Microsoft Visit- Reflection Post

As we’ve learned in Professor Michael’s class, companies need a separate space for their employees to explore their creativity and imagination such that they can use the resources available to them to come up with innovative products and solutions. Microsoft’s Garage emulates this separate space as they encourage employees to work on individual projects during their free time without being constrained by typical project deadlines, documentation, etc. It was interesting that the Microsoft logo did not have a very heavy presence within the Garage space. This represents the company’s efforts to make this space a completely separate entity to encourage that free thinking and to limit any feeling of pressure. We also learned that Microsoft hosts workshops for the employees so that they can learn about other products outside of their immediate work. This is an extremely unique and import aspect because it’s very valuable to be able to learn about other technologies and ways of thinking. The host also mentioned that some of the ideas that come out of the garage are only applicable to the China business. The Garage puts heavy emphasis on incorporating Hackathons into their corporate culture. Both internal employees and external applicants are welcome to explore a wide range of themes and ideas can be even further developed through their Intrapreneur Program, where the projects can be funded and provided resources to move forward. Microsoft Garage’s three key pillars are incubator of projects, whimsy maker space, and amplification of geek culture. An awesome quote that was presented was “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This really symbolizes the companies commitment to fostering an innovative, free, and inclusive culture and how important these aspects are to them. Microsoft Garage emphasizes a commitment to human-centered design as they are consistently designing products that aim to improve the quality of life of its users. Additionally, the topic of government relations came up, and the host informed us that Microsoft has one of the best relationships with the government, which is very important in China. The extra regulations within the country do slightly affect Microsoft’s business, as they must approach some processes through a third party. But, surprisingly, other than that the business is not affected much.