About

I’m Phillip Büchler, a workplace architect in Switzerland. For more than fifteen years I’ve designed, secured and run enterprise workplaces, mostly in large organisations, regulated and less so, and mostly built on Microsoft.

This blog is where I think out loud about that work: Microsoft security, endpoint management, the modern workplace, and the leadership and strategy questions that come with them. The question underneath most posts is the same one. What does this decision really make us depend on, and did anyone actually decide that?

A few things I believe

A test is worth a hundred lines of concept. That goes for backups, conditional access and exit strategies alike.

A plan is nothing, planning is everything. Eisenhower meant battles. Roadmaps go out of date, and the thinking behind them is what lets you redraw them.

Integration creates value, and it creates dependency. Microsoft 365 is better when everything works together. It’s also harder to take apart. Good architecture admits both.

Data residency isn’t sovereignty. Knowing where data sits matters less than knowing whether you can recover it, move it and keep working when circumstances change.

A few smart people and a bit of structure never hurt. When hype cycles and budgets both swing, that beats any trend report.

The interesting problems are the ones without a PowerPoint template yet.

What this blog is

A personal playground. Some posts are well researched, some are thinking out loud, and a few are mainly an excuse for a footnote. I try to say which is which. I link sources when facts matter and say so when I’m unsure. If you spot a mistake, tell me. I’d rather fix it than defend it.

There’s also a Weekend Reader with links I found worth your time.

What it isn’t

These are my views, not my employer’s, past or present, and none of it is professional advice. Nobody pays me to write about vendors, and if a post touches my day job, I’ll say so.

Lately

I’m thinking about digital sovereignty for Microsoft-based workplaces and what AI agents do to the idea of a managed desktop. The longer pieces live in Architecture, starting with Sovereign Workplace.

Who is Adele?

Adele Vance shows up in many scenarios here. She’s fictional, borrowed from Microsoft’s demo tenants, and over the years she has suffered more broken updates and failed migrations than any real person should. Any resemblance to your colleagues is a coincidence, mostly.

Contact