Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Unpacking Amazon’s unique ways of working | Bill Carr (author of Working Backwards)

Nov 2, 2023

Bill Carr, co-author of 'Working Backwards' and former Amazon executive, shares insights from over 15 years inside the tech giant. He explores the 'working backwards' methodology and how it prioritizes customer needs in product development. Carr discusses the value of 'single-threaded leaders' and Amazon's rigorous product review process. He emphasizes the 'disagree and commit' approach for better decision-making and illustrates how fostering a culture of risk-taking drives innovation. Additionally, he highlights unique hiring practices that improve success rates of new employees.

01:33:28

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Episode guests

Bill Carr

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Quick takeaways

Amazon's approach starts with prioritizing customers, working backwards to develop customer-centric solutions.

Amazon embraced single-threaded leadership, assigning a leader to drive key metrics, increasing ownership and agility.

The 'disagree and commit' principle fosters open communication and constructive disagreement for improved decision-making.

Emphasizing the significance of input metrics, Amazon focuses on long-term strategies to improve customer experience and business outcomes.

Deep dives

Starting with Customer Obsession

The main idea is that at Amazon, the approach to decision-making and problem-solving starts with prioritizing customers. By taking the viewpoint of what is best for the customer, they work backwards to develop solutions that meet customer needs. This approach informs the decision-making process and guides the work required to create new solutions.

Backbone and Disagree Principle

01:27

Single-threaded leadership metrics and operations

02:24

Focus on Improving Key Inputs for Long-Term Success

01:53

Creating a company that doesn’t penalize people for failures: no performance bonuses

01:42

Intro

4min

Innovative Business Practices and Leadership Principles at Amazon

6min

Revolutionizing Leadership at Amazon

15min

Disagree and Commit: Amazon's Decision-Making Principles

15min

Implementing the Working Backwards Approach in Product Development

5min

Navigating Internal Communication and Metrics

19min

Lessons from Amazon's Product Failures

23min

Anticipation, Recommendations, and Interview Insights

2min

Slow is Smooth: The Path to Clarity

4min

Bill Carr is the co-author of Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon. With a background at Amazon of over 15 years, Bill played a pivotal role in shaping the company’s global digital music and video ventures, including Amazon Music, Prime Video, and Amazon Studios. After Amazon, Bill was an Executive in Residence with Maveron, an early-stage, consumer-only venture capital firm. He later served as the chief operating officer of OfferUp, the largest mobile marketplace for local buyers and sellers in the U.S. Today he’s the co-founder of Working Backwards LLC, where he helps companies implement Amazon’s time-tested management strategies. In this episode, we discuss:

• What exactly “working backwards” is, and how you do it

• Why having “single-threaded leaders” is so effective

• Inside Amazon’s intense product review process

• How to actually follow the “disagree and commit” principle

• The thinking behind the principle “Leaders are right, a lot”

• Input vs. output metrics

• Fostering a culture of risk-taking and innovation

• The role and responsibilities of a “bar raiser” in your hiring, and how it significantly improves the success rate of new hires

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/unpacking-amazons-unique-ways-of-working-bill-carr-author-of-working-backwards/

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Where to find Bill Carr:

• X: https://twitter.com/BillCarr89

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-carr/

• Website: https://www.workingbackwards.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Bill’s background

(04:26) Amazon’s workplace evolution

(09:54) Amazon’s “fitness function”

(11:44) Single-threaded leadership

(18:07) Implementing a program orientation with single-threaded leadership

(20:16) The GM model vs. single-threaded leadership

(21:31) Functional countermeasures needed for single-threaded leadership

(25:22) Embracing the “disagree and commit” principle

(30:22) Understanding disagreements

(32:41) Deciphering Amazon’s “Leaders are right, a lot” principle

(35:25) An explanation of the working backwards framework

(41:16) PR FAQ process: Amazon’s innovation engine

(44:47) Deconstructing the PR FAQ structure

(43:49) The concentric circle model for sharing PR FAQs

(44:55) The customer problem-solution statement

(47:52) Create a product funnel, not a product tunnel

(51:19) How Amazon promotes action vs. talk

(54:35) Amazon’s flywheel and input metrics

(1:00:51) Signs you’ve got a good input metric

(1:04:23) How mistakes can still be made with working backwards

(1:06:54) Why disagreements aren’t necessarily signs products will fail

(1:08:02) Examples of failed Amazon projects

(1:09:55) Cultivating risk-taking and accepting failure

(1:13:57) Amazon’s “bar-raiser” practice for hiring

(1:18:21) Selecting Amazon’s bar raisers

(1:20:41) Advice on implementing practices from Working Backwards

(1:23:10) Bill’s work as an advisor

(1:26:05) Lightning round

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Referenced:

• Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595

• Jeff Bezos on X: https://twitter.com/jeffbezos

• D.E. Shaw: https://www.deshaw.com/

• Eric Ries’s website: https://theleanstartup.com/

• GM business model: https://fourweekmba.com/general-motors-business-model/

• Rick Dalzell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richarddalzell/

• The Effective Decision by Peter F. Drucker: https://hbr.org/1967/01/the-effective-decision

• Template: Working Backwards PR FAQ: https://www.workingbackwards.com/resources/working-backwards-pr-faq

• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996

• The Amazon flywheel: https://feedvisor.com/resources/amazon-trends/amazon-flywheel-explained/

• Sixsigma: https://www.6sigma.us/

• Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries: https://www.amazon.com/Loonshots-Nurture-Diseases-Transform-Industries/dp/1250185963

• Andy Jassy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-jassy-8b1615/

• Implementing Amazon’s Bar Raiser Process in Hiring: A Quick Guide: https://www.barraiser.com/blogs/implementing-amazons-bar-raiser-process-in-hiring

• Microspeak: The As-Appropriate (AA) interviewer: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20231017-00/?p=108897

• The Practice of Management: https://www.amazon.com/Practice-Management-Peter-F-Drucker/dp/0060878975

• The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done: https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Executive-Definitive-Harperbusiness-Essentials/dp/0060833459

• Steve Jobs: https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1451648537

• Seveneves: https://www.amazon.com/Seveneves-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0062334514

• A Gentleman in Moscow: https://www.amazon.com/A-Gentleman-in-Moscow/dp/0143110438

• Dune on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Dune-Timoth%C3%A9e-Chalamet/dp/B09LJXY4PH

• A Spy Among Friends: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15565872/

• Zipp 303 Firecrest tubeless disc brake: https://www.sram.com/en/zipp/models/wh-303-ftld-a1

• The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization: https://www.amazon.com/Fifth-Discipline-Practice-Learning-Organization/dp/0385517254

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

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