Will Holland is the Principal of Strategy and Marketing (PoSM) at ThreeWill, where he champions our core values by shaping and sharing how ThreeWill helps employees thrive. Using his love for storytelling, Will leverages his unique ability to balance technical depth and strategic vision, bridging the gap between developers and business leaders through clear, creative communication. Outside of work, Will can usually be found at the nearest soccer pitch, either cheering for his kids or for Atlanta United.
A few days ago, I listened to Simon Sinek’s famous TED Talk about starting with why. It’s one of those talks that sticks with you—not because it’s a groundbreaking new idea, but because it articulates something you’ve always felt but never quite put into words.
It got me thinking about my own why. Why do I do the work I do? Why does ThreeWill exist? Why do I care about helping organizations use technology in a way that actually makes work better?
The answer is simple: we spend so much of our lives at work, and I believe we deserve to spend that time on things we actually care about—not on busy work.
Work Shouldn’t Just Be a Time Sink
For most of us, work takes up more waking hours than almost anything else. Yet, too often, that time is spent on things that don’t feel meaningful. We sit in meetings that don’t need to happen, fill out reports that no one reads, and jump through hoops created by inefficient systems. The worst part? It’s not even the work itself that drains us—it’s the feeling that our time is being wasted.
I’ve always felt a certain resistance to this. It bothers me to see people stuck in cycles of inefficiency, feeling like they’re just getting through the day instead of making an impact. And that’s what fuels me. That’s why I do what I do—because I believe technology can (and should) be a force for making work more meaningful, not just more complicated.
The Roots of My Passion for Automation
I’ve always enjoyed creating automations. In fact, it’s what got me into development in the first place.
Back in the 90s, I played an online game called Gemstone III from Simutronics Corp. It eventually evolved into Gemstone IV, which is still running today.
The game was essentially an endless, online version of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. You created a character, leveled up by fighting monsters, or roleplayed as the town drunk—whatever you wanted, so long as it fit within the world of Elanthia.
I played an elven rogue who spent his days in a tower, picking locks on treasure chests that other adventurers found.
The game required a lot of typing—you had to input commands for everything you wanted to do.
This could become tedious, especially for repetitive tasks. For example, if you wanted to craft arrows for your bow, you’d have to enter about 10 commands, each spaced out with a few seconds of waiting.
Then, I discovered the game had a scripting engine. It allowed me to automate almost every aspect of gameplay. Using basic loops and conditional statements, I created scripts that handled repetitive tasks for me—and it was a revelation.
I became so engrossed in writing scripts that I started a Geocities site to take requests and publish them. Soon, I had a handful of people using my automations, thrilled that I had made their gameplay easier.
While I don’t play Gemstone anymore, the joy I found in making people’s lives easier has never left me. If you’ve worked with me recently, you know how much I love using Power Automate to streamline processes. I’m still automating everything I can.
The Real Value of Productivity
I think we have productivity all wrong. Too often, it’s framed as a numbers game—how many emails you answer, how many tasks you check off, how much output you produce. But real productivity is about impact. It’s about making sure that the work we do actually matters.
That’s why I care so much about helping organizations align Microsoft 365 with how people actually work. Not just because it’s what we do at ThreeWill, but because I’ve seen firsthand what happens when work gets easier, when the right tools eliminate distractions instead of creating them, and when people can focus on doing what they’re good at instead of wrestling with systems that get in their way.
What This Means for the Future of Work
We’re in an interesting moment in time. AI, automation, and digital transformation are reshaping how we work. But the real question is: are they making work better? Are they freeing people up to focus on things that matter, or are they just shifting the burden around?
To me, the future of work isn’t about getting more done in less time—it’s about making sure the time we spend working is well spent. It’s about eliminating the things that don’t matter so we can focus on the things that do.
That’s my why. What’s yours?
