Office Professional Plus 2010 blog now-who-reports

Reader Novastuck asks: How's the corporate hierarchy structured at Microsoft - I don't understand what these titles floating around mean Group Program Manager, Sr. Program Manager, Program Manger Management, Program Manager. I work here, and I am confused sometimes with who reports to whom within the same group! Yes, those titles are confusing. Here’s the basic structure of how it works: A Program Manager (PM) is an individual contributor – meaning the PM is not a people manager. A PM typically owns a feature or set of smaller features within a product. You may see the title Sr. Program Manager floating around from time to time. That, obviously, would refer to a more senior PM. However,Office Professional Plus 2010, Sr. PM is not a standard title so some very senior Program Manager roles are usually open under just the name “Program Manager.� So the tip here is to look at years of experience required to determine which are the most senior of the individual contributor Program Managers. A Lead Program Manager (Lead PM) is a front-line manager. A Lead PM usually manages a small team (~5) of individual contributor PMs. The Lead PM is responsible for looking out for the larger feature set owned by his direct reports. A Group Program Manager (GPM) is a manager of managers. A GPM also manages a small team (~5) of Lead PMs (who, in turn, manage the individual contributor PMs). The GPM is responsible for a very large feature set or a product comprised of the individual components owned by her directs and their directs. Program Manager Management is just a standard term used to search both LPM and GPM roles on our careers site. It’s not a real title internally though. Additionally, Software Design Engineer in Test (SDET) and Software Development Engineer (SDE) organizational chains work the same as with PMs. SDET: A group of SDETS report to a SDET Lead (sometimes called Test Lead) who reports to a SDET Manager (or Test Manager.) SDE: A group of SDEs report to a SDE Lead (sometimes called Development Lead) who reports to a SDE Manager (or Development Manager.) The GPM, SDET Manager, and SDE Manager for a set of features or product all report into the same uber-manager, who is responsible for all program management, development, and test for that area. Thoroughly confused now? Ok, here’s how the peer relationship works: Hierarchy Level 1: PM = SDET = SDE Hierarchy Level 2: Lead PM = SDET Lead = SDE Lead Hierarchy Level 3: Group PM = SDET Manager = SDE Manager Hierachy Level 4: Uber-manager Questions? I think I’ve confused myself now! This, of course, is a generalization and not all groups at Microsoft work exactly like this, but it’s about the easiest way to explain it that I can figure. gretchen P.S. Funnily enough, I did hesitate in writing this because I can now envision all these recruiters saying, “Gold mine! The organizational structure of Microsoft!� But then I thought if they couldn’t figure this out on their own by reading our various job descriptions, they probably aren't very good recruiters. Plus, as I said, this is a broad generalization, and it’s most important for you all to understand how that reporting structure works.