Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon
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- Create Date：2021-05-11 08:16:18
- Update Date：2025-09-24
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- Author：Colin Bryar
- ISBN：1529033829
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Summary
Working Backwards is an insider's breakdown of Amazon's approach to culture， leadership， and best practices from two long-time， top-level Amazon executives。
Colin started at Amazon in 1998; Bill joined in 1999。 In Working Backwards， these two long-serving Amazon executives reveal and codify the principles and practices that drive the success of one of the most extraordinary companies the world has ever known。 With twenty-seven years of Amazon experience between them， much of it in the early aughts—a period of unmatched innovation that brought products and services including Kindle， Amazon Prime， Amazon Studios， and Amazon Web Services to life—Bryar and Carr offer unprecedented access to the Amazon way as it was refined， articulated， and proven to be repeatable， scalable， and adaptable。
With keen analysis and practical steps for applying it at your own company—no matter the size—the authors illuminate how Amazon’s fourteen leadership principles inform decision-making at all levels and reveal how the company’s culture has been defined by four characteristics: customer obsession， long-term thinking， eagerness to invent， and operational excellence。 Bryar and Carr explain the set of ground-level practices that ensure these are translated into action and flow through all aspects of the business。
Working Backwards is a practical guidebook and a corporate narrative， filled with the authors’ in-the-room recollections of what “Being Amazonian” is like and how it has affected their personal and professional lives。 They demonstrate that success on Amazon’s scale is not achieved by the genius of any single leader， but rather through commitment to and execution of a set of well-defined， rigorously-executed principles and practices—shared here for the very first time。
A Macmillan Audio production from St。 Martin's Press
Colin started at Amazon in 1998; Bill joined in 1999。 In Working Backwards， these two long-serving Amazon executives reveal and codify the principles and practices that drive the success of one of the most extraordinary companies the world has ever known。 With twenty-seven years of Amazon experience between them， much of it in the early aughts—a period of unmatched innovation that brought products and services including Kindle， Amazon Prime， Amazon Studios， and Amazon Web Services to life—Bryar and Carr offer unprecedented access to the Amazon way as it was refined， articulated， and proven to be repeatable， scalable， and adaptable。
With keen analysis and practical steps for applying it at your own company—no matter the size—the authors illuminate how Amazon’s fourteen leadership principles inform decision-making at all levels and reveal how the company’s culture has been defined by four characteristics: customer obsession， long-term thinking， eagerness to invent， and operational excellence。 Bryar and Carr explain the set of ground-level practices that ensure these are translated into action and flow through all aspects of the business。
Working Backwards is a practical guidebook and a corporate narrative， filled with the authors’ in-the-room recollections of what “Being Amazonian” is like and how it has affected their personal and professional lives。 They demonstrate that success on Amazon’s scale is not achieved by the genius of any single leader， but rather through commitment to and execution of a set of well-defined， rigorously-executed principles and practices—shared here for the very first time。
A Macmillan Audio production from St。 Martin's Press
Reviews
Jorge DeFlon
，
An engaging and entertaining account of the principles， practices and culture of Amazon， one of the successful tech giants。 Some of the practices are contrary to the practices of some other giants， such as Netflix。 Which shows that there is no single recipe to achieve excellent results。 I would have loved to have more details in the AWS chapter。
Heikki Keskiväli
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Entertaining and insightful take on the secret sauce of Amazon。 It represents scalable approaches to business culture and efficiency。Surprisingly， even Amazon was not winning all the time。。。
Akshay Patni
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Good read！ The book has elaborated on some of the fundamental mechanisms which is present in every Amazonian， and every process & discussion there。 You will get know about the inception of these preculiar mechanisms like narratives， input metrics， bar raiser， working backwards/PR FAQs etc。 The book is also full of anecdotes from meetings which included Jeff Bezos， as one of the author worked as a technical advisor to him。 Second half of the book is particularly interesting， as it contain stories Good read！ The book has elaborated on some of the fundamental mechanisms which is present in every Amazonian， and every process & discussion there。 You will get know about the inception of these preculiar mechanisms like narratives， input metrics， bar raiser， working backwards/PR FAQs etc。 The book is also full of anecdotes from meetings which included Jeff Bezos， as one of the author worked as a technical advisor to him。 Second half of the book is particularly interesting， as it contain stories about Prime， Prime Videos， AWS， Kindle， etc。 and how the company was able to build these great products， following above mechanisms and Amazonian way of thinking。 Many great and high performing companies have distinct culture， and there is something to learn form each of them。 Read this book to know about one such high performing and impactful company of our time。 。。。more
