In recent years, I’ve also moved away from my Microsoft exclusivity, and focused on No Code, AI, LLMs, and data science — so now feels like the right time to make the switch. I still love Microsoft, and their technology, but just as Microsoft has become technology agnostic as they’ve grown, so have I.

I’ll see you all at https://www.medium.com/@bradgroux, or https://www.bradgroux.com. Onward and upward, friends — thanks for everything!

MSFTExpert.com is now BradGroux.com was originally published in Microsoft Expert on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A few weeks ago, after users and leadership within my organization were confused by the sudden appearance of emails from Cortana, I published Office 365: Why is Cortana Sending Me “Your Daily Briefing” Emails? The feedback I received on this post was overwhelmingly positive, and it was clear to me that my users and leadership weren’t the only ones confused by the best AI friend a Spartan could ever ask for showing up in their emails.

“… First MyAnalytics and now this? … We’re an understaffed and over worked IT dept… Turn this crap off by default and if we have free time we’ll look at…” — Steve Taylor

This blog post initially started as a direct comment response to the frustrations voiced by Steve Taylor on that previous blog post. As I began to respond to Steve, I felt that others may be in a similar place. My hope here is to provide context, and insights that will add some perspective to Microsoft’s decisions regarding the Your Daily Briefing emails from Cortana, and other similar “enabled by default” decisions within Office 365, Microsoft 365 and across all of the Microsoft Cloud.

Welcome to Microsoft AI

First, I want to start off with a simple disclaimer that I am not an Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning expert (ML). I am however an expert of Microsoft’s software and services. I have also begun to slowly leverage AI and ML within my daily workloads and will continue to develop those skills for the foreseeable future as we move closer into the great unknown of automation… humans need not apply.

While I have familiarized myself with many of the AI and ML initiatives Microsoft has ongoing, there are true subject matter experts ready to help you if needed. To learn more, I highly recommend checking out the many free and on-demand AI and ML Microsoft Ignite and Microsoft Build sessions, such as The promise of AI and ML — Will it change the world?

• Microsoft Ignite 2020 AI Sessions
• Microsoft Ignite 2020 ML Sessions
• Microsoft Build 2020 AI Sessions
• Microsoft Build 2020 ML Sessions

AI and ML in a Nutshell

When it comes to AI and ML, the datasets are the fundamental and critical foundation of the technology. Without the data, there is no ML, which inherently means that there is no AI. In theory, the more data you have and the more varied data that you can capture, the faster and more accurately you can teach AI via ML.

Once again, I’d like to point out that this is topic that is tremendously complex, so I am speaking in severe generalities here. My descriptions here are intended for the layman, and to K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple, Stupid), let’s just assume within the context of this blog post, that more data, means better AI and ML.

Ethics in AI

Outside of raw data, to understand Microsoft’s direction with AI you must put ethics at the forefront. The possible outcomes of unfettered and unchecked AI are well documented, and this goes beyond what The Terminator and Sarah Conner has taught us about Skynet.

Microsoft has inadvertently taken part in displaying the dangers of badly taught AI when their AI-driven Twitter Chatbot “Tay” learned to become racist and sexist from the Twitter community in 2016.

For this reason, Microsoft is trying their best to lead by example, by directing not just their AI, but all AI in a responsible manner. As one might imagine, leading by example can be a tremendously daunting undertaking.

Microsoft’s Commitment to Responsible AI

According to Microsoft, to remain ethical AI must be human-centered, which means that all decisions an AI makes needs to be ethical. To focus on these ethical challenges, Microsoft has developed and published their six AI Design Principles:

• Fairness
• Inclusiveness
• Reliability & Safety
• Transparency
• Privacy & Security
• Accountability

Fundamentally, making ethical decisions requires an overwhelming amount of data. To better understand this, you may want to think back to when you’ve watched a young child figure out their ethics early on. The nuances are what make it challenging. Ethics are not a black or white issue, many times there is no right or wrong answer, and countless ethical decisions live within varying shades of gray.

To compound the issue, ethics aren’t finite, they are ever-expanding as you learn more about the world and those around you, and as the world itself grows around you. What is ethical today, may not be ethical tomorrow. Now, try and put that into the perspective of a digital mind, that only learns in ones and zeros, on and off, black, and white.

How do you teach a machine not just that gray exists, but how to spot it? Without going into details, you do so by adding complexity that compounds the deeper the decision trees go. The harder the ethical decision, the tougher it is to train AI to act in an ethically responsible manner — and more complexity, leaves more room for error. In the simplest of terms, nuance is completely lost on machines.

And there lies the rub in the difficulty of bringing ethics to AI. For Microsoft to deliver on their promises of ethical AI, they need data. Lots, and lots of data. Just as we still struggle to teach children the basics of ethics, we are now struggling to teach ethics to AI, which theoretically has no limits. Microsoft simply doesn’t, and never can have enough data to meet their promised obligations of ethical AI.

And right on que, as I was in the middle of writing this blog post, Microsoft and Satya Nadella commented directly on their commitments to delivering responsible AI.

When we build AI, we must do so responsibly. We are expanding our efforts to ensure AI models are inclusive of all communities, including people with disabilities. https://t.co/Of6fytBaSO

Cortana has Entered the Chat

Microsoft AI and Cortana aren’t new, Microsoft began their dedication and investments in AI many years ago. Their first widely used commercial foray into AI occurred in 2009 when they released their new AI driven “Decision Engine,” codenamed as Kumo internally, and later released to the world as Bing.

Unbelievably, I blogged about Kumo in 2009, asking — Is Microsoft’s New Search Engine “Kumo” too Late? The answer is no, Brad. It is not.

Current CEO and Microsoft investor darling, Satya Nadella was the head of the engineering team for that new AI and ML driven search experience. In March 2009, Satya sent a memo within Microsoft providing details of their new internal search service. With the context of history, the memo provides a fascinating look at just how central AI has been and will continue to be to the future of Microsoft:

From: Satya Nadella
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 4:18 PM
To: Microsoft–All Employees (QBDG)
Subject: Announcement: Internal Search Test Experience

The Search team needs you. We’ve been working hard to improve our search service and want to share the progress we are making with you…

…In spite of the progress made by search engines, 40% of queries go unanswered; half of queries are about searchers returning to previous tasks; and 46% of search sessions are longer than 20 minutes. These and many other learnings suggest that customers often don’t find what they need from search today.

We believe we can provide a better and more useful search experience that helps you not just search but accomplish tasks…

Prior to Bing, Microsoft’s search engines of MSN.com and Live.com were traditional search engines. They utilized robot web crawlers that scanned every public website on the internet. All search engines back then operated in the same way; they were simple data indexes. Today, they still do this in many senses, but now they are all “smart” thanks to the power of ML and AI, and trillions of datapoints collected over the years.

In the early screenshots of Bing (shown above), you can see how they differentiated themselves from other search engines by providing results within context. When someone searched for Taylor Swift, Bing would try and predict what exactly about Taylor Swift they were searching for. Was it news, tour dates, her songs, her lyrics, etc.? Bing the “Decision Engine” differentiated itself by capturing basic search usage data to provide better, categorized results catered specifically to that end user.

