A New Release Strategy: Preparing for Teams Release

Brent Ellis, I interpret your comments to be the complexity of the productivity platform (rather than the specific app). You're absolutely right that Office 365 is a broad and deep set of tools, and there is certainly overlap between the applications. It is Microsoft's responsibility to build intuitive solutions that work the way people expect, and it is also Microsoft's responsibility to provide you with insight, guidance, and use cases to take advantage of the productivity experiences. That's on us, and we intend to keep making this easier for you.

However, we also have overlapping capabilities intentionally. At Microsoft, we view a modern workplace as mirroring our consumer lives in many ways. People expect to work in the office the same way they collaborate in their personal lives. In my personal life, I have a million options, and I want to collaborate where I am, when I'm there. Should I send an email or an SMS? The modality matters less than the efficiency in reaching my friends/family. At work, people often take a similar approach and start using consumer services when IT does not provide the experience that they want. Thus, Office 365 provides many different ways to acheive the same means. The intention is to minimize the risk of shadow IT, where teams or individuals start using unsanctioned services. Your organization's data should be discoverable, manageable, and protected, which is why Office 365 info protection features integrate deeply throughout the entire suite. We want you to feel comfortable with the compliance, empowered by the security, and freed to let your users choose their preferred experience and work style.

Dean_Gross, thank you for the feedback! I strongly agree with the kudos to this team and the need to continue on a similar path for future services and apps. Robust documentation with accurate and insightful guidance is a critical component of our change and release management strategy. Historically, you could build a test environment, play with new capabilities, and build your own documentation and help content. Now that Microsoft operates the infrastructure and makes the new software available to you at release, it is crucuial that we provide you with the appropriate information earlier.

pezzin, I'm sorry to hear that your experience isn't what we expect. I would suggest opening a support case for investigation and troubleshooting. If your organization subscribes to US Government, Germany, China, or Education services, this may be intended until Microsoft Teams is avialble in those offerings.