Decoding “Working Backwards”
As a lone Product Manager at my work, I’m educating myself on how to PM and am on the lookout for processes which I can absorb into my day, which will grow into defining our culture.
Why I chose this book
I picked “Working Backwards” because I heard so many things about Amazon’s culture, Amazon’s hiring process, being Amazonian etc. And the diverse products Amazon offers, primarily being an e-commerce company market place, Kindle, AWS, Prime Music & Video, Firestick, Alexa and now space tourism, and to tune my Product Development skills.
How are they able to replicate success in all such diverse fields? Does Jeff Bezos have a Midas touch? Did the Amazon-ians identify a secret ingredient to building products, teams and companies?
I was curious.
What this book is about
Colin Bryar and Bill Carr have 27 years of combined Amazon work experience. They have experienced and have been part of the reason for institutionalised innovation and growth. They share tons of principles and practical insights, which can be emulated by anyone.
Company culture is a set of principles and practices followed by a company to get the best from its employees. This book does a good job of codifying the process perfected by Amazon. A process which continues to work for smartest talent among diverse industries. While discussing the launches of iconic products like, Kindle, AWS, Prime Video and Firephone.
The book is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the leadership principles and various practices at Amazon. I’ve loved this part; it gave me insight into how Amazon is run and gave me ideas I’d like to try out at my current job. I found this part very practical — more so than I expected.
The second part is a collection of four stories to illustrate the principles and practices at work. I liked all four Kindle, Prime, Prime Video and AWS.
The key process takeaways I’d suggest:
- The 14 leadership principles
- Bar raising Hiring Process
- Single threaded leadership
- Compensation structure
- PPT vs Narratives
- PR — FAQ process
- Optimising metrics
- Customer Obsession
The reason writing a good 4 page memo is harder than “writing” a 20 page powerpoint is because the narrative structure of a good memo forces better thought and better understanding of what’s more important than what, and how things are related. Powerpoint-style presentations somehow give permission to gloss over ideas, flatten out any sense of relative importance, and ignore the interconnectedness of ideas.
A common question asked by executives when reviewing the product features in the PR is “so what?” If the press release doesn’t describe a product that is meaningfully better (faster, easier, cheaper) than what is already out there, or results in some stepwise change in customer experience, then it isn’t worth building.
“Before you can improve any system . . . you must understand how the inputs affect the outputs of the system.”
The right input metrics get the entire organization focused on the things that matter most. Finding exactly the right one is an iterative process that needs to happen with every input metric.
My perspective on the experience
The book contains lots of information that will be valuable to some readers. For example, if you are applying for a job at Amazon, you should read the pages on their hiring process, including Bar Raising. For business managers, they discuss the structure and purpose of Weekly Business Reviews, Finding Root Causes, and Skepticism of Data when it conflicts with anecdotes.
This was way more fun than I thought it would be. The Product Manager in me took notes. Yes, similar ideas and practices can be found in many companies too, none of them were made these synonymous with their brand identity.
Overall, I’ve enjoyed it and would recommend Working Backwards to anyone looking for insights into how one of the largest companies is run. Especially in the light of the information that Jeff Bezos looking to step down as CEO. It’ll be interesting to see how these processes live on.