In 2020 this all seems like a like a novel concept, especially with Facebook being used to weaponize user data in recent years, but at the time, Microsoft was at the forefront — even if they weren’t the most popular search engine. Others have of course mimicked their methods since, but Satya Nadella and his team were the masterminds behind this massive search paradigm shift.

Like most elegant solutions, its simplicity is its brilliance. Raw data is useless to most people (and most AIs), while contextualized data isn’t. It is clear (to me at least), that Satya has taken that same user-first design methodology he learned leading Search and Azure, and put it at the forefront of the entire Microsoft collection of products and services.

Because of this, nearly everything Microsoft has done since 2009 is built on top of Microsoft AI, including Windows 10. Satya’s user-first vision was recognized and backed by the Microsoft Board of Directors when he was hired as the CEO, and their decision to put people first has increased Microsoft’s value and reach across the globe exponentially.

At their core, Bing, Cortana, MyAnalytics, and the many other end-user interfaces are all powered and built on top of the same thing, Microsoft AI. So, while the average tech blogger or consumer may laugh or mock Microsoft’s dedication to Bing, and it’s releasing of what they see as failed services — like Cortana, the proof is in the pudding.

Why Should You Care About Cortana?

Microsoft AI is the brain for the Microsoft Cloud, and it leverages the Microsoft Graph API to deliver that intelligence to IT professionals and end users in meaningful ways. And while you or your organization say that you may not care or take advantage of these tools, others within the ecosystem find them to be tremendously valuable.

If you’ll recall to earlier, when Steve frustratingly exclaimed, “Turn this crap off by default and if we have free time we’ll look at it…” the answer to that is simple only when you understand all the context I have provided above. Okay, you get that Microsoft needs to collect data to realistically have any chance of meeting their responsible and ethical AI pledges. But you’re paying for a service; shouldn’t they cater to your needs?

The long answer to this one is more complex, but the short answer is a resounding no. When you enter the cloud, you are creating a bond and trust with that cloud service provider. You are trusting that your data and workloads will be taken care of, and they are promising to deliver you the services in safe, secure, stable, cost effective and meaningful ways.

Microsoft can only make the cloud affordable, and stable by capturing all these metrics. These metrics are required for them to rapidly predict and help grow both the capabilities and reliability of the entire Microsoft Cloud. At its surface, this may seem like a one-way transaction, but it isn’t, not by a long shot. You should care about Cortana because she keeps the lights on.

How the Microsoft Cloud Came to Be

The Microsoft Cloud was originally made possible by Microsoft collecting direct customer facing feedback for decades. I spent four years as a Platforms PFE (Premier Field Engineer) at Microsoft, and during that time I met with more than 150 enterprise IT departments personally.

In that role, I collected terabytes of data and direct customer feedback on how we could improve the Windows platform services to meet our client’s needs. The data and feedback I collected was passed directly back to the platform’s teams for Active Directory, Windows Server, Clustering, Hyper-V, and more.

I spent more than three hundred days per year on the road, crisscrossing the continental United States while taking hundreds of flights. At the same time, Microsoft had hundreds of other platform’s PFEs nationwide doing the same thing, and thousands more around the globe.

Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server, Systems Center, SharePoint, you name it… Microsoft has had SMEs crisscrossing the globe in a never-ending quest for customer data and feedback for decades. The cloud now eliminates the need for much of that workload entirely. Saving both Microsoft, and customers tens of millions of dollars per year.

Microsoft knows that many IT departments are overworked, underpaid, understaffed, and underappreciated. They built the Microsoft cloud to make affordable options to help alleviate those exact IT burdens. They built Microsoft Cloud to help alleviate those burdens for themselves internally too. During my tenure, Microsoft IT supported upwards of 160,000 users and contractors across 210 countries worldwide.

As an example: When I was a PFE, we had a PFE-specific virtual farm for lab work and testing, that was a nightmare to both use and maintain. Just like for their customers, Azure changed everything overnight for infrastructure technologists internally at Microsoft. They’ve been there, they understand.

Finally, the collection of cloud usage and data metrics exponentially increases the scope and scale of that legacy, face to face data collection. They have more data than ever, with more coming online every day. With that data, Microsoft can make business and platform specific critical decisions in a fraction of the time than it used to take. That is good for us all.

Welcome to the “As a Service” World

That’s the beauty and power of the Software as a Service, and Platform as a Service world. The iterations and improvements are rapid and gradual, and they are delivered exponentially faster over time. Microsoft’s data collection for their cloud services are no different than IT departments performing call and support metrics.

Your reward for providing Microsoft with that data, is better, faster, more stable, and more cost-effective products and services now, and in the future. Without the data, Microsoft could not compete in the sector, much less be one of its clear leaders — other providers do the same thing. Would you like to go back to the on-premises IT world of yesteryear? I know I wouldn’t.

I’ve been in your position too and empathize with where you are. With that said, you must also empathize with Microsoft, and to do so you must look at the bigger picture regarding insights, AI, and business intelligence. You only know how best to support your users or customers when you know their needs. Microsoft is in the exact same boat, it is just larger.

Don’t forget, that you too can utilize the data Microsoft has captured on your users and organization via Graph API.

Just like Microsoft delivers changes more rapidly thanks to collecting all Microsoft Cloud user data, I encourage you to do so within your environment as well. The more organizations that use these AI driven tools, the better these tools get, and they do so at an exponentially faster rate — which helps them to deliver better products and services to all of us. Win-win all around.

The cloud makes all our lives easier, and those very innovations are the reasons we all shed the literal walls of our organizations to join these massive hive collectives of cloud technologies and services. Much like me, Microsoft is Refusing to be Mediocre in Information Technology, which can sometimes make you unpopular.

The bottom line is, in the cloud, with AI, and with the future — we’re in this together.

Are you an AI expert? If so, please let me know how I did by reaching out to me on Twitter @BradGroux.

Microsoft 365, MyAnalytics, Cortana’s Your Daily Briefing (Viva Insights), and the future of… was originally published in Microsoft Expert on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

After diving down a rabbit hole on OpenAI’s ChatGPT in recent days, I thought, “Could AI write a PowerShell Script?” And the short answer is yes, yes it can. I asked, and it took all of about five seconds for ChatGPT to return a fully annotated PowerShell script for renaming a domain controller.