Jacob
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I thought this book was pretty good but a little stiff。 Amazon is a powerhouse and I was curious to learn about how they run things there。 Some of the ideas （e。g。， starting a new product’s development with a press release of its completion， six-page readings instead of PowerPoint‘s， *long* time horizons） are quite unique and seem to have worked out well for them。 My favorite takeaway is to focus on input metrics rather than output metrics。 Input metrics are things you can control， like page load I thought this book was pretty good but a little stiff。 Amazon is a powerhouse and I was curious to learn about how they run things there。 Some of the ideas （e。g。， starting a new product’s development with a press release of its completion， six-page readings instead of PowerPoint‘s， *long* time horizons） are quite unique and seem to have worked out well for them。 My favorite takeaway is to focus on input metrics rather than output metrics。 Input metrics are things you can control， like page load time and ease of checkout， whereasoutput metrics are responses to inputs， like sales and growth。 Focusing on output metrics can be a wild goose chase because there are always lots of contributing factors， many of which had nothing to do with you。 I also find the AWS story very interesting and could read an entire book focused solely on that。 I never said I was cool！ 。。。more
Deepak
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A good sneak peek into the inner workings of Amazon; some of these approaches have become quite broadly famous。 Though it does fall a bit flat in the second half - in the attempt to bring out the principles， the stories of Kindle， Prime， Prime Video and AWS come across as lacking depth and a coherent story。 Some notes from the book: 4 tenets of Amazon’s culture - customer obsession （than competitor obsession）， long term investment horizon， constant need to invent （and hence fail）， operational ex A good sneak peek into the inner workings of Amazon; some of these approaches have become quite broadly famous。 Though it does fall a bit flat in the second half - in the attempt to bring out the principles， the stories of Kindle， Prime， Prime Video and AWS come across as lacking depth and a coherent story。 Some notes from the book: 4 tenets of Amazon’s culture - customer obsession （than competitor obsession）， long term investment horizon， constant need to invent （and hence fail）， operational excellenceGood intentions don't solve problems， “mechanisms” doAmazon does not incentivize short term achievements through performance bonuses。 Instead stresses on long term incentives through equityThe bar raiser process1。 JD， resume screen， phone screen， in house interview loop， debrief meeting， reference check， offer making2。 A bar raiser has veto， not the hiring manager3。 Entire funnel is tracked （data！！）4。 Direct reportee cannot interview; No one more than a level below can interview5。 Interviewing 1/2 day workshop conducted for all employees 6。 A fresh interviewer has to conduct the interview jointly with a senior interviewer， the first time7。 Behavioural interview - every interviewer assigned a leadership principle to test8。 Interviewing is a data gathering exercise : take detailed notes9。 Inclined to hire or not hire 。。。 each interviewer has to give a definitive yes or no10。 Interviewers don't have access to each others ratings or notes11。 In debrief， can change the rating basis feedback from others - there is a lot more data to work with12。 Hiring manager should communicate the offer 。。。 sell the role and company"The best way to fail at inventing something is by making it somebody’s part time job"Single threaded leadership1。 Use of APIs to make software parts loosely coupled and reduce dependencies2。 Two （large） pizza team - 10 people and autonomous3。 Act when you have 70 percent of the data you need。 Then be ready to course correct4。 Dual reporting for 2 pizza team membersThe six pager1。 Replace the ppt with a narrative - people read 3x faster than a presenter presenting2。 Writing a narrative leads to higher clarity of thoughtPress release and FAQs1。 Kindle first of the products to go through this2。 It is kind of a living document 3。 Has press release and internal + external FAQsFocus on input metricsWhen faced with a new challenge， instead of just thinking what or how， also worth thinking “who” - how can you staff the best folks for the job。Kindle1。 