The Garage never should have existed: Why Microsoft’s grassroots innovation lab worked for so long

The Microsoft Garage, an internal grassroots innovation program co-founded by the author, is shutting down after 17 years. The article is a retrospective examining why the Garage outlasted other innovation initiatives at Microsoft despite initial skepticism about its necessity. The author identifies four key choices that contributed to its longevity: prioritizing doers over talkers, operating as a potluck, not chasing billionaires, and willingness to pursue ambitious projects.

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