ME: Write a PowerShell script to rename a domain controller.
AI: Here is a PowerShell script that can be used to rename a domain controller:

# Import the Active Directory module
Import-Module ActiveDirectory

# Set the current domain controller name and the new name
$CurrentDCName = "DC01"
$NewDCName = "DC02"

# Set the domain name
$DomainName = (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_ComputerSystem).Domain

# Rename the domain controller
Rename-Computer -NewName $NewDCName -DomainName $DomainName -Restart

# Wait for the domain controller to restart
Start-Sleep -s 60

# Reset the AD site of the domain controller
Move-ADDirectoryServer -Identity $NewDCName -SiteName (Get-ADSite -Filter {Name -eq "Default-First-Site-Name"}).Name

# Wait for AD to replicate the changes
Start-Sleep -s 60

# Update the DNS records for the domain controller
$DNSZone = (Get-WmiObject -Class MicrosoftDNS_Zone -Namespace "root\MicrosoftDNS" -Filter "Name='$DomainName.' and Type='Forward'").Name
Set-DnsServerResourceRecord -OldName $CurrentDCName -NewName $NewDCName -ZoneName $DNSZone -CreateNew -Force

# Wait for DNS to replicate the changes
Start-Sleep -s 60

# Restart the domain controller
Restart-Computer -ComputerName $NewDCName

ChatGPT even spat out additional details with the script:

Note: This script assumes that the domain controller is running Windows Server and has the Active Directory module installed. It also assumes that the domain controller is in the default AD site and that the DNS zone for the domain is managed by a DNS server running on the domain controller.

To use this script, replace $CurrentDCName and $NewDCName with the current name and the new name of the domain controller, respectively. If the domain controller is in a different AD site or the DNS zone is managed by a different DNS server, you will need to modify the script accordingly.

I chose renaming a DC as the task for the AI because it is a fairly straightforward request, with some added complexities around site settings and DNS.

Disclaimer: As an Active Directory expert, I’d never actually recommend renaming a domain controller. Simply standup a new DC with the name you want, and demote the old DC. Just because you can rename a domain controller, doesn’t mean you should!

This was a simple test to see if AI could write PowerShell scripts someday soon, and the answer to that question is a resounding yes. Obviously, a lot of damage can be done with badly written PowerShell scripts, but AI can and will be a future tool that makes our lives easier.

If nothing else, AI can whip together quick templates for you to refine and build off of. I’ve mentioned that AI and the robots are coming for our jobs before, and this is just another sign that we are heading in that direction sooner rather than later.

So, what do you think? It it time to start fearing the rise of robot overlords? Either way, it was a fun experience that you too can try out at chat.openai.com.

I Asked AI (ChatGPT) to Write a PowerShell Script, and it Actually Worked was originally published in Microsoft Expert on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Microsoft Loop is a new Microsoft 365 product now in technical preview, with wider release scheduled for 2022. Loop, is Microsoft’s take on the real-time collaboration for our ever-expanding workspaces.

If you’ve ever heard of Notion, this is the Microsoft 365 spin of that popular collaboration platform. A tool that blends your everyday work apps into one, the all-in-one workspace for you and your team.

Or in Microsoft’s words:

Think, plan, and create — together. Microsoft Loop is a new app that combines a powerful and flexible canvas with portable components that move freely and stay in sync across applications.

• Together, even when you’re apart — Co-create, build on each other’s ideas, and add a little personality. Loop is an entirely new way to work together — designed for the new world of work.
• Everything in one place — Organize everything you need for your project — files, links, and data from other apps– into a single workspace. It is easy to use portable components to complete work in chat, meetings, or documents, knowing that the content always stays in sync.
• Stay in sync and on track — Jump in, catch up, and get going. Loop makes it easy to track progress and co-create naturally with notifications, highlighted changes, status labels, task lists and more.
• Loop Workspaces — Shared spaces that allow you and your team to see and group everything important to your project, making it easy for you to catch up on what everyone is working on and track progress toward shared goals. We will disclose more about the availability of the Microsoft Loop app in upcoming months.
• Loop components: An evolution of Fluid components — are atomic units of productivity that help you collaborate and get your work done in the flow of your work — in a chat, email, meeting, document, or Loop page. Loop components can be as simple as lists, tables, notes, tasks, or as sophisticated as a customer sales opportunity from Microsoft Dynamics 365, and because components stay in sync, no matter how many places they live in, you and your team always work with the latest information.
• A voting table that makes it easy for teams to ideate, drive consensus, and finalize decisions together.
• A status tracker which will help you gather information from your team, track progress towards all aspects of your project, and always maintain an up-to-date status across your team.
• Loop pages are flexible canvases where you can organize your components and pull in other useful elements like files, links, or data to help teams think, connect, and collaborate. Pages are optimized for thinking together and getting work done. They can start small and continue to grow to match the size of your ideas and projects.

The first preview of Microsoft Loop is now available for general preview flights of Microsoft Teams (chats only). Further integrations, including the standalone fluid app, are set to arrive in 2022.

Brad Groux on Twitter: "The #MicrosoftLoop instant-editing collaboration for the Live Components is super impressive. I've been playing with it in #MicrosoftTeams all morning. #Microsoft365 just got a whole lot cooler!Apologies to my teammates for spamming them with #Loop in #Teams chat all morning.😂 pic.twitter.com/RCD9gtXcZg / Twitter"

The #MicrosoftLoop instant-editing collaboration for the Live Components is super impressive. I've been playing with it in #MicrosoftTeams all morning. #Microsoft365 just got a whole lot cooler!Apologies to my teammates for spamming them with #Loop in #Teams chat all morning.😂 pic.twitter.com/RCD9gtXcZg

I’ve been playing around with it all morning, and loving every minute of it. The real-time collaboration, is truly real-time (see the video in my tweet above for a demo). The best part? Loop’s components are .fluid files that live within your OneDrive for easy management.

The current Microsoft Loop Live Components for Teams Chat include:

• Bulleted list
• Check list
• Numbered list
• Paragraph
• Table
• Task list

I can’t wait to see where Loop goes from here, because the .fluid files live in OneDrive, this means that Power Automate automation is built right in! Plus, think of the connectors, and Graph API capabilities upon release and in the future.

Microsoft 365 just got a whole lot cooler with the release of Microsoft Loop.

If you are interested in enabling Microsoft Loop for Microsoft Teams chat, please review this article by João Ferreira. NOTE: You may need to reach out to your IT Team or Microsoft Teams administrator for this feature.

Microsoft Loop Introduction and Overview was originally published in Microsoft Expert on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is the Power Platform?

Microsoft Dynamics, Power BI, Power Automate, Power Apps, and Power Virtual Agents all make up what Microsoft calls their Power Platform. The Power Platform is a collection of business tools built upon what they call the CDS (Common Data Service) that allows you to easily automate, build and streamline processes, and publish full in-house applications.

• Microsoft Dynamics — Is where business data and processes live. We’re talking everything from HR, Payroll, CRM, Billing, Point of Sale, Inventory, and more. Dynamics is the mother-ship of business operations and business applications. It can do nearly anything your business needs, but it is a hefty platform that takes many to manage.

Microsoft Dynamics is usually managed by IT, with direct input and collaboration with each of its active components respective departments. Most users probably won’t care about this, but they should remember that anyone within the organization can leverage data from Dynamics.

All of the Power Platform bits and components, were built from the ground up to leverage all of the data, information, systems and processes housed within Dynamics. But while the Power Platform was built for, and in many ways, on top of Dynamics, you don’t have to use Dynamics to leverage the power and potential of the mighty Power Platform.

