Aaron Guilmette is the author of Expert Microsoft Teams Solutions; we got the chance to sit down with him and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.
Q: What are your specialist tech areas?
Aaron: Microsoft Teams, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, PowerShell
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Aaron: For this book, I wanted to provide some deep knowledge on Microsoft Teams not available anywhere else. I partnered with some great peers who were experts in other areas to bring a comprehensive book to fruition.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Aaron: Prior to beginning this book, we researched what topics what are most overlooked or misunderstood when it comes to overall Microsoft Teams deployments, focusing on platform and voice integrations.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Aaron: Teams is an evergreen product, meaning it is getting feature enhancements and updates on a regular cadence. The challenge was to make sure we covered the most important architecture and design features that weren’t likely to change.
Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Aaron: Teams will continue to grow and be an integral part of the Microsoft 365 platform story.
Q: Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Aaron: This book covers topics not seen in other books, especially around voice architecture and design.
Q: What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away with from the book?
Aaron: Teams Phone is a strong phone system platform and is competitive with traditional phone systems at a fraction of the investment cost. The Teams integration with the entire Microsoft 365 ecosystem makes it an excellent integrated work platform.
Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Aaron: Find a topic that’s interesting to you and learn as much as you can about it. Focus on solving business problems, which will in turn show you the strengths and weaknesses of a particular technology.
Q. Do you have a blog that readers can follow?
Aaron: Undocumented Features
Q. Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Aaron: Microsoft TechCommunity (https://techcommunity.microsoft.com) is one of the broadest platforms.
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Aaron: It’s been exciting and rewarding. The publishing and editorial staff is easy to work with.
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Aaron: TechCommunity, internal training
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Aaron: It was team effort, so we divided the workload into everyone’s expertise areas and set deadlines.