Why a physical device — no differentiation in just offering digital content。 Plus could not drive prices lower than competition， to be able to activate the flywheel2。 Thinking had to be "customer in" rather than "capability out"; latter is what companies typically do3。 Objective that the e-reader should get out of the way in the reading process4。 Differentiators of the Kindle: Wireless delivery rather than being hooked to a PC， E-ink - easier on the eyes， longer battery lifeUnlike Kindle which was a product that customers didn't necessarily ask for， Prime was born out of the needs identified during existing and new customer surveysSometimes it is important to chalk out the do-nothing-different-scenario， or the impact of the “institutional no”Introduced data backed decision making even with content production。 Made available all new pilots for free， to find out which one to green lightAWS pricing : instead of keeping a simple pricing （subscription based linked to the “average customer”）， was made “cost following” with a buildup based on the needs of the individual developerThink about the flywheel of your business - and focus on the elements that make the flywheel spin faster 。。。more
Pratik Kothari
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One of the best books on how Amazon scaled， their culture and how do they think。 The authors have worked in very senior roles at Amazon including shadowing Jeff Bezos， and so gives a lot of insider insight into how Amazon thinks。
Shantanu Gharpure
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More like 3。5 stars。 The book is a great sneak peek into workings of Amazon。 The writing could have been better。 Must read for anyone who wishes to work for Amazon in the future （I read it out of curiosity！）
Gabriela
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1。5
Seth Benzell
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Essays being better than PowerPoint is an interesting theory， not backed by any systematic evidence presented here。It’s all either anecdotes or tautological “Amazon managers are really good because they have the virtue of being good at managing”。 A straight history would have been more interesting and the historical details are the most interesting parts of this book。 Exactly the moment when they pivoted to make AWS for example。 The Bezos hagiography is also tiring。
Karen
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Have started reading this book。Since it is a business related book it will take a while to read。A lot of good ideas for businesses。I can relate to their hiring processes by seeing some of these duringsome interviews I have had at companies in the past。They have some tough guidelines but it helps companies meet theirgoals in the long run。Good book。
Srdjan
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What I got from this book:- Some stories about the development of a few different amazon products- Insight into a few specific processes used at amazon such as Bar Raiser interviews， FAQ/PR's， input metric tracking etc。。。If you go into it expecting a history of amazon or a thorough look at what differentiates it from competitors， you'll be disappointed。 If you go into it expecting some anecdotes and a summary of a few key processes， you won't be。It's good for what it is but by far the most usefu What I got from this book:- Some stories about the development of a few different amazon products- Insight into a few specific processes used at amazon such as Bar Raiser interviews， FAQ/PR's， input metric tracking etc。。。If you go into it expecting a history of amazon or a thorough look at what differentiates it from competitors， you'll be disappointed。 If you go into it expecting some anecdotes and a summary of a few key processes， you won't be。It's good for what it is but by far the most useful idea inside it， aside from the general theme of "do what's good for customers" is the idea of single threaded teams， also called product teams or empowered teams elsewhere。 The core idea behind single threaded teams is that a given team should be responsible for doing one thing and one thing only。 How to best achieve that thing should be left up to the team。 Cross-dependencies on other teams should be minimal or non-existent but where they must exist， they should be managed through the provision of clear API's with agreed upon SLA's。Most firms I've seen don't have empowered teams。 Rather they have "feature teams" or just "engineering teams" which invariably have low agency and are passed requirements from above。 A few orgs I've worked with have had highly autonomous， accountable and largely independent teams。 In my experience the latter group of orgs tended to be far higher performing， both on an org and team level。 。。。more
Michelle L。 Bozeman
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Good insights into Amazon mechanisms and culture。 It's certainly interesting to employees and those interested in working at Amazon although it seems to be meant for startups wanting to repeat some of the Amazon magic。 Good insights into Amazon mechanisms and culture。 It's certainly interesting to employees and those interested in working at Amazon although it seems to be meant for startups wanting to repeat some of the Amazon magic。 。。。more