This means that individuals, teams, departments and projects can leverage the Power Platform as they see fit, without engaging with IT or worrying about or even touching a hefty Dynamics backend. No one knows your workload, and your processes better than you or your team do, so who is the best person to streamline those processes? You are. Microsoft knows this, which is why they built the Power Platform.

Citizen Developers

Microsoft calls the non-IT required technology initiative that the Power Platform introduces, their “Citizen Developer” movement. Basically, because of AI, machine learning, and automation — everyone, and I mean everyone, who wants to remain relevant within the professional business world will need to know the basic foundations of coding and automation in the coming years. Welcome to the future of the Citizen Developer.

Want to know more about Automation and why the Citizen Developer movement is important to everyone, including you? Have 15 minutes? I highly encourage that you watch: Humans Need Not Apply.

Everyone Needs Coding and Automation Skills?

Yes. It sounds daunting, but it isn’t. The good news is, that most of the tools in the Power Platform are “no code” or “low code” solutions. Meaning, if you know Visio, or Excel, you can automate processes and build entire apps with ease.

If you know how to make basic process flow diagrams in Visio, you can build Power Automate Flows, and if you know basic Excel formulas, you can build Power Apps or beautiful and dynamic Power BI reports in no time. And that is just the start of your potential.

• Power Automate — Is a “no code” automation process suite that literally anyone can use to streamline their repetitive business processes. Think of logical steps such as, if A happens, process C, but if B happens, process D. Example: If you receive an email from your customer or manager flagged as IMPORTANT, send yourself an alert via SMS or a direct message in Microsoft Teams chat. But if you receive an email that isn’t flagged by your customer or manager, do nothing.
• Power Apps — Empowers everyone to build “low code” apps that connect to and leverage the data and services that are important to you. You can pull in or even capture data from or to a spreadsheet, a SharePoint list, a database, Dynamics (CDS), or a plethora of other data and service endpoints as required. Power Apps can be accessed and used via the web, mobile or even directly within Microsoft Teams. For this reason, they are especially popular for front-line operations and field work. Example: Instead of having a team project list in a shared Excel spreadsheet, quickly build a Power App with a GUI that points to a SharePoint list so everyone can update it at the same time, with an easy to use, mobile friendly app-interface, rather than SharePoint list views.
• Power BI — Is a Business Insights tool, and I like to refer to it as Excel on steroids. Its real power is the fact that you can pull in, compile and visualize data from hundreds of different places all at the same time, in the same report. The data can also update in real-time, so no more versions of spreadsheets or tables. Think of Power BI as the “great business insights unifier.” Example: From a massive and far-reaching dataset, you can build report views specific to your team or project, containing only the information that you care about.
• Power Virtual Agents — Is the lesser known, and newest member of the Power Platform family. Power Virtual Agents lets you create powerful chatbots that can answer questions posed by your customers, other employees, or visitors to your website, service or Microsoft Teams. Example: The CDC used Power Virtual Agents to quickly build its COVID-19 symptom checker chat bot in a matter of days.

The real power of all of these tools is what they call “connectors,” which allow you to extend and integrate them to hundreds of other services and data endpoints. The possibilities are nearly limitless. Example: The marketing team can setup a daily email report containing all of the Tweets, LinkedIn or Facebook mentions of the company. They can then capture those mentions to a SharePoint list, and then build a Power BI report and filter for popular words or keyword affiliations throughout all of the mentions.

You can create Custom Connectors for the Power Platform, pointing to a public or private API that doesn’t have an official connector, or you can even create your own API for your datasets. With custom APIs, the possibilities really are endless.

I Promise You Can Do It!

Again, on the surface this all sounds really complex — but it isn’t. I tell people, start small — think big. After a while, you’ll start thinking “automation first” when you are asked to perform or review a task. Before you know it, you’ll be rethinking all of your daily tasks and business processes. You can leverage all of the tools together to unleash their full potential, including one of my favorite ways to do so — integrating the Power Platform to Microsoft Teams.

I could go on for days, but I’ll leave it there. The sky is truly the limit when it comes to the Power Platform, all you need to do to get started is to start small, and think big. Find a simple or annoying recurrence in your workload, and leverage Power Automate to automate or streamline it. That’s exactly how I started on my Power Platform journey just two years ago. I’ve shared my journey and transition to the Power Platform in more detail here:

• Why My Future is Serverless in the Microsoft Cloud | by Brad Groux
• Understanding the Potential of the Microsoft Power Platform | by Brad Groux

I am not a developer, and I can’t write code to save my life. Seriously, I failed Spanish three times even though I’m Texan! My brain just doesn’t function in any language other than English. I went to school with the desire to be an engineer, and pivoted to IT because of Y2K, and since then I’ve applied my problem-solving acumen to every problem I come across. The Power Platform takes my problem-solving abilities and cranks them up to 11.

I am not a technical genius; I am just a logical thinker, and the Power Platform is built on basic logic so you can’t fail. Just start small, think big and please trust me when I say this: If I can find value and success in the Microsoft Power Platform, anyone can!

Where to Go from Here?

Here are a few great resources to get you started on your journey to success with the Power Platform:

• Join all of the Power Platform User Communities
• Register for the FREE Power Platform Community Conference
• Register for the FREE Beginner Start. Dev. Change Event
• Follow #PowerAddicts on Twitter
• Watch Intro to Power Platform
• Watch Automate your desktop with Power Automate
• Watch Build Agile Business Processes with Power Apps
• Watch Deliver insights where decisions are made with Power BI
• Watch Build intelligent bots using Power Virtual Agents and Teams

Have questions or want to know more? Reach out to me at any time on Twitter, @BradGroux. I’d be happy to share more with you or to assist you on your Power Platform journey anyway that I can.

What is the Microsoft Power Platform in Layman’s Terms? was originally published in Microsoft Expert on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Along with a wide selection of technology sessions, Microsoft is providing a plethora of business, project management, culture, empowerment, equality, team building, sustainability, art + tech, and entrepreneurship sessions.

Most of the sessions follow an introductory, overview, road map, training or “Ask the expert” format, and they have sessions for nearly the entirety of their business lines of products, systems, services, and technologies.

There are sessions for Office 365, Microsoft 365, the Power Platform, SharePoint, Dynamics 365, Power BI, Microsoft Teams, Windows, Azure, AI, Machine Learning, Security, Governance, and everything in between.

The Microsoft Ignite Conference is online and free this year, and it takes place next week, Tuesday September 22 — Thursday September 24. You can sign up for free now and pre-register for sessions at https://myignite.microsoft.com.

