Matthew Anderson

Super proud to be recognized for another year as a Microsoft Azure MVP! It's an honor to be able to create content that positively impacts the world by educating professionals and businesses on how they can use the Azure Cloud to be successful! I'm grateful for Jesus in my life, my family, friends and former colleagues, Microsoft and the audience I get to serve everyday.

New Chapter ! I'm joining Presidio as a Sr. Digital Account Director on the Cloud Professional Services team, with a focus on media, entertainment, gaming, and sports. This is a bit of a different career path than what I've been doing, but one I'm super excited to go 10 toes down on. It helps that I get to work with some of the best in the business, alongside friends and customers I've known for many years. Huge thanks to Kelly Pinkston for building a role around the work, as well as thank you to Mary Kartsen (Martinez), Wynde Longoria, Mark Byrne and Dan O'Brien for the relentless advocacy and support, it was greatly appreciated! Day 0 was spent traveling for my official Day 1 with customer meetings, which was awesome! LFG !! Tommyt

If you're up for a good rant, feel free to click "more." I was all riled up to post about how ridiculous LinkedIn has become — specifically, all the babbling gobbledygook corporate-speak that folks pretend to understand, even though it's all unnecessary flourish with no real substance, serving no purpose other than to signal to other goofballs that they're part of the same sanctimonious doof-club. But just as I was about to type all that, some knob in a shitbox old Honda drove by, which wouldn't have mattered except that this fella had installed some aftermarket exhaust system that, near as I could tell, offered no performance benefit beyond creating a shrill, screeching wheeze every time he stepped on the gas. I was so thrown off by the obnoxious sound — it had no earthly purpose other than to call attention to itself — I was left feeling both annoyed and confused by the encounter. Why go to all that trouble and effort to accomplish nothing beyond making noise and stealing a few seconds of someone's day? Didn't they realize how they sounded to others? Didn't they see what a waste it was to make all that racket when they could have invested their efforts doing something substantive? Perhaps make a meaningful repair, address some of the vehicle's shortcomings — heck, put a funny sticker on it to make someone else smile? But no, instead they just made a bunch of cheap noise and added to all the other cheap noise they heard someone else's shitbox make. How unimaginative, unproductive, and unhelpful it was.… Anyway, I was going to post about all the dumb LinkedIn posts, but that happened instead. Maybe next time.

Don’t let AI rot your brain

I wanted to wait till I was settled to announce to you all that I have retired from Microsoft via the VRP program. I have enjoyed my almost 22 years at Microsoft and the people and friends will always be the best part of the job. I am not going too far though as I am now the VP of AI Analysis and Training for Dynamic Communities. I will be focused on helping people adopt AI by providing training and other offerings that allow many of you that have asked in the past if you could have me come provide training content for your companies, now I can! If interested, you can use the QR code in the following image to scan and get a consultation on what we can do. Also, for those wondering about theagentdude.com, I will be doubling down on more content much more now. I am excited to really focus on the key part of what I enjoy, helping others adopt AI into their lives. I really feel that the time was right for me to go focus on this and to help all of you. Don't worry, I am not going away, I am actually going to be more prevalent than I was before as now I am armed with the ability to really focus in on this passion. https://lnkd.in/gkfqH2BN

I’ve been thinking about AI and productivity a little differently lately.   Most conversations start with the same question: How much time can I save?   It’s a reasonable place to start. Trying prompts, building workflows, creating automations, and experimenting with new ways of working all help you understand what’s possible. Activity matters early in the journey. I’m starting to wonder if we get stuck there.   For years, most of us have operated inside capacity constraints. There were only so many hours in a day, so prioritization became an exercise in scarcity.   AI starts to change that. Capacity becomes more flexible.    The biggest shifts show up in how I spend my day, less so in productivity metrics. 📍 More present in meetings. 📍 More time building relationships. 📍 More time thinking strategically. 📍 More opportunities to design new ways of operating, innovate, and solve problems.   Those are the parts of my work that I find most rewarding, energizing my work day in ways I didn't expect.    Wherever you are on the journey, what changes when you ask: “What becomes possible if capacity changes and time is no longer my limiting factor?”   Productivity creates capacity. Capacity creates choices.   What will those choices reveal for you?

830 am session with customer training their CTO and other executives on Microsoft Scout! Exciting times. Thank you Omar Shahine for getting us the most exciting new system in many years. Showing Scout to large healthcare orgs is that "aha" moment when the future suddenly becomes real and possibilities endless.

PSA: Do NOT click. Please share with your less tech savvy friends and family. If you receive an email from someone you know and it looks like it is from their real email address, but it tells you to click on the link… Do NOT click! And do not reply and do not forward. Ask the person if they sent it first. And if they didn’t, delete the message. It also may be a good reminder to update your email password today. Please share with your less technically savvy friends and family.

Yesterday, around 4,800 Microsoft employees learned their careers were about to take an unexpected turn. My heart goes out to every one of them, especially to those who are close friends, making this news feel particularly personal. Layoffs are more than just a headline or a percentage on a financial statement; they represent families, careers, friendships, and futures suddenly filled with uncertainty. Watching this unfold reminded me of my own reflections since my departure last year. I had the privilege of spending nearly twenty years at Microsoft across two chapters of my career, where I learned, grew, and worked alongside some of the brightest people. I will always be grateful for those experiences. One observation that has stayed with me is that during my last ten years at Microsoft, I chose exactly two jobs. However, due to reorganizations, realignments, changing priorities, and leadership changes, I actually worked seven different jobs for nine different managers. This is not a complaint; change has always been part of Microsoft's culture, and success there requires embracing it. Many of us did. What I have come to wonder is whether we underestimate the cumulative effect of constant change. At some point, it becomes difficult to build a long-term identity around your work when the team, mission, leadership, and priorities keep changing. You become incredibly adaptable, but it can feel like you are constantly starting over. There was a time when Microsoft felt like a destination, where people envisioned building a career over decades. Today, I wonder if many employees see it differently—not because the people or technology have changed, but because the relationship between employees and the company has changed. Success at Microsoft requires embracing change, a principle I accepted for nearly twenty years. However, I eventually realized that while employees are expected to embrace change, change is not always loyal in return. This thought is not unique to Microsoft; it is a question every company navigating rapid transformation should consider: How do you build organizations that can continuously reinvent themselves without losing the trust and commitment of the people who make that reinvention possible? To everyone affected yesterday, especially my friends, I wish you nothing but success in what comes next. Microsoft helped shape remarkable careers, and I have no doubt many remarkable careers are still ahead.