Microsoft is winding down The Garage as a companywide program, ending a 17-year run for the effort that gave employees space and tools for side projects and ran the company’s Global Hackathon, according to an internal FAQ viewed by GeekWire.
The program, with a flagship location on Microsoft’s Redmond campus and more than a dozen other sites from Vancouver, B.C., to Beijing, became part of the company’s push for a more experimental culture under Satya Nadella, who took over as CEO in 2014.
In the FAQ, Microsoft says the experimentation that started in dedicated programs and spaces like The Garage now happens “every day within each of our teams,” as employees build new skills and adopt new tools in their regular work. The FAQ says the company is “reinventing how we foster innovation, learning, and experimentation” across Microsoft.
The move comes as Microsoft spends heavily on AI, much of it for data centers and other infrastructure, while cutting costs and jobs in other parts of the business.
“We regularly evaluate how we use our physical spaces to best support our employees, customers and partners,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. “As part of that ongoing work, we’re making changes to some Garage spaces. Innovation and a builder mindset remain central to how we work every day.”
The company declined to comment further, including on the effect on Garage employees.
The Garage will no longer operate “as a centralized function,” according to the FAQ, and the impact on each physical space “will vary by location.” Some Garage spaces could be restricted as early as Friday, Oct. 23. Neither the FAQ nor Microsoft’s statement says which spaces are affected, including the flagship location in Redmond. Employees can’t take equipment, tools or materials with them.
The future of the Global Hackathon is also unsettled. The FAQ says the hackathon team is “reimagining the program” and that Microsoft will have more to share later.
Microsoft’s public Garage website, which showcased hackathon projects and experimental apps, was redirecting to the Microsoft homepage as of Tuesday morning.
From Office Labs to companywide: The Garage started in 2009 inside Microsoft’s Office Labs group in Redmond, with the slogan “Doers. Not Talkers.” The idea was to support employees who were already building their own projects, rather than collecting ideas and funding the most popular ones.
The program took on a bigger role under Nadella. In July 2014, The Garage ran Microsoft’s first companywide hackathon, which drew more than 11,000 registrants from 80 countries. The event became an annual fixture of Microsoft’s culture.
The Garage also released experimental apps to the public, including Mouse without Borders, a tool for controlling multiple PCs with one keyboard and mouse, and Arrow Launcher, which became Microsoft Launcher for Android.
As of this year, Microsoft listed Garage locations in 15 regions, including Redmond, Vancouver, B.C., the Bay Area, New York City, Ireland, Israel, India and Beijing.
Employee reaction: On Blind, the anonymous workplace app that verifies users’ employers, a post titled “Amy kills the Garage” drew more than 70 comments. The poster attributed the move to cost-cutting by Microsoft CFO Amy Hood.
Another employee wrote that The Garage was where they met their friends on campus and made connections that advanced their career.
“The Garage offices were one of the last few cool things about Microsoft,” one commenter wrote.