As most technologists are aware of Ignite, and what it has to offer I thought I’d highlight sessions geared towards everyone. With that in mind, here is a collection of some of the non-technical, entry level, and/or relevant to the masses sessions that you may enjoy:

Tuesday, September 22

• Art + Tech: Computational Embroidery
• Best practices for delivering more efficient and impactful meetings with Microsoft Teams
• Data innovators to Digital innovators
• Ignite Your Creativity: Brain Games
• Intro to Power Platform
• Playing chess on a trampoline: How to innovate in an era of uncertainty
• Prepare yourself for a future of Learning
• The Future of Work
• The Value of Community During a Global Pandemic
• Turning Transactions into People — The Science of Customer Engagement
• Visio — now and beyond
• Yoga: Full Body Movement
• Yoga: Seated

Wednesday, September 23

• A beginner’s guide to Python
• Automate your desktop with Power Automate
• Choose Your Adventure: How to Hack Your Tech Career and Carve The Path YOU Want
• Envisioning the Future: How Microsoft Approaches Innovation
• Fun, effective and productive meetings
• Gathering Data from the World
• Getting started with Machine Learning using Python
• How Learning changes careers
• Leverage Microsoft Project and the Project Accelerator to take your projects to the next level
• Reinventing the electricity grid
• Running Community Events in an Online World
• The promise of AI and ML — Will it change the world?
• You + Power Platform: Be the Hero Of Your Own Story

Thursday, September 24

• Art + Tech: Illustrating Tech Scenes
• Automate business process with Microsoft Teams with Power Automate
• Bring harmony to work and life with insights from MyAnalytics and Workplace Analytics
• Community empowering Women in STEM
• Employee Engagement and Communities in Microsoft 365
• Intro to GitHub
• NASA and Data Science
• Spotlight on Indigenous Communities
• Take your first steps into PowerShell with the community
• The Data Behind Space Exploration with NASA
• Unleash the Power of Community in your Company
• What is Microsoft Learn and how can I leverage it beyond Microsoft Ignite?
• What makes someone a compelling hire?

For a full list of the nearly 1,000 sessions, visit the official Session builder page. If you want to get a head start, there are more than 120 pre-recorded and on-demand sessions that you can browse HERE.

I’ve talked about the Microsoft Power Platform here several times recently, including how I’m betting my career on it (post 1, post 2)— so naturally I feel the Automate your desktop with Power Automate session would be a good primer for those interested in learning more about the Power Platform.

If you have repetitive, annoying, or time-consuming tasks in your role— give the Power Automate sessions a look. If I can figure it out, anyone can.

Can’t make a session? Fret not. Save sessions to your “My backpack” page (aka your favorites) so that you can download the recordings of the sessions or view the sessions on demand after the conference ends.

I will be tweeting about #MSIgnite all next week, so follow @BradGroux if you want to keep track of what I am up to.

I’ve had the pleasure of attending several of the in-person Ignite conferences in the past, and I feel that they are fantastic events with a ton to offer. The live conferences cost upwards of $2000 entry, plus travel and expenses — so with the grand total of zero dollars required, Ignite 2020 is a no-brainer for everyone, not just technologists. Don’t miss out.

Are you planning on attending Ignite? If so, let us know which sessions you are looking forward to and why below. Until then, happy learning!

Microsoft Ignite Conference Sessions for Everyone was originally published in Microsoft Expert on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Who is Cortana?

Cortana is the name that Microsoft has given the AI (artificial intelligence) that powers Office 365. Microsoft’s AI powers their entire cloud, which includes Office 365. Everything you do within Office 365 is safely, and securely stored in the Microsoft Cloud.

Microsoft identifies Cortana as:

Cortana is Microsoft’s personal productivity assistant that helps you save time and focus attention on what matters most.

FUN FACT: Cortana is also the name of a video game character in Microsoft’s popular Halo gaming franchise. In Halo, Cortana plays the main protagonist, Master Chief’s AI assistant. Here they are together:

Why Is Cortana Emailing Me?

The Daily Briefing email helps you stay in control of your calendar and be intentional about your day. Within a few hours of the start of your workday, you’ll get an email about any relevant items to help you better prepare for the day ahead, including:

• Prepare for meetings which shows you related tasks or documents related to today’s meetings.
• Manage tasks which reminds you of pending tasks from email.
• Make the most of focus time by scheduling time on your calendar that silences notifications for uninterrupted, independent work.

COOL FACT: Cortana learns when you get to work, and sends the email based upon what she predicts is the start of your workday. The timing is different for everyone based upon their work habits.

How Cortana Your Daily Briefing Emails Work

The insights and actions in the Briefing email are based on your Exchange Online mailbox data, such as email and calendar data. The insights are derived from data that is already available to you in your Exchange Online mailbox.

For example, if you want to determine what commitments you made to others, you could manually review each email in your mailbox. The Briefing email simply saves you from this tedious process.

What Emails? I’m Not Receiving Any

Like all AI, Cortana is data driven, and the more data that she has, the better she can predict your needs. If you haven’t received an email, fret not — Cortana just may not have enough data to provide you with a daily briefing email. The more you work in Office 365 with Teams, Outlook. SharePoint, and others the better your daily briefs will be. You could also be unsubscribed…

How Do I Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the Your Daily Briefing Email?

You can verify that you are subscribed to or unsubscribe to the “Your Daily Briefing” emails any time by visiting https://cortana.office.com (while logged into Office 365):

Also, each Daily Briefing email provides an unsubscribe link within the footer of the email:

Is Cortana Secure?

YES! All the information gathered for these daily briefing emails are completely secure, and for your eyes only! Briefing emails are personal and private and are only sent to you directly in your mailbox, which cannot be accessed by anybody else in your organization, including your IT admin or your manager — without leaving an audit trail.

Your Briefing emails are based on information that you already have access to but can’t quickly aggregate without help.

Briefing emails do not include any new personally identifiable information about anybody else in your organization. The insights and actions are based on information generated by you and your organization just by going about your regular workday. Your Briefing emails are based on information that you already have access to but can’t quickly aggregate without help.

How Can I Trust my Data is Safe?

Microsoft is the most trusted name in cloud computing, so trusted that the US Department of Defense recently awarded Microsoft their highly coveted $10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract. In short, this is using the very same technology as the US DOD and Military. For more information, these links may be helpful:

• Microsoft: Ensuring secrecy orders are the exception not the rule when the government seeks data owned by our customers
• Microsoft: Technology and the US Military
• Microsoft: DOJ’s newly released recommended practices are a win for cloud and enterprise customers
• Microsoft: Privacy Statement
• Microsoft: Privacy Guide for Briefing Emails

Can IT See My Data?

In Office 365 by default, no. Most corporate IT staff can only perform their infrastructure and IT related duties with elevated privileges. Within Office 365 all elevated privileges are limited, tracked, and audited.

There is a complete audit log of everything done within Office 365, by end users and IT administrators alike!

These audit logs ensure transparency, every single time something is accessed, that access is recorded. Most importantly, these audit logs cannot be easily deleted — so an intruder can never cover their tracks.

Your IT department does not have any access to the Cortana’s daily briefing emails, unless they directly access your email inbox — which would be audited. Microsoft intends for Cortana Daily Email briefings to be for your eyes only:

Why Cortana/AI is Important

Cortana sees how you work and adapts to meet your needs as best she can. Over time, the more information that is gathered, the more personalized and accurate the recommendations should become.

