Another Year, Another PM: The SSMS Team Keeps Growing

Erin: Hey friends, happy new year!  As we kick off 2025 and prepare for a year of continued progress with SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), we have a bit of news to share: the SSMS PM team is expanding! 

Now, we recognize that seeing this kind of announcement is unusual, and we also recognize that you might not be interested 😊 But for those who have been following along this journey and have provided support and feedback, we wanted to be transparent about why you’re seeing blog posts, replies on feedback items, and sessions from someone besides me (Erin).  There is so much work in the SSMS and Copilot in SSMS space that it was time to bring in reinforcements.  I am absolutely thrilled to share that Makena Barickman is joining me as a PM for SSMS.

Makena and I will divide up tasks behind the scenes, but for all of you, we are both here for anything and everything you need.  And with that, I’ll turn it over to Makena so she can introduce herself.

Makena: WOOHOO! Hello everyone – my name is Makena Barickman and I’m SO excited to be here (if you couldn’t tell). I’ve been at Microsoft for 3 years working on the SQL Experiences team. I’ve worked on the Azure Portal, the SQL query editor in Fabric, the mssql extension in VS Code, and now I am so excited to partner with Erin on SSMS! Before Microsoft, I was a PM at Zillow (an online real estate website) where I honed a lot of key PM skills and was introduced to the world of digital Accessibility, one of my other passions. I really enjoy learning new things, asking questions, brainstorming ideas, talking with customers, presenting, and testing hypotheses. I always liked science growing up, and being a PM makes me feel a bit like a scientist (with significantly less dangerous chemicals and lab coats).

I’m new to SSMS, which is both exciting and a little intimidating due to its long history and passionate community. So far my first few weeks have been spent learning a ton about the tool, its history, its quirks, and its future! I’m eager to contribute to the 19+ years of SSMS history and learn from the amazing community of people that use it.

If you want to hear more about me, I recently had the honor of being a guest on Ben Weissman and Jes Pomfret’s series Finding Data Friends (Episode 090 Makena Barickman), or feel free to follow me on LinkedIn (LinkedIn). But don’t worry, you’ll be hearing lots more from me very soon!