Top 3 things that i learnt at Microsoft

Well, it has been three weeks of a roller-coaster ride at Microsoft for my internship and i guess, it is time to come up with the Top 3 list :-

1) Be independent but also keep in touch :-
As you might be wondering what was that philosophical rant ?? well, to begin with my internship with microsoft is with the Sales division (Well, technically Sales is not what i should be calling it.. but that shall be the topic of a different blog entry) and in sales there are only 2 things that really matter .... "Numbers" and "Numbers".. and esp. if it is quarter-end people are literally running after getting results.. So, this placed me in a unique situation of starting off a project without any proper project scope and guidelines.
So what would you do if you are in boat as me ??? well, instead of rowing furious in the opposite direction you first set your own goals and targets and communicate this with your mentors. This way, you would really be saving both yours and the mentors time (Which they really appreciate)

2) What's my PIE is YOURS as well :-
Well, i don't know if Sun Tzu would have written about this.. but i would prefer calling it as the stake-holder phenomenon. When i was setting up my various project goals, i also got the buy-in from the various team-members saying that for "this part" of the project i would be needing their help... forming liasions and more importantly making sure that my work would in-fact be helping these stake-holders.

3) Net-work-ing:-
I have always been viewing microsoft as a long term vehicle; more in terms of permanent employment after the internship; and with that in view i have started going around the organization with a Student tag and requesting ten mins from people across groups and finding out about their work and more importantly "what would i be assigned if i joined this part of the organization"... Word of caution : Utilize utter subtleness and formality

Adios from me for now.. shall be coming back to the same black-board to talk about other aspects of my MBA life ...