Cortana “just works,” but you can also help her improve by teaching teach her. As an example, in your daily briefing email she may suggest that you have a commitment or follow-up, where you can mark the task as “Done” or as “Not as a task.”

What you choose here helps her learn if she correctly predicted that an item in your email was a task or not. You may also find an additional Is this helpful? link that you can click to improve the results further. This lets her know if she is presenting you with the kind of information that is important to you.

As an Office 365 Admin, Can I Disable or Configure the “Your Daily Briefing” emails?

Yes! As the admin, you can configure Briefing email for your organization at the user or tenant level. You can set the default state for all users in your tenant as opted in or opted out in the new Microsoft 365 admin center, or you can enable or disable the Briefing email for a specific user or multiple users with PowerShell.

That’s it, it is that simple. Cortana learns about you as you work and helps you to unlock your potential each day. I hope this helps you understand the power of Cortana in Office 365, because as we continue our journey in the cloud, it will become more prevalent in our daily, and work lives.

Master Chief will tell you, a world with Cortana is better than a world without (spoiler).

Important: Cortana Daily Briefing is being released in phases with the first release made available only to Microsoft 365 Enterprise users with Exchange Online mailboxes in English.

Office 365: Why is Cortana Sending Me “Your Daily Briefing” Emails? was originally published in Microsoft Expert on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Over the past two years I’ve pivoted my career, and more importantly my way of thinking — and it all starts with Microsoft’s Power Platform. If you’d like to know more about my transition and why I made it, please check out my post from October 2019, Why My Future is Serverless in the Microsoft Cloud. In it, I discuss the ins, outs and whys of where I am today and where I am going, but the gist of it is: because the Microsoft Power Platform is too damned powerful to ignore.

Building upon that, another blog post of mine from February 2018, Refusing to be Mediocre in Information Technology, provides some insights into how I think. Knowing my views in those areas may shed light on why I love the “citizen developer” and “empowerment” movements from Microsoft. Microsoft knows all too well that most businesses move too slow. And in a world where automation is coming for jobs by the tens of millions, refusing to be mediocre while always evolving and adapting will be critical to your long-term successes going forward.

I won’t get into the weeds about how automation is going to drastically change the business landscape, instead I’ll leave those duties to the brilliant CGP Grey. However, I don’t want you to leave watching that video, or investigating the topic of automation with doom and gloom. Fret not my friends, because like always, technology is the great equalizer. Just like with the productivity “revolutions” before it, automation itself just may be our saving grace. Enter, Microsoft’s Power Platform.

Get on with it, Already!

I could go on all day with where I think we’ll all be in the next decade. Looking to the future is one of the many things I learned from my idol Bill Gates. In Bill’s 1994 Playboy interview, which I read as a teenager (I promise that’s all I read, Mom!) — Gates predicted many of the technology revolutions of the past 25 years. That prediction game, is what I’ve always done with my day-to-day work, and my career.

Where do I think the next big thing is coming? Do I want to be involved with it? If so, I better get started now, and not later. History tends to favor the bold.

The Microsoft Power Platform is a technology that you need to get in front of. Further, the mentality for IT professionals to put their users first by empowering them first and foremost, while worrying about the details later is something that we should all embrace! If there is one thing that the COVID-19 epidemic has taught us it is that our users who we coddled for countless years, are capable of rapid change — we all are. We just need a nudge.

The ability to pivot, change, and adapt is quite literally built into our DNA, and is exactly what separates the primates from all other animals (opposable thumbs don’t hurt either). Because of this, I implore you to stop being a barrier for your users while instead empathizing with them, and becoming their champion. Have faith in your ability to adapt, but more importantly have faith in their ability to do the same.

Change Your Perspective

The As-A-Service world has changed how IT does things, or at least it should. Cloud tools and platforms throw product lifecycles out the window, because as you go down a plan or path for a lengthy rollout, by the time you dot all of your Is and cross all of your Ts, it is already too late. The platforms have changed, and analysis paralysis has cost you more time.

Like with most people even we IT folks can hate change. The processes and procedures that we took years to develop, and the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mentality affects us just like it does our users. We too are not above mediocrity. Admitting that, is your first task. Refusing it, is your second.

With that in mind, I want you to start to forget everything you think you know about technology, and change your perspective. Look at literally everything in your environment, and think automation and streamlining above all else. Even if it works, you can likely improve upon it. Start small, think big.

Don’t Take my Word for It

Like Bill Gates before him, Elon Musk is another visionary I look up to, and while he rightfully gets a lot of flak for some of his ideas, it is hard to argue with his mentality and successes. In his 2019 Starship update for SpaceX, he goes into great detail regarding the rate of design and manufacturing iterations and improvements at SpaceX where he had this to say:

I have this mantra, if a schedule is long, it is wrong, but if it is tight, it is right… recursive improvements on schedule… did this make it go faster? If it didn’t, we need to fix it. If a design takes a long time to build, it is the wrong design… the tendency is to complicate things… the best part is no part, the best process is no process. If it weighs nothing, [and] costs nothing, [you] can’t go wrong… I am most impressed with the design meetings at SpaceX, [where the question is] what did you un-design? Un-designing is the best thing, just delete it.

Bill Gates is long attributed to the saying “Have the laziest man to do the hardest job and he’ll find the most efficient way to do it.” After hearing it was attributed to him, I did some research and found that Bill Gates likely never said this, but it is great advice nonetheless. It also hits right at home for me as someone always looking for the easiest solution. I certainly approve of the sentiment because I’ve built my entire career on it… and I have no shame in saying as much. “Work smarter, not harder” is not a groundbreaking perspective.

Herb Kelleher, the wacky founder of the hugely successful and massively profitable Southwest Airlines, always touted that one should “Be decisive, move with speed and agility.” His bootstrapped story of success has long been taught in businesses schools across the globe, and his autobiography, “Nuts!: Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success” should be required reading for anyone serious about business. My father gave me this book the summer after I graduated high school in 1997, and for that I’ll be forever thankful.

Upon his death, Herb was attributed with saying:

… there is no perfect knowledge. You’ll never have enough data to guarantee success. Endless planning, study and “chewing the cud” over a significant decision is another way of hiding, of avoiding risk.

I could go on with more anecdotes from more successful people, but hopefully you get the point. Analysis paralysis is the enemy of progress, and successful people seem to have one thing in common — they are never satisfied with the status quo. They never stop working, improving, or tweaking. There will always be a better, more efficient way and the best solution is usually the easiest solution. When in doubt, K.I.S.S… Keep it simple, stupid!

If Only My Writing Was Efficient

The many words and resources I blathered on above all lead to this point. Efficiency, iteration and rapid deployment are all huge indicators of success. The Power Platform, gives you all the tools for that success in one cohesive package. You can quite literally build no code / low code solutions that house and automate your entire workflow in a matter of weeks, rather than months or even years.

