In this session we review some of the mechanisms and best practices that help us innovate at Amazon, and go through some of the suggestions on how it applies to startups and particularly AWS customers. The goal is to drive simplicity through a continuous, explicit customer focus. Get insights on how we structure our teams for autonomy and speed, and how we’re 'working backwards' from our customers when deciding where to focus engineering efforts. Speaker: Shayan Sanya, Startup BDM France, AWS

1. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Culture of Innovation at Amazon
SHAYAN SANYAL | 13 SEPTEMBER, 2018 | CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 2
Invention comes in many forms and at
many scales. The most radical and
transformative of inventions are often
those that empower others to unleash
their creativity – to pursue their
dreams
Jeff Bezos
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Amazon.com, Inc.

3. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 3

4. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Amazon started with books...

5. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
But its innovation has expanded to many domains…
Drone Development
Advanced Shopping
Kindle Reader
Home
Entertainment
Grocery Delivery
Video Streaming
Home Automation Cloud Computing

6. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
« …innovation is now
recognized as the single
most important ingredient in
any modern economy…In
short, it is innovation –
more than the application
of capital and labor – that
makes the world go round »

7. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 7
OUR MISSION
to be Earth’s most
customer-centric company

8. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 8
OUR COMMITMENT
we make our customers’ lives easier

9. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 9
WHERE INNOVATION BEGINS
we start with the customer
and work backwards

10. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 10

11. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 11

12. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 12

13. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 13

14. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 14

15. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Our culture of Innovation
»Customer Obsession
“Start every process with the customer and work backwards.”
»Long Term Thinking
“Be stubborn on the vision but flexible on the details.”
»If you want to be inventive, you have to be willing to fail.
“We are willing to go down on a bunch of dark alleys and occasionally we find something
that really works.”
»You have to be willing to be misunderstood for a long time.
“We are very comfortable being misunderstood.”

16. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Amazon’s growth fly wheel
Value
Selection
Convenience

17. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Example: From Amazon Prime to Prime Now

18. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Example: Amazon Flex for Prime Now
• Evolving Prime Now to be
more agile, and provide more
value
• Amazon Flex

19. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 19
STUBBORN ON THE VISION
But flexible on the details

20. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Example: Amazon Kindle

21. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 21
WILLINGNESS TO BE
MISUNDERSTOOD
for long periods of time

22. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Example: AWS

23. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
How do we organize for innovation ?
»Mechanisms
Working backwards process
Press Release
FAQ / Visualizations
»Architecture
Microservices
Loosely Coupled Applications
Self Service Platforms – No Gatekeepers
»Culture
Our People: We hire builders, innovators, and entrepreneurs
Our Beliefs: Amazon Leadership Principles
»Organization
Experimentation
2 Pizza Teams

24. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
ALWAYSWORK
BACKWARDS
FROMTHE
CUSTOMER
CUSTOMER OBSESSION
© 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

25. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Write the press release

26. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Write the press release

27. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Write the FAQ
• Include both Customer
FAQs and Stakeholder
FAQs
• Include the hard questions
• Share your press release
early to gather questions
Customer FAQs - Customers ask the best questions
because they are fundamental to any experience:
How much will this cost?
What type of support will I get?
Where can I find this?
How do I cancel this?
Stakeholder FAQs - What will your VP, partner teams,
internal Amazon resources ask about your idea?
What is the underlying technology?
What will customers be most disappointed
about in your initial release?
How does this impact current systems?
What is the business impact?
How do we know what the customer needs?
How can we launch this more quickly?
What is provoking the most internal debate?

28. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Visualize the interaction and write the manual

29. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 29
Most companies write the software,
they get it all working, and then they
throw it over the wall to the marketing
department, saying ‘here is what we
built, go write the press release.’ That
process is the one that’s actually
backwards.”
Jeff Bezos
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Amazon.com, Inc.

30. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Is ”Working Backwards” optional ?

31. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
How do we organize for innovation ?
»Mechanisms
Working backwards process
Press Release
FAQ / Visualizations
»Architecture
Microservices
Loosely Coupled Applications
Self Service Platforms – No Gatekeepers
»Culture
Our People: We hire builders, innovators, and entrepreneurs
Our Beliefs: Amazon Leadership Principles
»Organization
Experimentation
2 Pizza Teams

32. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Amazon.com Services (theory)

33. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Single-purpose
Connect only through
APIs
Connect over HTTPS
Largely “black boxes” to
each other
“Microservices”

34. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Self Service Platforms without Gatekeepers
“We are creating powerful self-
service platforms that allow
thousands of people to boldly
experiment and accomplish things
that would otherwise be
or impractical."

35. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 35
HYBRID
ARCHITECTURE
Data Backups
Integrated
App
Deployments
Direct
Connect
Identity
Federation
Integrated
Resource
Management
Integrated
Networking
MARKETPLACE
Business
Apps
DatabasesDevOps
Tools
NetworkingSecurity Storage
Business
Intelligence
ENTERPRISE
APPS
Virtual
Desktops
Sharing &
Collaboration
Corporate
Email
Backup
IoT
Rules
Engine
Device
Shadows
Device
SDKs
Registry
Device
Gateway
DEVELOPMENT & OPERATIONSMOBILE SERVICESAPP SERVICESANALYTICS
Data
Warehousing
Hadoop/
Spark
Streaming Data
Collection
Machine
Learning
Elastic
Search
Queuing &
Notifications
Workflow
Search
Email
Transcoding
One-click App
Deployment
Identity
Sync
Mobile App
Testing
Push
Notifications
DevOps Resource
Management
Application Lifecycle
Management
Containers
Triggers
Resource
Templates
API
Gateway
Streaming Data
Analysis
Business
Intelligence
Mobile
Analytics
Single Integrated
Console
TECHNICAL & BUSINESS SUPPORT
Support
Professional
Services
Account
Management
Partner
Ecosystem
Solutions
Architects
Training &
Certification
Security &
Billing Reports
GAMING
3D Game
Engine
Character
Designer
Multiplayer
Service
Twitch
Integration
Cloud
Integration
Regions
Availability
Zones
Points of
Presence
INFRASTRUCTURE
CORE SERVICES
Compute
VMs, Auto-scaling, Load Balancing,
Containers, Cloud functions
Storage
Object, Blocks, File,
Archivals, Import/Export
Databases
Relational, NoSQL,
Caching, Migration
CDN Networking
VPC, DX, DNS
Access Control
Identity
Management
Key
Management &
Storage
Monitoring
& Logs
SECURITY & COMPLIANCE
Resource &
Usage Auditing
Configuration
Compliance
Web application
firewall
Assessment and
reporting
AWS: Most Robust, Fully-Featured Technology Infrastructure Platform

36. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
How do we organize for innovation ?
»Mechanisms
Working backwards process
Press Release
FAQ / Visualizations
»Architecture
Microservices
Loosely Coupled Applications
Self Service Platforms – No Gatekeepers
»Culture
Our People: We hire builders, innovators, and entrepreneurs
Our Beliefs: Amazon Leadership Principles
»Organization
Experimentation
2 Pizza Teams

37. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 37
Amazon hires
builders and lets
them build

38. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 38
Every one of us is a
leader on our
mission

39. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
How do we organize for innovation ?
»Mechanisms
Working backwards process
Press Release
FAQ / Visualizations
»Architecture
Microservices
Loosely Coupled Applications
Self Service Platforms – No Gatekeepers
»Culture
Our People: We hire builders, innovators, and entrepreneurs
Our Beliefs: Amazon Leadership Principles
»Organization
Experimentation
2 Pizza Teams

40. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 40
Experiment early &
frequently

41. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 41
Is it a one-way or
a two-way door?

42. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.

43. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 43
Learn from failures…

44. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.

45. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 45
Two-Pizza teams are
fast and agile, foster
ownership and
autonomy
Small,
decentralized
teams are
nimble
Own and run
what you
build

46. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 46
f(I) = (mechanisms * architecture)
(culture * organization)
^
Amazon Innovation Equation

47. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 47
We had three big ideas at Amazon that
we have stuck with for 20+ years, and
they are the reason we are successful:
put the customer first, invent, and
be patient.
Jeff Bezos
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Amazon.com, Inc.

48. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. 48
Thank you!
Don’t forget:
Re:Invent 2018, November 26-29
Las Vegas