August/September 2006

Volume 47, Number 1

September Chapter Meeting Features Microsoft's Crabby Office Lady

by Al Kemp

STC RMC President Deb Lockwood welcomed attendees to the first chapter meeting of the 2006-2007 season. She introduced new officers and committee managers, and reminded the group that volunteer positions remain open for Publicity Manager and Website Manager. Deb also described coming chapter meetings: in October networking meetings will be held at north and south Denver Metro locations; and the November meeting features John Hedtke giving his talk "Pre-emptive Project Planning Pays Off."

Annik Stahl, Microsoft's Crabby Office Lady

After announcements, Program Committee manager Kristy Astry introduced speaker Annik Stahl, Microsoft's Crabby Office Lady. Stahl is a weekly Microsoft humor and help columnist, and her column "Crabby Office Lady," at the Office Online Web site (office.microsoft.com), received six million hits in 2005. Her new book from Microsoft Press, The Microsoft Crabby Office Lady Tells It Like It Is, took four months to write. In 45 days, 8,000 copies of the book were sold.

As columnist and author, Stahl offers "solid advice with an attitude." Her mission is to be useful and relevant and to teach with humor. Stahl is also a video performer and a daily user of Microsoft Office at work and at home. She has a B.A. in creative writing and an M.A. in journalism, both from the University of Colorado. She has been a Microsoft Office Help writer, an article writer, a template creator, and a Web site producer.

And contrary to the impression of some readers, she explained, the Crabby Office Lady is not a prejudiced 20-year-old male "Microsoftie" posing as a middle-aged woman.

Stahl gets the ideas for her columns from many sources including feedback from e-mail, personal experience, and the Office Online Web site. Dilbert often gives Stahl ideas. Column topics include:

• Tips for teachers and parents
• Tips for multimedia
• Collaborating with difficult people
• Diversity in the workplace
• Surviving performance reviews

When you're trying to get help, one unknown term or phrase can give you that deer-in-the-headlights feeling, stymieing you in your jump across the highway of knowledge....

—The Crabby Office Lady

A Microsoft contractor from July 1998 to November 1999, Stahl created the Crabby Office Lady in December 2001. She thought of "an older office lady you're a little bit afraid of, and who knows where the bodies are buried." No prototyping was done; Microsoft just published the first Crabby column, "Customize templates and avoid the guilt," in February 2002. Although internal reaction to the column was mixed, external reaction was 95 percent positive. At first Stahl had to run all her Crabby Office Lady columns through Microsoft's Legal Department and management, but now she pretty much gets free reign.

To date, Microsoft has received more than 100 requests to make Crabby an Office Assistant (like the much-maligned Clippy). The Office Online Web site has 140 Crabby Office Lady columns and 14 humorous videos. Stahl played one for her rapt audience.

Stahl and Microsoft take reader feedback very seriously. Stahl is the only full-time columnist at Microsoft, and her online readership (as determined by column hits) defines her success as a columnist. She uses Content Watson, a Microsoft tool that collects information about online content, to get a broad idea of what columns and types of topics are popular. In addition to hits and ratings, Content Watson provides feedback via the "Was this information helpful?" prompt at the end of each column. She examines ratings and comments on a daily basis.

Stahl's plans include another book and a series of Crabby Office Lady columns introducing Office 2007.

Following the presentation, Stahl and the audience engaged in a lively question and answer session.