Natalie
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Simple concepts。 Inspiring story with tangible methods
Kannan
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As an Amazonian for 4 years and work experience of 17 years prior to joining Amazon， I was awestruck at how a company can operate so differently。 I have heard from friends， but really did not believe until I joined。 Yes， no PPT at all， PR FAQ， Leadership principles， Bar raiser et al。 It was not just sometimes followed in some groups， it was followed by everyone all the time。 This book is great to understand the principles and how it evolved that will help anyone get a grasp of it without working As an Amazonian for 4 years and work experience of 17 years prior to joining Amazon， I was awestruck at how a company can operate so differently。 I have heard from friends， but really did not believe until I joined。 Yes， no PPT at all， PR FAQ， Leadership principles， Bar raiser et al。 It was not just sometimes followed in some groups， it was followed by everyone all the time。 This book is great to understand the principles and how it evolved that will help anyone get a grasp of it without working in Amazon。 Even for Amazonian like me， it helped to understand the evolution of these mechanisms。 This book distills the key mechanisms that drives Amazon in a very interesting reading format。 It shows a window in to how the leaders including Jeff thinks and it is an interesting tell-all narrative that makes it gripping to read。 The first part covers the mechanisms and the second part covers key launches like Amazon Prime， Kindle， AWS where the application of the mechanisms in first part is seen。 For non-Amazonians， I would encourage you read the 14 leadership principles （LPs） of Amazon as they are foundational drivers and referred in many places。 You can better appreciate the book if you spent some time doing this。 As to whether it can be applied to any other company， frankly， I feel it is hard as it requires significant departure from your current ways， but if you are convinced and truly believe， start implementing it。 For startups， I would suggest these are great ideas to easily incorporate them。 。。。more
Trevin
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Great overview of how Amazon works internally， including a bunch of history about the company that I didn't know before reading this book。 I found the section on the Fire Phone failure to be too thin on details—despite hammering home the virtues of the "PRFAQ" process， the authors did not explain well enough how the Fire Phone resulted in such a huge flop。 There are other nitpicks I have about the book too that made some parts insufferable to listen to at times， but overall it was worth the read Great overview of how Amazon works internally， including a bunch of history about the company that I didn't know before reading this book。 I found the section on the Fire Phone failure to be too thin on details—despite hammering home the virtues of the "PRFAQ" process， the authors did not explain well enough how the Fire Phone resulted in such a huge flop。 There are other nitpicks I have about the book too that made some parts insufferable to listen to at times， but overall it was worth the read。 。。。more
Jeffery L。
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Worth reading， good processesGreat read， I'd recommend it to any business person serious about high performing teams。 I've joked many times that "friends don't let friends use PowerPoint。" I love the six pagers too， makes people think。。。 Worth reading， good processesGreat read， I'd recommend it to any business person serious about high performing teams。 I've joked many times that "friends don't let friends use PowerPoint。" I love the six pagers too， makes people think。。。 。。。more
Sathappan Sathappan
，
Fantastic read。 Two sections in the book。 First one is all about philosophies and practices that makes amazon unique。 First section is all about management ideas。 Second one is all about stories where the amazonian principles were used to create multiple innovative businesses （kindle， aws， media business， prime， etc）。 This part reads like a thriller novel。 Unputdownable。 And a must read for everyone irrespective of their industry。
Lanre Dahunsi
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In Working Backwards， Collin and Bill share insights。 stories and the principles that drove the success of Amazon to become one of the world’s most valuable brands。 The Title of the book working back is derived from amazon’s product development process: working backwards from the desired customer experience。The authors illuminate how Amazon’s fourteen leadership principles inform decision-making at all levels and reveal how the company’s culture has been defined by four characteristics: customer In Working Backwards， Collin and Bill share insights。 stories and the principles that drove the success of Amazon to become one of the world’s most valuable brands。 The Title of the book working back is derived from amazon’s product development process: working backwards from the desired customer experience。