Knowing this, I recommend that if you want to take control, and be more efficient while utilizing the Power Platform, start with the following:

• Start small, think big. I began my journey with the Power Platform by creating the most basic Microsoft Flow in Power Automate, specifically the Save Office 365 email attachments to OneDrive for Business template. It doesn’t really get easier than that. I then went on to create a Flow from scratch that sent my voicemails (which arrived via attachment by email), to a SharePoint document library, which then sent me a message with a link to listen to the .wav file via the Flow Bot in Teams utilizing Adaptive Cards. Always iterating and building on my knowledge within less than a year, I architected an entire No Code / Low Code serverless data solution. Did I mention I’m not a developer?

• Think Power Platform first. This may be the hardest easy thing to do in your career. Throughout your life, you’ve built up habits, and with your job many of those habits likely have very good reasons for being there. They work. But just because they work doesn’t mean they are efficient. Rethink literally every task you do from the ground up, and ask yourself — can this be automated? Can it be improved? Can I capture data insights from it? Once you get in the habit of doing this, your mind will never stop working. You’ll always look for processes to “delete,” bringing joy to Elon’s little memeing heart. Again, start small, think big. Look for low hanging fruit. What takes up the most of your time, and how long do you think it would take to automate? K.I.S.S.
• Get Involved with the Power Platform User Communities. Starting in September of 2018, I didn’t know a single thing about the Power Platform. Nearly everything I’ve learned was thanks to the awesome user communities for Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, Power Virtual Agents, and Dynamics. I went from a literal nobody to a Flownaut (a Microsoft recognized community Super User), all through being an active part of the Power Automate community. I’d spend an hour or two every day absorbing knowledge from the active users, and using questions from others as sandbox ideas, then eventually knowing enough to solve their problems for them.

Microsoft Power Automate on Twitter

CommunityHighlight: Watch out for @BradGroux in the #MicrosoftFlow #Community! He is giving back to the community SO MUCH by offering support that he could earn the opportunity to become a Flow Community Super User! Keep it up, Brad!!😁 Learn more: https://t.co/AieFMDggcq

• Share the Love. Going back to the previous bullet point, and using the issues and ideas of others to fuel your growth. Not only that, but if you work in IT or in technical positions within your organization, don’t be afraid to show others how the Power Platform can improve their workloads as well. If your organization is on Office 365, you are likely paying for many of the Power Platform services to begin with, so why not use them? Empathize with your coworkers, and be an evangelist for the platform by helping others build use cases for wider buy-in. Work with them, even cross-departmentally to develop solutions unique to your organization. Once you’re rocking and rolling, share your work with the communities that helped you get there!
• Twitter is Your Friend. The Microsoft Power Users community members, and the Power Platform, Office 365, Microsoft 365, Azure and Microsoft Cloud employees are extremely active and helpful on Twitter. #PowerAddicts are sharing their new ideas and things they make all day, every day. So, be sure to follow along, or better yet get involved yourself. The community welcomes everyone with open arms — the gate’s open, come on in!
• Training is Free, There are no Excuses. The #PowerAddicts community is producing countless hours of amazing training content to share with the masses. Most, like myself, can’t shut up about the Power Platform so we are all too eager to tell anyone who will listen about all it. On top of all of that, all of Microsoft’s conferences are available on-demand and free, including the 2020 Business Applications Summit, as well as the upcoming Build 2020, and even Ignite 2020. Oh, and did I mention the completely free training tracks from docs.microsoft.com/learn? Or the awesome examples and templates that Microsoft shares for free, like the Hospital Emergency Response — Power Platform sample solution!

I could go on all day, but this blog post is set to rival the length of War & Peace. If you take those bullet points and run with them, you’ll be rethinking your processes, procedures and methodologies in no-time. Once your brain is rewired to look at the big picture, and to start small, but think big you’ll be a visionary and changing the way others in your organization do their work… and if all else fails, JUST START BUILDING!

In short, if you embrace the Power Platform, you’ll become indispensable — and that big scary automation revolution that is coming, won’t phase you and maybe even your business one bit.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below or shoot me a message on Twitter @BradGroux. Until then, be water my friends.

Understanding the Potential of the Microsoft Power Platform was originally published in Microsoft Expert on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Last Updated: 2020–MAR–31 01:36 CST, 06:36 UTC

As a Microsoft Teams expert and administrator, I have become one of the most popular people in my company over the past few weeks. Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19, and the decision of governments and businesses around the world to shut down their offices and to allow their employees to work from home — Microsoft Teams has shown unprecedented growth during the coronavirus pandemic.

The battling of COVID-19’s spread through social distancing, and the recovery is going to be months in the making, according to Bill Gates. During that time, telecommuting and remote collaboration numbers will continue to skyrocket. So, what better way to set yourself up for remote work success than to drive into some great free training resources for Microsoft Teams?

Below is a collection of links to various training resources, that I’ve categorized to help you dive into the aspects of Teams that is most important to you. The training options range from quick links, short video training nuggets, long YouTube videos and playlists, and even free, Microsoft instructor-led webinars. I’ll continue to update and refine this list as I come across update it for my users.

So, bookmark and check back if you so choose (or follow me on Twitter for more updates). Until then; good luck out there, stay safe, and happy Microsoft Teaming! — Brad

Don’t have Microsoft Teams? Fret not, Microsoft Teams has a completely Free Version. Microsoft is also giving away 6-month free trials of Microsoft Teams in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. See Microsoft’s commitment to customers during COVID-19 for details.

General Microsoft Teams Training Resources

• Microsoft Teams Quick Reference (PDF) — A quick reference training printout
• Introduction to Microsoft Teams — A short 2m 31s “elevator pitch” video of Microsoft Teams and its capabilities

Microsoft Teams Video Training — A collection of short videos categorized for easy viewing, such as:

• Manage Meetings — Short how-to video
• Setup and Attend Live Events — Short how-to video
• Start Chats and Calls — Short how-to video
• Microsoft Teams Training Playlist — A YouTube playlist of more than four hours of Microsoft instructor-led on-demand training

Microsoft Free Instructor-Led Webinars

• Introduction: Say hello to Microsoft Teams (30 Minutes)
• Level 1: Get started with Microsoft Teams (60 Minutes)
• Level 2: Run effective meetings with Microsoft Teams (60 Minutes)
• Level 3: Learn tips for taking Microsoft Teams to the next level (2x 60 Minute sessions)
• Supplemental: Master working from home with Microsoft Teams (30 Minutes)

Microsoft Teams Knowledge Checks

• Microsoft Teams knowledge check — Level 1
• Microsoft Teams knowledge check — Level 2
• Microsoft Teams knowledge check — Level 3

Working from Home with Microsoft Teams

• Working from Home Tips
• 4 Tips for working from home with Microsoft Teams — A helpful tips and tricks community post

Microsoft Teams Training Paths (Virtual Lessons)

• Manage team collaboration with Microsoft Teams — 5 modules over 2 hours, 17 minutes
• Manage meetings, conferences, and events with Microsoft Teams — 9 units over 37 minutes

Apps in Microsoft Teams

• Overview of apps in Teams
• Add apps to Teams
• Custom apps in Teams
• Learn to use apps in Microsoft Teams (60 Minutes)

