Microsoft Software Factory Expert Moves to Cloud

Microsoft's original Software Factory worker has a new position and is taking his expertise to the cloud.

Jack Greenfield, who came to Microsoft from what is now IBM's Rational software division, introduced the concept of Software Factories to Microsoft. Now Greenfield has joined Microsoft's Cloud Services Team.

In a Dec. 3 blog post about his job change, Greenfield said:

"Just over a month ago, I moved from p&p to the Cloud Services Team (CST), which is part of the Business Platform Division (BPD) of the Server and Tools Business (STB), reporting to John Shewchuk. CST is responsible for SQL Azure, Windows Azure platform AppFabric, Microsoft Codename 'Dallas,’ and many other cloud platform technologies. It's a talented and innovative team in one of the most significant and fast moving areas of the industry. As a Principal Architect here, I'll be helping to advance Microsoft's vision for an industry-defining cloud platform by creating and driving product, technical, and marketing strategy; developing new product offerings; and collaborating with other CST leaders on execution and product delivery."

Before joining the Cloud Services Team, Greenfield was a principal architect in Microsoft's Patterns & Practices, where he developed Power Tools for Visual Studio Team Architect. Prior to that role, Greenfield served as senior director for Enterprise Architecture in the Developer and Platform Evangelism Platform Architecture Team, where he led a team developing architectural guidance for Microsoft's Software plus Services strategy.

As a principal architect on Visual Studio, Greenfield's introduction of Software Factories was a radical concept for Microsoft. Software Factories is a RAD (rapid application development) methodology using DSLs (domain-specific languages). A software factory applies manufacturing techniques and principles to software development to mimic the benefits of traditional manufacturing. With the Software Factories technology, Greenfield helped harvest and evolve the Visual Studio modeling and model integration technology.

Before Microsoft, Greenfield was chief architect for the Rose Business Unit at Rational, founder and CTO of Inline Software, and a key contributor to the Enterprise Objects Framework at Steve Jobs' NeXT Computer.