Instead of obsessing over financial outputs like revenue, Amazon focuses on the controllable inputs that drive those results. For its retail business, these are selection, price, and delivery speed. By relentlessly improving these inputs, they create a self-reinforcing flywheel that naturally produces the desired financial outputs.
Many companies rush to automate messy processes, which only locks in inefficiency. Instead, learn and refine the process by doing it manually first, as early Amazon and DoorDash did. Only automate once the system is optimized, using technology to speed up good systems, not paper over bad ones.
Amazon's 'Working Backwards' process begins with the end: a press release (PR) and frequently asked questions (FAQ). This low-cost exercise forces teams to be hyper-focused on customer problems and value proposition from the outset, long before any code is written. It helps filter ideas based on customer impact.
Amazon rejected PowerPoint because reading is 7-8 times faster than listening. Meetings begin with 20 minutes of silent reading of a well-structured document. This ensures everyone has the same deep context, forces presenters to clarify their thinking, and leaves more time for high-quality discussion and decision-making.
Organizational slowdown is caused by invisible, outdated rules. Tesla's approach is to aggressively question every requirement. By asking "why" repeatedly, you can determine if a rule is based on a real constraint (law, physics) or just an inherited assumption. This mindset allowed Tesla to become the first 100% foreign-owned auto business in China.
To solve the problem of "new people hiring new people" and diluting talent, Amazon adds a "Bar Raiser"—a subject matter expert from outside the hiring team—to every interview loop. This person is empowered to veto any hire, ensuring that every new employee raises the average talent level of the organization.