The initiative’s primary goal is to make Google products easier to use, especially by packaging disparate products. For example, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said, Google plans to combine its spreadsheet, calendar and word-processing programs into one suite of Web-based applications.

Flush with cash following its initial public offering two years ago, Google scooped up hundreds of software engineers and began releasing new services at a dizzying pace. “The result occurred precisely because we told these incredible engineering teams to run as fast as possible to solve new problems,’’ Schmidt said. “But then that created this other problem.’’

The company does not plan to tell engineers to halt all new products, Google said, nor does it plan to kill little-used services.

Rather, the effort is focused on future development. After launching “Features, not products’’ this summer, Schmidt said, Google cancelled several new services in development and instructed their creators to instead make features of other products.

“That is a big change in the way we run the company,’’ Schmidt said, describing Google’s previous attitude as: “Just get this stuff built and get it out — don’t worry about the integration.’’

—Chris Gaither / Los Angeles Times