Microsoft Research Podcast

Latest Episodes:

133 - Just Tech: Centering Community-Driven Innovation at the Margins episode 1 with Desmond Patton and Mary Gray Mar 23, 2022

Show notes

In “Just Tech: Centering Community-Driven Innovation at the Margins,” Senior Principal Researcher Mary Gray explores how technology and community intertwine and the role technology can play in supporting community-driven innovation and community-based organizations. Dr. Gray and her team are working to bring computer science, engineering, social science, and community together to boost societal resilience in ongoing work with Project Resolve. She’ll talk with organizers, academics, technology leaders, and activists to understand how to develop tools and frameworks of support alongside members of these communities. In this episode of the series, Dr. Gray talks with Dr. Desmond Patton, whose work at the intersection of social work, social media, and technology seeks to understand the root of aggression, grief, and trauma in ways that can help inform interventions for social workers and broader communities. Together, they explore Patton’s learnings about the challenges of using AI in a field that’s full of nuance and how informed technology can make positive social impacts in partnership with local communities. Dr. Patton also shares how his work on gang violence has grown his understanding of how social media can influence and transform the narratives about people.

https://www.microsoft.com/research

132 - New Future of Work: How remote and hybrid work will shape workplaces and society with Jaime Teevan and Sid Suri Aug 12, 2021

Show notes

For Microsoft researchers, COVID-19 was a call to action. The reimagining of work practices had long been an area of study, but existing and new questions that needed immediate answers surfaced as companies and their employees quickly adjusted to significantly different working conditions. Teams from across the Microsoft organizational chart pooled their unique expertise together under The New Future of Work initiative. The results have informed product features designed to better support remote work and are now being used to help companies, including Microsoft, usher their workforces into a future of hybrid work.

In this episode of The New Future of Work series, Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan and Senior Principal Researcher Siddharth Suri explore the many ways people were impacted by work shifts during the COVID-19 pandemic. They talk about how race, gender, income, and other factors are indicative of how people have fared and what this means for the future of work. The researchers discuss the importance of examining potential hidden consequences—and patience—when using short-term data to make long-term decisions, emphasizing aspects of burnout and innovation. Topics covered in this wide-ranging conversation include benefits of commutes and a silver lining in the shift to remote and hybrid work—the movement of more innovative jobs out of large metro areas, creating momentum for greater opportunity in diverse locations. The research that Siddharth Suri describes in this podcast was jointly done with Hana Wolf of LinkedIn.

https://www.microsoft.com/research

131 - New Future of Work: Redefining workspaces as hybrid and remote work become more prevalent with Jaime Teevan and Ginger Hudson Aug 04, 2021

Show notes

In this episode of The New Future of Work series, Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan and Principal User Research Manager Ginger Hudson share how people evolved their home office setups throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and they explore how information workers used various devices and peripherals to put their best self forward as the shift to remote work quickly unfolded. They also talk about what an “anatomy of hybrid work” might look like and some considerations for making a hybrid model of work sustainable in the long term, including the expansion of workspaces to outdoor environments.

https://www.microsoft.com/research

130 - New Future of Work: Managing IT and security in remote scenarios with Jaime Teevan and Matt Brodsky Jul 29, 2021

Show notes

For Microsoft researchers, COVID-19 was a call to action. The reimagining of work practices had long been an area of study, but existing and new questions that needed immediate answers surfaced as companies and their employees quickly adjusted to significantly different working conditions. Teams from across the Microsoft organizational chart pooled their unique expertise together under The New Future of Work initiative. The results have informed product features designed to better support remote work and are now being used to help companies, including Microsoft, usher their workforces into a future of hybrid work.

In this episode of the podcast, Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan and Senior User Research Manager Matt Brodsky examine how the level of IT support available during the shift, including the ability to provide hardware and software, made the difference between laying off staff and weathering the challenges brought on by the pandemic. They also explore why remote work came with a spike in phishing threats, what the biggest thorn in the sides of IT administrators has been this past year, and where opportunities exist to prepare to keep up with tech advances and tackle future disruptions.

https://www.microsoft.com/research

129 - Machine learning, molecular simulation, and the opportunity for societal good with Chris Bishop and Max Welling Jul 20, 2021

Show notes

Unlocking the challenge of molecular simulation has the potential to yield significant breakthroughs in how we tackle such societal issues as climate change, drug discovery, and the treatment of disease, and Microsoft is ramping up its efforts in the space.

