Uncovering Amazon's Success: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside the Company

Vickie: Lets you in on some of the processes Amazon used and uses to develop product that the customer wants. Instructive reading for any entrepreneur especially regarding systems for product development and hiring practices. It would also be instructive for companies that may have overexpanded and need to cut back for financial reasons or rethink their product choices.

United States on Aug 21, 2023

: A great book, full of concrete advice since the first few pages

Italy on Jul 22, 2023

Samuel: I recommend this book for anyone who is considering working at Amazon. It was a great help for myself and my mates when we were preparing for internship opportunities at Amazon. Once we got the internship, it was also useful in quickly helping us understand the culture and knowing what to expect.

It's also an excellent read and has a lot of practical lessons for startups and big orgs. Being an MBA student I found the stories quite thrilling it brought alive key concepts I was taking in class.

Loved it!!!

Spain on Jul 13, 2023

Suther: Sehr gutes Buch. Gut geschrieben, mit anschaulichen Beispielen.
Bringt deutlich Licht hinter den Erfolg von Amazon, und viele gute Ansätze zur eigenen Entwicklung. Sehr lesenswert.
Klar wird aber auch, Erfolg kommt von harter Arbeit, engagierten Mitarbeiter:Innen und es wird auch immer Fehlschläge geben.

Germany on Jul 08, 2023

Ishan: The book is very easy to read; I read it on Kindle (iPad). Amazon leadership principles are explained with their origins and examples of how they are implemented. The appendix with interview feedback examples and a sample PR FAQ are invaluable.

United States on May 15, 2023

Cedric Blanchard: Will give you one or two golden rules and interesting tools!

France on Feb 21, 2023

Yonni.I: Many a book has been written about Amazon, indeed many a book has been read by me about Amazon. Many a book try (and often fail) to provide something new rather than regurgitate previous musings.

Working Backwards is, however, different in that the authors are two 'Amazonians' of relatively significant tenure describing relevant business practices that can be implemented to improve efficiency, increasing the chance of sustainable business growth.

A large part of what is presented can be argued as common sense. However, where Amazon has been different (and owes it's success to) is its ability to break from the comfort of convention when things arent working.

For example, meetings taking too long due to hundreds of slides being read verbatim? Rather than say "we should do something different next time", and (fast forward 6 months) nothing being done, Amazon just banned PowerPoint outright.

Due to corporate worry of failure (despite the ability to learn from it), few businesses will (and should) copy all of Amazon's approaches blindly. After all, if you copy someone, you're already five steps behind.

However, that should not stop you from picking up...

United Kingdom on Sep 30, 2022

Wally Bock: In my lifetime there has always been one company that was held up as the paragon of all that is good and innovative in business. We were supposed to emulate that company. GM was first, followed by IBM, then by GE. Now it's Amazon's turn. If you’re seeking insight into what made Amazon successful so far, you’ll love this book. There are many examples and things you can try regardless of the business you’re in.

But this book is different from most books about what to copy from great companies. It tells you about the background of Amazon’s best practices. You’ll learn why Amazon adopted them and follow the sometimes-tedious process of development. You’ll discover why some lauded practices (e.g., two-pizza teams) have been superseded.

Working Backwards does not turn Jeff Bezos into an all-wise, infallible business saint either. That’s important because it allows you to appreciate the role teams can play in developing processes. It’s also evidence that you don’t need a Jeff Bezos to succeed.

Colin Bryar joined Amazon in 1998 and spent twelve years there. Most relevant for this book, for two years he was Jeff Bezos’ chief of staff. Bill Carr...

United States on May 10, 2022

LoveWorksDotCom: I bought this book to give me reading material on an international trip. I wasn't sure if it would keep me engaged for long, but that was incorrect. It was interesting to say the least and gave me a feel for the "customer centric" approach to business. What makes it so realistic is that I have begun to view each interaction I have with companies against the operations of the book -- in other words, are they a customer centric company, and the results and realizations have been shocking. As you begin to absorb the "working backwards" mantra, you realize that so many companies have got it wrong.

This is just as much for small business people as it is for corporations. Even though you won't implement the highly structured procedures and practices that in the book, you will find that there are aspects of your business that can be improved -- and some of them, quite easily.

There is so much in the book that I found interesting, including the fact that AWS started out as nothing more than an API. That was a shocker to read knowing where AWS is now.

And because Amazon stretches across so many disciplines, it makes you realize that Bezos understood the need to hire...

United States on Mar 08, 2022

Anthony J. Bay: During my career, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to serve in senior leadership roles at leading tech companies including Microsoft and Apple. I also had the good fortune to be recruited by Bill to join Amazon when he led the company’s digital music and video businesses and the honor to be part of that amazing team and journey. Bill epitomizes everything that is great about Amazon and I am very pleased that he and Colin have invested the time and effort to create this book to share their learning and experience for the benefit of others. Working Backwards deserves to be on a shortlist of business books that matter.

Amazon’s culture is remarkable, and Amazon is undoubtedly one of the best-run companies in the world. As Bill and Colin describe in their powerful book, this is the result of an incredibly well-designed and engineered approach to building value by enabling and empowering teams, focusing on serving customers with a long-term view, and being relentless in that pursuit. Building such a culture is challenging for any company but doing so at the scale and breadth of Amazon is nothing short of incredible. This culture and customer focus have...

United States on Feb 20, 2021