The authors illuminate how Amazon’s fourteen leadership principles inform decision-making at all levels and reveal how the company’s culture has been defined by four characteristics: customer obsession， long-term thinking， eagerness to invent， and operational excellence。 Bryar and Carr explain the set of ground-level practices that ensure these are translated into action and flow through all aspects of the business。Working Backwards is a practical guidebook and a corporate narrative， filled with the authors’ in-the-room recollections of what “Being Amazonian” is like and how it has affected their personal and professional lives。 They demonstrate that success on Amazon’s scale is not achieved by the genius of any single leader， but rather through a commitment to and execution of a set of well-defined， rigorously executed principles and practices。Amazon according to Jeff Bezos:In a talk at the 2018 Air， Space and Cyber Conference， Jeff described Amazon this way: “Our culture is four things: customer obsession instead of competitor obsession; willingness to think long term， with a longer investment horizon than most of our peers; eagerness to invent， which of course goes hand in hand with failure; and then， finally， taking professional pride in operational excellence。In 2015 Amazon became the company that reached $100 billion in annual sales faster than any other in the world。PLANT MANY SEEDS“Jeff often used an analogy in those days when describing our efforts to innovate and build new businesses。 “We need to plant many seeds，” he would say， “because we don’t know which one of those seeds will grow into a mighty oak。” It was an apt analogy。 The oak is one of the sturdiest and longest-living trees in the forest。 Each tree produces thousands of acorns for every one tree that eventually rises to the sky。”Part One: Being AmazonianThe Bar RaiserUrgency bias: the tendency to overlook a candidate’s flaws because you are overwhelmed with work and need bodies。 The Bar Raiser provides teams with methods to make the strongest hires efficiently and quickly， but without cutting corners。single-threaded leadershipThe basic premise is， for each initiative or project， there is a single leader whose focus is that project and that project alone， and that leader oversees teams of people whose attention is similarly focused on that one project。A single person， unencumbered by competing responsibilities， owns a single major initiative and heads up a separable， largely autonomous team to deliver its goals。Working Backward“Working Backwards from the desired customer experience。 Before we start building， we write a Press Release to clearly define how the new idea or product will benefit customers， and we create a list of Frequently Asked Questions to resolve the tough issues up front。 We carefully and critically study and modify each of these documents until we’re satisfied before we move on to the next step。”The Working Backwards process is all about starting from the customer perspective and following a step-by-step process where you question assumptions relentlessly until you have a complete understanding of what you want to build。 It’s about seeking truth。Chapter 1 Building Blocks: Leadership Principles and MechanismsWhat distinguishes Amazon is that its Leadership Principles are deeply ingrained in every significant process and function at the company。 In many cases， the principles dictate a way of thinking or doing work that is different from the way that most companies operate。 As a result， newly hired Amazonians go through a challenging multimonth period of learning and adapting to these new methods。14 Amazon’s Leadership PrinciplesOver the course of many years， Amazon has put in place mechanisms to ensure that the Leadership Principles translate into action。 Three foundational mechanisms areThe annual planning process;The S-Team goals process （the S-Team consists of the senior vice presidents and direct reports to Jeff Bezos）; andAmazon’s compensation plan， which aligns incentives with what’s best for customers and the company over the long term。Amazon relies heavily on autonomous， single-threaded teams。 These teams keep the company nimble， moving quickly with a minimum of external friction， but their autonomy must be paired with precise goal-setting。to align each team’s independent plans with the company’s overarching goals。Chapter 2 : Hiring“Unstructured hiring decision meetings can give rise to groupthink， confirmation bias， and other cognitive traps that feel right at the time but produce poor decisions。”The Amazon Bar Raiser programThe Amazon Bar Raiser program has the goal of creating a scalable， repeatable， formal process for consistently making appropriate and successful hiring decisions。 Like all good processes， it’s simple to understand， can be easily taught to new people， does not depend on scarce resources （such as a single individual）， and has a feedback loop to ensure continual improvement。 The Bar Raiser hiring process became one of the earliest and most successful components of the being Amazonian toolkit。