Working Backwards audiobook cover - And Other Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon

Working Backwards

And Other Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon

Colin Bryar

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Management & LeadershipCorporate Culture

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Working Backwards
Leadership Principles+
Hiring Process+
Meetings & Communication+
Product Development+
Case Studies+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 8
How did Jeff Bezos demonstrate Amazon's 'Bias for Action' principle when founding the company?
  • A. By spending years studying the e-commerce market before launching.
  • B. By taking a calculated risk to quit his hedge fund job and start an internet business quickly.
  • C. By waiting for internet user growth to stabilize before selling books.
  • D. By building a highly detailed ten-year financial projection before hiring his first employee.
Question 2 of 8
What is the primary role of a 'bar raiser' in Amazon's hiring process?
  • A. To negotiate the lowest possible salary for new hires to maintain frugality.
  • B. To conduct initial screening interviews to save time for the hiring manager.
  • C. To act as an objective, outside interviewer with the power to veto candidates, preventing urgency bias.
  • D. To ensure that all candidates possess advanced technical and coding skills regardless of the role.
Question 3 of 8
How does Amazon prevent confirmation bias among interviewers during the hiring process?
  • A. Interviewers must write detailed reports on candidates before discussing them with coworkers.
  • B. Only the hiring manager is allowed to ask questions during the interview.
  • C. Candidates are interviewed by a panel of ten people simultaneously.
  • D. Interviewers are forbidden from viewing the candidate's resume before the interview.
Question 4 of 8
Why did Amazon replace PowerPoint presentations with six-page narrative memos for its meetings?
  • A. Memos are cheaper and faster to produce than slide decks.
  • B. PowerPoint slides encouraged too much informal debate and made meetings run over time.
  • C. Memos ensure that only the most senior executives are allowed to present new ideas.
  • D. PowerPoint reduced complex topics to bullet points, while memos allow for greater depth, nuance, and connection of ideas.
Question 5 of 8
According to Amazon's 'working backwards' philosophy, what two documents does a product team write before developing a new product?
  • A. A budget proposal and a marketing plan.
  • B. A press release and a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document.
  • C. A technical specification sheet and a risk assessment.
  • D. A competitor analysis and a shareholder update.
Question 6 of 8
What realization led Jeff Bezos to launch Amazon Prime despite the massive upfront infrastructure costs?
  • A. Amazon needed a way to charge customers for the packaging materials used in shipping.
  • B. The company's biggest stumbling block to growth was a lack of convenience and slow shipping times.
  • C. Brick-and-mortar stores were beginning to offer their own online subscription services.
  • D. Shareholders were demanding a new, predictable revenue stream from subscription models.
Question 7 of 8
Why did Amazon's early video-on-demand service, Unbox, struggle after its launch?
  • A. The team focused too heavily on mobile streaming instead of PC downloads.
  • B. The service was priced too high compared to Netflix's DVD mail-order business.
  • C. The team ignored leadership principles by releasing buggy software and prioritizing high image resolution over fast download times.
  • D. Amazon failed to secure the rights to popular movies and television shows.
Question 8 of 8
Why did Amazon choose to develop the Kindle's hardware in-house rather than outsourcing it?
  • A. Outsourcing would have prevented Amazon from continually tweaking and improving the device for the customer.
  • B. Amazon already had a massive team of experienced hardware engineers sitting idle.
  • C. Apple threatened to sue any third-party hardware developer that worked with Amazon.
  • D. Jeff Bezos wanted to pivot Amazon away from e-commerce and become purely a hardware company.

Working Backwards — Full Chapter Overview

Working Backwards Summary & Overview

Working Backwards (2021) tells the story of how Amazon changed the way people live. It explores founder Jeff Bezos’ leadership philosophy, and reveals how this philosophy has informed Amazon’s most iconic products and services. 

Who Should Listen to Working Backwards?

  • Executive coaches looking for fresh insights
  • Entrepreneurs hoping to turbo-charge their business
  • Managers wanting to boost their teams’ performance

About the Author: Colin Bryar

Colin Bryar spent twelve years as a senior leader at Amazon, and served as chief of staff to Jeff Bezos. 

Bill Carr is a former Amazon Vice President of Digital Media. Carr managed the launch of Amazon Music as well as Prime Video. Bryar and Carr are cofounders of Working Backwards LLC, an executive coaching firm that teaches business leaders how to implement Amazon’s management practices.

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