Microsoft scraps peer-feedback app as it moves to informal reviews and rating overhaul

A corporate communication to staff confirmed that Microsoft will phase out its Perspectives peer-feedback application, a system launched in 2018 that let workers solicit performance input visible to managers. New feedback requests are disabled, though users may answer pending requests and download their feedback history through September 15. The retirement reflects a shift toward spontaneous, informal discussions rather than formalized requests, coinciding with a sweeping overhaul of the firm’s review process that will condense ratings into five distinct levels and sharpen performance distinctions.

At the same time, leadership has instructed managers to trim the number of staff occupying higher-level engineering positions as part of a broader flattening of the organization. The move follows earlier efforts to make feedback less intimidating by removing the word “feedback” from the tool’s name.