the brightest, most innovative, forward-thinking employees the company has. They would kick-start the solution at an upcoming Microsoft Hackathon with a global team of citizen developers<\/em>: front-line employees, customers, and community volunteers working together to address their business problems with user-friendly technology.<\/p>\n Getting from idea to \u201cShip it\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Megan Gustafson Melloy, a Business Operations program manager, and her team, were searching for a way to optimize the launch process for the 150 employees who ran product launches across the company.<\/p>\n While discussing the challenge with coworker Eric Nelson, also a program manager in Business Operations, the team imagined that a new, dedicated app might help to quickly standardize launch processes and metrics. It could increase everyone\u2019s efficiency while improving the overall release experience for Microsoft teams, partners, and customers. Although they had no software engineering experience, the small team was empowered by their leadership and tools to build a basic interface to test their ideas. \u201cWe all dove in and learned Microsoft Power Apps,\u201d Melloy says. \u201cThat’s the nucleus of how it started.\u201d<\/p>\n Fred Jordan, the general manager of Planning and Launch, supported the team\u2019s creative direction. In 2018, Jordan had written a vision document about meeting the needs of the company\u2019s decentralized product planning, policy, and engineering teams to adopt a standard launch process that ensures quality and compliance. Digitization of the process was a core aspect of the vision.<\/p>\n In just two days, the team worked together to create a Power Apps prototype that provided a surprising level of functionality. Nelson focused on the user interface. \u201cMy role was to think about graphics and the design of things,\u201d he says. \u201cUp until that point, I hadn’t done that very often in my job.\u201d<\/p>\n Within months, the app would become a widely used internal tool named MILA, the Microsoft Intelligent Launch Assistant. Now available for Microsoft employees through a web browser or the mobile app, MILA is a dynamic launch assistant that lets release managers quickly define the scope of a launch, document change requests, track issues and risks, and share status information. It pulls together data from various sources, compiles key action items, and displays them with a Power Apps front end.<\/p>\n But it would take many hours of coordinated effort before the product would be ready to share with everyone inside Microsoft. Without dedicated development resources, could the team create a viable app that people would use?<\/p>\n