Microsoft Teams Links for IT and Support Professionals

• Support remote workers using Microsoft Teams
• FAQ: Support Your Remote Workforce
• Empower your Firstline Workers with Microsoft Teams (Webinar)
• Upgrade Planning Workshops

Microsoft Teams Meetings Tips and Tricks

Creating Meetings:

• Schedule a Teams meeting from Outlook
• Invite people to a meeting
• Start an instant meeting
• Video: Create instant meetings with Meet now
• Video: Tip: Meet in a channel
• Add a dial-in number for a meeting

Meetings:

• Overview of meetings in Teams
• See all your meetings
• Video: Manage meetings
• Join a meeting in Teams
• Video: Join a Teams meeting
• Participate in a meeting from the mobile app
• Call in to a meeting

Calls:

• Start a call from a chat
• Answer a call

Collaboration:

• Take meeting notes
• Whiteboard

Recordings:

• Record a meeting
• Play and share a meeting recording

Advanced Features:

• How to blur your camera background during a Teams Meeting
• Manage audio settings
• Share Desktop Audio in Teems Meetings
• Share your screen
• Video: Show your screen during a meeting
• Multitasking in a meeting
• Video: Move around during a Teams meeting
• Change participant settings

Microsoft Teams Training Resources was originally published in Microsoft Expert on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Brad Groux on Twitter

My new 15" #AMD #Ryzen7 powered #SurfaceLaptop3 has arrived, and it is beautiful. Well done, @panos_panay, @ralfgroene and the rest of the @surface team.

For brevity’s sake, I am going to stick with the benchmarks in this post. If you’d like to hear about all of the details for the first 15" Surface Laptop models, be sure to check out the great in depth review from AnandTech: The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (15-Inch) Review: AMD Ryzen Surface Edition. In it, they had this to say:

The Surface team continues to make some of the nicest devices around, and the Surface Laptop 3 upholds that tradition. The attention to detail on items like having every single device tested to ensure the initial opening of the laptop can be done with one finger is the kind of fanaticism not normally seen in the laptop space. The entire design is sleek, smooth, and light, and the color options are a welcome way to add even more choice for consumers.

All in all, I agree with just about everything stated within the AnandTech review, but in short — benchmarks aside, I love my 15" Surface Laptop 3. So much so, that I’ve opted to kick my work provided Dell to the curb.

Comparing the Hardware

The Surface Laptop 3 comes in several flavors to choose from, including both 13.5-inch and 15-inch sizes, and Intel Core i5–1035G7, Intel Core i7–1065G7, AMD Ryzen 5 3580U, and AMD Ryzen 7 3780U CPU options. The Microsoft Surface Edition AMD Ryzen CPUs are only available in the 15-inch consumer version of the Surface Laptop 3, while the business version of the 15-inch Surface Laptop 3 and all 13.5-inch versions are powered by Intel CPUs and graphics.

The AMD Ryzen™ 7 3780U Microsoft Surface® Edition Processor found in the 15-inch Surface Laptop 3 is a quad core, 8 thread CPU with a base clock speed of 2.3GHz and a max boost clock speed of 4GHz. The 3780U also features Radeon RX Vega 11 Graphics with a total of 11 GPU cores, and the GPU is where the AMD Ryzen Surface Laptop 3 devices separate themselves from their Intel counterparts.

My Surface Laptop 3

For my Surface Laptop 3, I opted for the Ryzen 7 model with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and Radeon RX Vega 11 Graphics which has a base price of $2099. While the top-end configuration at $2799 has double the storage and memory of my Surface Laptop 3, its compute and GPU benchmarks should be similar to my Surface Laptop’s configuration.

Here, I will be comparing the Ryzen 5 3580U Surface Laptop 3 directly with the Ryzen 7 3780U Surface Laptop 3. If you’d like to see how it stacks up against similar devices in the market, I’d like to point you back once again to the AnandTech review, which posts it’s benchmark findings for the Ryzen 5 3580U among a plethora of devices.

Using the data I provide you here, you should be able to correlate where the Ryzen 7 3780U stacks up compared to AnandTech’s findings. I do not want to reprint their findings here in their entirety, as benchmarking that many devices likely took many, many hours — and they deserve the click for that hard work. Here is one of the many examples that they provide:

AMD Ryzen 7 3780U Microsoft Surface Edition

Mirroring what AnandTech did in their review, here’s a snapshot of the AIDA64 CPUID results for my device:

AMD Ryzen 7 3780UM Surface Laptop 3 System Performance

I was not able to recreate every single benchmark that AnandTech performed in their review, but I was able to recreate nine System Performance, and seven GPU Performance benchmarks, which should be a good comparison. In the table below, you can see how the 15-inch Surface Laptop 3’s Ryzen 5 3580 compares with the Ryzen 7 3780U and the Surface Laptop 2’s Core i7–8650U.

• The Ryzen 7 3780U took seven of the nine system performance benchmarks, including: All four PCMark 10 tests, the Cinebench R15 Multi-Thread benchmark, Mozilla Kraken, and Google Octane.
• The Surface Laptop 2’s Core i7–8650U held strong with the Single-Thread Cinebench R15 and WebXPRT 3 benchmarks.

AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 Surface Laptop 3 GPU Performance

The table below highlights how the 15-inch Surface Laptop 3’s Vega 11 GPU (3780U) stacks up against the competition, including it’s weaker sibling the Vega 9 (3580U), and the Surface Laptop 2’s integrated Core i7–8650U graphics.

• The Ryzen 7 3780U’s Vega 11 GPU handily takes five of the seven benchmarks, including: 3DMark First Strike, 3DMark Sky Diver, 3DMark Cloud Gate, 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited — Graphics, and the GFXBench 5.0 Aztec Ruins Normal 1080p
• The Surface Laptop 2’s Core i7–8650U took down the remaining two benchmarks: 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited, and 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited — Graphics

15" Surface Laptop 3 512GB SSD Storage Performance

As one might expect, the storage performance metrics as measured by CryastalDiskMark from the 512GB SSD found in my Ryzen 7 Surface Laptop 3 are nearly identical to the results from the 256GB SSD found in the AnandTech benchmarks. The Surface line of products aren’t known for their speedy SSDs, but for most workloads, they’ll do just fine.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the numbers show that the AMD Ryzen 7 3780U powered Surface Laptop 3 more than holds its own in the mobile CPU space, with the Vega 11 GPU being a big differentiator.

Obviously the Vega 11 isn’t like having a dedicated GPU, but it does greatly improve overall performance at a very low power draw while allowing you to get some light gaming in, if that is your thing.

In the past week I’ve played The Outer Worlds, Astroneer, Everspace, and Surviving Mars while on the road… and I look forward to playing further titles while enjoying countless more hours on the first AMD-powered Surface device.

Benchmarking the Microsoft Surface Edition AMD Ryzen 7 15" Surface Laptop 3 was originally published in Microsoft Expert on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.