“Amazon’s Bar Raiser process was designed to provide that framework， minimize the variability of ad hoc hiring processes， and improve results。”STAR“The method that Amazon interviewers use for drilling down goes by the acronym STAR （Situation， Task， Action， Result）:“What was the situation？”“What were you tasked with？”“What actions did you take？”“What was the result？” The Bar RaiserThe Bar Raiser is involved in every interview loop and ensures the process is followed and bad hiring decisions are avoided。 They are also there to set a good example for other interviewers。 In addition to conducting one of the interviews， the Bar Raiser coaches others on interviewing techniques， asks probing questions in the debrief， makes sure that personal biases do not affect the hiring decision， and determines whether the candidate meets or exceeds the hiring bar set by the company。 Two-Pizza TeamThe two-pizza team， so named because the teams would be no larger than the number of people that could be adequately fed by two large pizzas。Chapter 4: CommunicatingSix Pager DocumentAt Amazon， after a brief exchange of greetings and chitchat， everyone sits at the table， and the room goes completely silent。 Silent， as in not a word。 The reason for the silence？ A six-page document that everyone must read before discussion begins。Amazon relies far more on the written word to develop and communicate ideas than most companies， and this difference makes for a huge competitive advantage。Amazon uses two main forms of narrative。The first is known as the “six-pager。” It is used to describe， review， or propose just about any type of idea， process， or business。The second narrative form is the PR/FAQ。 This one is specifically linked to the Working Backwards process for new product development。Chapter 5: Working BackwardsWorking Backwards is a systematic way to vet ideas and create new products。 Its key tenet is to start by defining the customer experience， then iteratively work backwards from that point until the team achieves clarity of thought around what to build。 Its principal tool is a second form of written narrative called the PR/FAQ， short for press release/frequently asked questions。Chapter 6 Metrics: Manage Your Inputs， Not Your OutputsThe share price is what Amazon calls an “output metric。” The CEO， and companies in general， have very little ability to directly control output metrics。 What’s really important is to focus on the “controllable input metrics，” the activities you directly control， which ultimately affect output metrics such as share price。Weekly Business Review （WBR）。 The purpose of the WBR was to provide a more comprehensive lens through which to see the business。 The WBR is constructed and implemented so the company can improve each and every week。 It has a fractal nature that allows us to easily adapt to different situations， from small groups to billion-dollar businesses。 Small teams， business category lines， and the entire online retail business all have their own WBRs。Input vs Output MetricsInput metrics track things like selection， price， or convenience—factors that Amazon can control through actions such as adding items to the catalog， lowering cost so prices can be lowered， or positioning inventory to facilitate faster delivery to customers。Output metrics—things like orders， revenue， and profit—are important， but they generally can’t be directly manipulated in a sustainable manner over the long term。 Input metrics measure things that， done right， bring about the desired results in your output metrics。Part Two: The Invention Machine at WorkFailing ForwardTo invent you have to experiment， and if you know in advance that it’s going to work， it’s not an experiment。 Most large organizations embrace the idea of the invention but are not willing to suffer the string of failed experiments necessary to get there。 Thus for Amazon， its less successful inventions， such as Fire Phone， are valuable。 The same is true of the off-target early iterations of later successes， such as Amazon Unbox， which evolved into Prime Video， and Amazon Auctions and zShops， which developed into Amazon Marketplace。 These “failures” are important parts of the company’s story， both as precursors to later successes and as evidence that experimentation is happening。Being AmazonianBeing Amazonian means approaching invention with long-term thinking and customer obsession， ensuring that the Leadership Principles guide the way， and deploying the practices to drive execution。Long-term thinking levers our existing abilities and lets us do new things we couldn’t otherwise contemplate。 – Jeff BezosSlow DownYou can’t wind the clock back， replay the experiment， and see what would have happened if we had built and launched these services quickly without knowing some of the truths we discovered using Working Backwards。 However， though there were still some post-launch maintenance issues and outages， the performance and rapid customer adoption speak for themselves。 Based on my experience of going through the Working Backwards process with Jeff for well over a dozen different product teams across AWS， Digital， and other services，“I can say confidently that the extra time we spent slowing down to uncover the necessary truths was ultimately a faster path to a large and successful business。 The results speak for themselves。 Amazon has large viable digital devices and media businesses。 And， as mentioned in the introduction， AWS reached the $10 billion annual revenue milestone faster than Amazon the online retailer。” 。。。more