In this episode, Chris Bishop, Lab Director of Microsoft Research Cambridge, welcomes renowned machine learning researcher Max Welling to the Microsoft Research team as head of the new Amsterdam lab. Connecting over their shared physics background and vision for molecular simulation, Bishop and Welling explore several fascinating topics, including a future in which machine learning and quantum computing will be used in tandem to model molecules, the power of machine learning to provide “on demand” data in this space, and goals for the first year and beyond at the Amsterdam lab.

https://www.microsoft.com/research

128 - New Future of Work: How developer collaboration and productivity are changing in a hybrid work model Jul 14, 2021

Show notes

In this episode of The New Future of Work series, Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan and Principal Productivity Engineer Brian Houck discuss what the massive shift to remote work meant for developers—both employees of Microsoft and customers using Microsoft developer platforms to support their work. They’ll talk about how taking a holistic approach to developer productivity can benefit both efficiency and happiness, with an emphasis on the important role social connections and processes play in a field often thought of as an isolated endeavor. They also explore pros and cons of everyday developer tasks, like code review and whiteboarding, being done in a hybrid work setting.

https://www.microsoft.com/research

127 - New Future of Work: Staying productive and happy when our office is our home with Jaime Teevan and Sonia Jaffe Jul 07, 2021

Show notes

In this episode of The New Future of Work series of the podcast, Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan and Senior Research Economist Sonia Jaffe delve into the “Personal Productivity and Well-Being” chapter of the report, beginning with why measuring productivity isn’t as easy as just observing output or counting hours worked. They also explore how people already working from home helped them better understand how people adjusted to remote work, the diversity in experiences among workers, and how we can be better coworkers to our remote colleagues whether we’re working from home or not.

https://www.microsoft.com/research

126 - New Future of Work: Meeting and collaborating in a remote and hybrid world with Jaime Teevan and Abigail Sellen Jun 30, 2021

Show notes

In this episode of The New Future of Work series of the podcast, Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan and Abigail Sellen, Deputy Lab Director at Microsoft Research Cambridge in the United Kingdom, explore the dynamics of meetings and collaborations in the context of remote work. They specifically address the difference between weak and strong ties in our professional networks and why both matter to employee and company success. They also break down the phenomenon of video fatigue and share ways in which remote meetings may actually have the advantage.

https://www.microsoft.com/research

125 - New Future of Work: Driving innovation via cross-company research with Jaime Teevan and Brent Hecht Jun 24, 2021

Show notes

In this episode of The New Future of Work series of the podcast, Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan and Director of Applied Science Brent Hecht of the Experiences and Devices group in Microsoft share how an internal SharePoint document led to what they believe is the largest collection of research on the pandemic’s impact on work. They’ll discuss the role of research during times of disruption, the widening scope of productivity tools, why going back to work two to three days a week is ideal, and what else companies should keep in mind as they decide on new work models.

https://www.microsoft.com/research

124 - Econ4: Uncovering how decision-making shapes individuals and society through behavioral public economics featuring Evan Rose and Hunt Allcott Jun 16, 2021

Show notes

In the world of economics, researchers at Microsoft are examining a range of complex systems—from those that impact the technologies we use to those that inform the laws and policies we create—through the lens of a social science that goes beyond the numbers to better understand people and society.

In this episode, Senior Principal Researcher Hunt Allcott talks with Postdoctoral Researcher Evan Rose about Allcott’s work exploring the everyday decisions people face, like buying fuel-efficient cars or taking out payday loans, and how a clearer understanding of these decisions can shape meaningful public policy. Allcott shares how his and others’ research shows that policy can often have complex outcomes resulting in hidden benefits and drawbacks, as in the case of taxes on sugary beverages. The researchers also discuss why individuals often feel the competing motivations of making bad versus good decisions—a tension that often lies front-and-center in scenarios primed for behavioral public economics research.

https://www.microsoft.com/research

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