Name:
Joanna Mason

Title/Product:
Lead Program Manager, Expression Blend and Design

What inspires you?
Art and technology combined in ways that surprise, delight, educate and entertain.

How did you choose to work on this team with this product?
I have been creating tools for artists, designers and animators throughout my career. Expression is leading the way in redefining the software user-interface to be dynamic, usable and beautiful. I joined Expression to help drive this transformation in the way we think about software and interactivity.

What's your favorite feature? Why?
In Blend 2 SP1 we introduced support for the Visual State Manager feature of Silverlight 2. This is my favorite feature because it gives the visual designer even more control of the look and feel of their application without having to write code.

How long have you been a Microsoftie?
2 years.

What does your typical workday look like?
My day varies significantly depending on where we are in the product cycle. A lot of my time is spent thinking about how to best allow users to accomplish certain tasks. I then write feature specifications and work closely with our development and test organization during the implementation of the feature. I like to try and get out and meet as many customers as possible. Finding out what users are trying to do and where they are running into issues is a key part of what a Program Manager does on a daily basis. In addition, I try to stay up on the industry as well as research in future trends for visual design, graphics and animation.