Microsoft

Overview

At Microsoft I worked at two scales of the same problem: first in the Connected Strategy Studio, shaping long-horizon vision for where entertainment, productivity, and mobility were heading across Windows, Xbox, and Office — then at 343 Industries, where I took one slice of that vision and made it real, leading the vision, strategy, and execution of the transmedia platform for the Halo franchise. The throughline was connecting experiences across devices, services, and content into ecosystems rather than standalone products.

The Challenge

In 2008, "connected" was still mostly a buzzword in entertainment. The hard part wasn't imagining cross-device, cross-service experiences — plenty of people could sketch those. The hard part was twofold: first, giving a company as large as Microsoft a shared, credible picture of where connected entertainment was actually going; and second, taking that abstract future and executing a real version of it inside a flagship franchise, on a roadmap, against shipping deadlines. Vision without execution is a slide deck; execution without vision is feature work. The challenge was doing both.

My Role

I began as a design strategist in the Connected Strategy Studio, leading global research and foresight and partnering with stakeholders to drive multi-generational experience strategy across Microsoft's major product groups. I then joined 343 Industries to lead the vision, strategy, and execution of transmedia platforms and experiences for Halo — owning the work end-to-end, from envisioning through the roadmap that carried it across multiple franchise releases.

Approach

Build a shared picture of the future. In the Strategy Studio, I led global research on the future of entertainment, productivity, and mobility, and co-created a company-wide social-cultural trends program that informed products across Windows, Xbox, MSR, and Office — and taught teams how to curate and use trends themselves, so the capability outlived any single project.

Turn vision into a roadmap. At 343, I led studio leaders and game developers through collaborative workshops that defined the future of connected AAA gaming and produced a strategic roadmap spanning the next set of Halo titles — translating a broad entertainment vision into a concrete, multi-release plan.

Execute, don't just envision. I owned the execution of the transmedia platform and experiences, not just their conception — the part where strategy meets ship dates and survives contact with a real franchise.

Key Contributions

• Led the vision, strategy, and execution of the transmedia platform for the Halo franchise

• Drove multi-generational experience strategy across Windows, Xbox, Windows Phone, and Office during a major platform transition

• Co-created and ran a company-wide social-cultural trends program informing products across multiple Microsoft organizations

• Produced a strategic roadmap carrying the connected-gaming vision across multiple Halo releases

• Co-inventor on a patent for connected gaming systems and near-real-time gameplay data integration

Outcomes

The transmedia work was recognized in 2013 with an Outstanding Achievement in Connectivity award from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences for Halo 4 — work that set new standards for multiscreen engagement in entertainment. The underlying approach to connected gameplay data was novel enough to be patented. And the strategy and trends work shaped product thinking across several of Microsoft's largest organizations during a pivotal period of platform change.

Reflection

Microsoft was where I learned that vision and execution aren't separate jobs handed to separate people — the value is in carrying an idea all the way from "here's where this is going" to "here's the shipped thing, on the roadmap, that proves it." The strategists who can only do the first half get ignored; the executors who can only do the second half build the wrong thing well. The work I care about lives in holding both at once.