E
，
I don't read a lot of business management books， to put it lightly。 And this one won't be setting any new trends in my Goodreads feed。 Lots of mumbo jumbo; not much concrete illustration or application （kind of like a bad sermon， in fact！）。 A few interesting stories late in the game about getting a few projects off the ground， but by then I fear most readers will have lost heart。 It's a wonder I hadn't。 I don't read a lot of business management books， to put it lightly。 And this one won't be setting any new trends in my Goodreads feed。 Lots of mumbo jumbo; not much concrete illustration or application （kind of like a bad sermon， in fact！）。 A few interesting stories late in the game about getting a few projects off the ground， but by then I fear most readers will have lost heart。 It's a wonder I hadn't。 。。。more
Jeremy
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This book isn't particularly different from any number of business related books that strive to show you their processes and how it can help you succeed in your own business。 You go in hoping for some wonderful insight， but are left with mildly interesting ideas that you will probably never use。 This one was praised by Tyler Cowen so I went in with my hopes up， but it turned out to be more of the same。 If you are in a business related to one of Amazon's business， you may get more out of it than This book isn't particularly different from any number of business related books that strive to show you their processes and how it can help you succeed in your own business。 You go in hoping for some wonderful insight， but are left with mildly interesting ideas that you will probably never use。 This one was praised by Tyler Cowen so I went in with my hopes up， but it turned out to be more of the same。 If you are in a business related to one of Amazon's business， you may get more out of it than I did。One major topic is the powerpoint moratorium Amazon has， rather using the 6-page document that everyone reads at the beginning of meetings。 This is a well-known Amazon process， but there is good discussion about it in this book。 I find this idea really interesting， though it would certainly meet a lot of resistance anywhere you try to institute it， like it did at Amazon。Another topic is bar-raising hiring。 The main process behind bar-raising hiring is having people from different areas of the organization be involved in the hiring process so you get lots of perspectives， and each of these people can veto the candidate。 The idea is that this will lead to hires that raise the bar of competence at something in the organization。 This idea won't really work at all organizations， but interesting nonetheless。Working backwards means that when they develop a product， they start with a PR/FAQ。 This helps them develop a product that customers want and that meets a customers needs。 A good idea for those in product development。The authors went on to discuss the product developments of Kindle， Prime and others。 These were interesting behind-the-scenes stories， but I don't think there is much to take away from these。Overall this was an enjoyable enough book to read， though there isn't much in the way of business takeaways。 。。。more
Charlie
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I generally don’t like business management books - they tend to dress up simple/obvious maxims with lots of catchy buzzwords and snack-sized anecdotes， and aren’t necessarily well-written or insightful。 This book does a bit of that， but I found it well-written， engaging， and grounded in the specific history of Amazon。If you were going to use a company as a benchmark for solid business practices， Amazon is a pretty good choice。 They dominate two entirely different industries （online retail and cl I generally don’t like business management books - they tend to dress up simple/obvious maxims with lots of catchy buzzwords and snack-sized anecdotes， and aren’t necessarily well-written or insightful。 This book does a bit of that， but I found it well-written， engaging， and grounded in the specific history of Amazon。If you were going to use a company as a benchmark for solid business practices， Amazon is a pretty good choice。 They dominate two entirely different industries （online retail and cloud computing）， and have distinctive， interesting business strategies to discuss （written memos instead of PowerPoint， modular APIs for every function at the company）。 The authors take you through six different principles of ‘being Amazonian’ （the Amazon / Jeff Bezos adoration is a little much， but overall OK）， then talks through how Amazon puts those principles into action through four case studies （which on their own are an interesting inside look into Amazon’s history）。I don’t think the six principles covered are all uniquely Amazon， but they’re explained well， and provide a useful template for anyone trying to grow an efficient business。