The document summarizes a large product launch by Microsoft's Information Worker Business and Marketing Organization in the U.S. It describes the challenges of the launch and how the organization partnered with Pcubed to setup a Program Management Office to coordinate the launch across teams and stakeholders. Key activities included planning, governance, communications and tracking progress against business objectives. The approach helped drive accountability and engagement across the organization to successfully deliver the product launch with a smaller centralized budget.

1. “This launch was a large complex business initiative, with a finite set of
deliverables requiring collaboration with a vast number of people
across the organization. We were excited to take a project management
focused approach and use new Microsoft technology to deliver a Microsoft’s Information Worker Business
and Marketing Organization (IW BMO) is
successful launch and achieve our business objectives.”
responsible for the launch of 2010
Julie Sanford, U.S. Wave 14 Launch Program Manager, Microsoft U.S. IW BMO products in Microsoft’s U.S. subsidiary.
Branded as the U.S. IW Wave 14 Launch,
The Challenge the IW BMO identified an experienced
Product Manager to lead this launch of
Microsoft’s U.S. Information Worker Business Marketing Organization (IW BMO) Office, SharePoint, Project, and Visio as
Wave 14 Launch team was charged with executing a strategically critical product well as Exchange Server, SQL Server,
launch – and doing it successfully with fewer central resources. Success and Visual Studio.
depended on the team’s effectiveness at reaching out widely across the company
and integrate launch into existing mechanisms for running the business – annual
business goals, budgets, and personal objectives.
Focusing on doing more with existing budgets and activities, the team’s execution
had to reinforce the new reality that launch cannot be viewed as a particular point
in time; it has sustaining activities across fiscal years. Additionally, the following
challenges needed to be addressed during launch program definition and set -up
and throughout launch execution:
 Balancing the independent needs of a broad group of stakeholders
 Maintaining visibility and oversight of a fast moving portfolio of marketing initiatives and activities
 Linking marketing spend to tangible outcomes
 Executing at the optimal level of program management rigor for a marketing organization
 Addressing increased competition in the market place
 Aligning and synchronizing with world-wide strategies
The Solution
To address these challenges, the U.S. IW BMO partnered with Pcubed to setup and operate the Wave 14 Launch Program
Management Office (PMO). The Wave 14 Launch PMO reinforced fundamental program management discipline across a large,
dynamic, launch team to drive accountability across three launch work streams, 18 launch work areas, and hundreds of marketing
activities. Targeted outcomes included fulfilling Launch Business Objectives with reduced redundancy across program work
streams – enabled by effective engagement and coordination across launch team members, executives, launch ambassadors, and
three advisory councils. Pcubed’s program
Guiding Principles management expertise and understanding of the
Microsoft corporate landscape was leveraged to
Guiding principles helped the team build an effective launch program help create and drive an innovative product
management environment to drive a smooth execution: launch approach executed around three work
 Get an early start streams targeting their unique launch objectives
 Engage executives early – ensure executive sponsorship while aligning to a common launch mission and
overarching launch business objectives. This
 Align to company goals
strategy helped the Wave 14 Launch PMO team
 Execute through influence engage the launch team and key stakeholders to
 Drive accountability build a “We’re All In” launch environment.
 Plan communications, set expectations
W: www.pcubed.com E: info@pcubed.com
Copyright © 1994-2010 Program Planning Professionals, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. A Successful Product Launch Delivered
To ensure the smooth execution of this innovative launch approach, a significant emphasis was put on
planning for the launch. Activities included creating the W14 Launch PMO, chartering the Wave 14 Launch
team, and setting up the governance framework, communications mechanisms, and technology platform to
support launch execution.
The Wave 14 Launch PMO guided execution of launch activities through the Wave 14 Launch Team. Wave
14 Launch Team members owned and drove launch-focused initiatives and activities in their respective
areas. The Wave 14 Launch PMO worked closely with the Launch Program Manager to provide effective
governance of launch activities, coordination of stakeholder involvement, and cross -team collaboration
through the launch. Key principles of this innovative launch approach adopted by Microsoft include:
 Portfolio management is at the heart of the launch. To identify and prioritize additional funding
opportunities, existing "in flight" marketing projects that may have connections with the launch were
assessed against launch strategy and value back to the organization.
 Launch is more than a point in time. The portfolio of launch-related marketing initiatives is tuned to
deliver an ongoing customer connection, beyond any launch date.
 Everybody is "all in." Although a core launch team keeps its eyes on the dashboard, the effort is
really being driven in all corners of marketing, sales, and operations. The best advocates for getting
the message to customers are Microsoft's own employees, whatever their role may be.
Following transition of the operational launch activity oversight to the business, perceptions and
recommendations were solicited from the launch team and executive stakeholders through surveys and
meetings. Lessons earned focused on the business successes of the launch and the management
successes of the launch and recommendations for improvement were compiled and executive stakeholders
were debriefed on the launch results.
Benefits Realized
The Launch Team’s approach – enabled with key elements of the solution – made launch a core part of everyone’s business plan,
helping Microsoft execute this launch across its U.S. Subsidiary and realize the following benefits:
 Smaller Centralized Budget and Staff – By effectively engaging launch team members to drive launch activities through their
existing business plans, the Wave 14 Launch PMO was able to drive success with a smaller centralized launch budget and
core team. Centralized launch funds were strategically infused into the launch work streams to optimize marketing return for
specific marketing activities.
 Business-focused Results – Progress against clearly defined business-focused measures within each launch work stream
were tracked through the launch, providing stakeholders with complete awareness of launch goals and progress.
 Executive Engagement and Launch Communications – Building on early executive engagement during program definition
and setup, the Wave 14 Launch PMO drove ongoing executive awareness and sponsorship of launch activities. This was
complimented with a wide spectrum of effective launch communications managed to target specific launch stakeholder groups
and ensure a timely and accurate dissemination of information to those who needed it.
 Marketing Program Management Environment – The Wave 14 Launch PMO coordinated efforts across the launch team and
leveraged existing business operations and marketing engines. Together, the launch team coordinated oversight of launch
delivery execution, managing to the launch plan to achieve targeted results with “no surprises” – driving the right level of rigor to
maintain visibility and momentum of launch-related marketing activities.
 Visibility and Technology Enablement – The interactive Launch Pcubed DeliveryHub ™ provided visibility of hundreds of
marketing activities in the launch portfolio across three launch work streams and 18 launch work area as well as the marketing
impact of launch KPIs. Critical requests from the field were tracked and managed, enabling the Launch Team to effectively
respond to the requests originating from anyone outside of the launch team.
By leveraging proven activities and established marketing engines, Microsoft has created the ability to sustain momentum with
customers beyond the initial release of the 2010 suite of products. Wave 14 Launch best practices are being leveraged for Online
Services launch, Microsoft’s Central Marketing Group, and Communications Server launch activities.
W: www.pcubed.com E: info@pcubed.com
Copyright © 1994-2010 Program Planning Professionals, Inc. All rights reserved.