The view through a car windshield arriving at the Microsoft campus

July 1996—July 2026

30 yearsin tech.

In July 1996, I drove onto the Microsoft campus for my first job in tech. Thirty years later, let's look back at where it started: the Project group and Microsoft Team Manager 97.

Redmond, WashingtonMicrosoft Project groupTeam Manager 97

Going to work, 1996.

Tosh Meston standing beside his Microsoft office door in 1996 — 01Outside my first office, 1996.

Tosh Meston showing his father around his Microsoft office — 02Showing my dad what I do.

A Microsoft office desk with two CRT monitors, a phone, and a Trainspotting poster — 03Two CRTs and plenty of cables.

My dad and me standing beside arcade cabinets in the glass Microsoft skybridge between Buildings 17 and 18 — 04Dad and me in the Habitrail.

Tosh Meston and Kristen posing playfully beside a fountain in the courtyard between Microsoft Buildings 16, 17, and 18 — 05Kristen and me, dorking around in the courtyard. She would end up working at Microsoft too.

Two people standing among brass Microsoft product plaques set into a courtyard — 06Microsoft’s product history, set in brass.

The downtown Seattle skyline and Kingdome viewed from the freeway in 1996 — 07Downtown Seattle, 1996.

The first product

Then we shipped Team Manager 97.

Team Manager 97 was version 1.0: a desktop app for Windows 95 and Windows NT. There was no Mac version. It brought a team's tasks, priorities, deadlines, status, and workload into one place.

Look at that gorgeous Win32 interface!

Microsoft Team Manager 97 running on Windows with its About dialog open — About Team ManagerVersion 1.00

Microsoft Team Manager 97 showing a task list, schedule, Tools menu, and deadline legend — Task planningDeadlines & assignments

Microsoft Team Manager 97 showing the What is Team Manager quick preview — Quick PreviewWhat is Team Manager?

Shrink-wrapped Microsoft Team Manager 97 retail box — 01Microsoft Team Manager 97 retail box, still in its shrink-wrap.

Rear of the shrink-wrapped Microsoft Team Manager 97 retail box — 02The back of the box, complete with system requirements and fine print.

03Microsoft Team Manager 97 Step by Step self-study book.

What came next

Microsoft Project 98and 2000.

During those years, I was getting good at web development and even got to fix a few bugs in Project Central 2000. I eventually left the Project group to become a Web Design Engineer, a new role at Microsoft. I was part of the first cohort of WDEs.

Microsoft Project 98 product box — 01Microsoft Project 98

Microsoft Project 2000 product box — 02Microsoft Project 2000

Thirty years later

I'm still learning.

Since Team Manager, the tools have changed—from desktop software to the web, mobile apps, services, and now AI systems—but I'm still doing what I was doing in 1996: learning how new technology works and figuring out what people might build with it. These days, I'm exploring agentic AI, workspace-aware tools, and human-AI interaction.

Explore my AI work See what else I've built