To provide some constructive criticism （a big Amazonian trait）， here are some downsides of the book， in my view:- You could make a strong argument that Amazon rode the Internet wave to success， executing on the right idea at the right time。 Obviously they’ve capitalized on their success well， but the book makes a lot of post-hoc arguments linking the principles to the company’s success - it’s hard to know how much of that truly mattered。- The two halves of the book were both great， but felt a bit disjointed from each other。 I think the six principles all make total sense， but felt shoehorned into the case studies。- I wish there had been more discussion on how to implement these principles into companies that aren’t giant software-based money-making machines run by a leader with tons of political capital。 Most companies aren’t like Amazon。 The authors specifically call out that sometimes ex-Amazoners fail to instill the principles at new companies because of ‘timing’ - what makes it harder or easier to implement them？Overall though， a really engrossing read， with clear rules-of-thumb takeaways that I’ll try and internalize in my day-to-day work。 。。。more
Jean philippe couture
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One of my favorite business book。 Lots of teachings on what makes amazon truly an exceptional company; being amazonian
Sara Goldenberg
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It was a commercial and love fest for Amazon。 Unnecessary
Chaitrali Joshi
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Great companies make for great stories。 Loved some of the ideas。
Da
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For anyone who’s curious about how Amazon works。 A must read book for all the MBA courses
Richard Reyes
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Great job author， I really like your writing style。 I suggest you join NovelStar’s writing competition this April。 If you are interested kindly check this link https://www。facebook。com/104455574751。。。 for the mechanics of the writing contest this April and also， I am sharing your book in Facebook to help reach readers。 Thank you Great job author， I really like your writing style。 I suggest you join NovelStar’s writing competition this April。 If you are interested kindly check this link https://www。facebook。com/104455574751。。。 for the mechanics of the writing contest this April and also， I am sharing your book in Facebook to help reach readers。 Thank you 。。。more
Sri Shivananda
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There are various things about the ways of working at Amazon I have only heard as headlines。 This book was great to understand practices like bar-raisers， pr-faq， 6-pagers， long-term mindset， single-threaded leadership， failing fast， optimizing input metrics， and more - all expressed through the lens of how programs like kindle， prime， fire phone， prime video， and aws were executed。 Scaling execution， excellence， and leadership take a principled and deliberate approach to ways of working。 Repeat There are various things about the ways of working at Amazon I have only heard as headlines。 This book was great to understand practices like bar-raisers， pr-faq， 6-pagers， long-term mindset， single-threaded leadership， failing fast， optimizing input metrics， and more - all expressed through the lens of how programs like kindle， prime， fire phone， prime video， and aws were executed。 Scaling execution， excellence， and leadership take a principled and deliberate approach to ways of working。 Repeatable rhythms and rituals can be created with mental models and cultural artifacts。 This book shares how this execution culture was cultivated at Amazon over the years。 。。。more
Sidharth Das
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I started off with the book with extremely high expectations。 I generally gobble up books on great companies。。。 and I picked it up as soon it was released。 The book mainly focuses on how being an amazonian in your own companies or startups can be beneficial。 I loved some of the chapters， where as some were very superficial。。 for a lack of better word。 I would have loved to understand a bit more intricacies around what was the thinking around the launch of Kindle， amazon prime。。 and also AWS - th I started off with the book with extremely high expectations。 I generally gobble up books on great companies。。。 and I picked it up as soon it was released。 The book mainly focuses on how being an amazonian in your own companies or startups can be beneficial。 I loved some of the chapters， where as some were very superficial。。 for a lack of better word。 I would have loved to understand a bit more intricacies around what was the thinking around the launch of Kindle， amazon prime。。 and also AWS - their biggest success！！ may be a follow up book which talks about these in more details。 。。。more
Justine
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4。5/5。 Inspiring glimpse into how Amazon has approached and mastered continual innovation。
Kate Boudreau
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