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Description
This program includes a preface read by the authors. Working Backwards is an insider's breakdown of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from two long-time, top-level Amazon executives. Colin started at Amazon in 1998; Bill joined in 1999. In Working Backwards, these two long- serving Amazon executives reveal and codify the principles and practices that drive the success of one of the most extraordinary companies the world has ever known. With twenty-seven years of Amazon experience between them, much of it in the early aughts—a period of unmatched innovation that brought products and services including Kindle, Amazon Prime, Amazon Studios, and Amazon Web Services to life—Bryar and Carr offer unprecedented access to the Amazon way as it was refined, articulated, and proven to be repeatable, scalable, and adaptable. With keen analysis and practical steps for applying it at your own company—no matter the size—the authors illuminate how Amazon’s fourteen leadership principles inform decision-making at all levels and reveal how the company’s culture has been defined by four characteristics: customer obsession, long-term thinking, eagerness to invent, and operational excellence. Bryar and Carr explain the set of ground-level practices that ensure these are translated into action and flow through all aspects of the business. Working Backwards is a practical guidebook and a corporate narrative, filled with the authors’ in-the-room recollections of what “Being Amazonian” is like and how it has affected their personal and professional lives. They demonstrate that success on Amazon’s scale is not achieved by the genius of any single leader, but rather through commitment to and execution of a set of well-defined, rigorously-executed principles and practices—shared here for the very first time. A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press Read more
Listening Length : 10 hours and 41 minutes
Author : Colin Bryar, see all
Narrator : Bill Carr, see all
Publication date : February 9, 2021
Language : English
Publisher : Macmillan Audio
Version : Unabridged
Program Type : Audiobook
Best Sellers Rank: #14,221 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #8 in Production & Operations #15 in E-Commerce (Audible Books & Originals) #16 in E-Commerce (Books)
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Kindle
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 joined Amazon in 1999 and spent more than fifteen years there. He and his teams launched and managed the company’s global digital music and video businesses. The result is a true “view from inside.” The book is divided into two parts. The first, “Being Amazonian,” is about foundational principles and practices and Amazon culture. Jeff Bezos described the culture this way. “Our culture is four things: customer obsession instead of competitor obsession; willingness to think long term, with a longer investment horizon than most of our peers; eagerness to invent, which of course goes hand in hand with failure; and then, finally, taking professional pride in operational excellence.” That’s basic, but not operational. This section also goes into detail on Amazon’s 14 Leadership Principles and several operating practices. This will be the most helpful part of the book for most readers. You’ll get ideas on how to hire more effectively, why some team practices work and others don’t, and why Amazon relies on the written word to develop and communicate ideas. You’ll discover why Amazon uses leading indicators to manage performance. There’s a chapter on the principle of “working backwards” that is so important, that the authors chose it for the title of the book. They describe it this way. “Working Backwards is a systematic way to vet ideas and create new products. Its key tenet is to start by defining the customer experience, then iteratively work backwards from that point until the team achieves clarity of thought around what to build.” Working backwards is one of those “simple but not easy” ideas. The good news is the authors go into detail on the process and tools Amazon uses to make it happen. They’re adaptable to most businesses regardless of size or industry. The chapter on leadership principles and mechanisms plus any other chapter in the first section are worth the price of the book several times over. Part 2 is “The Invention Machine at Work.” Chapters describe the development of Kindle, Prime, Prime Video, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Each chapter is an example of how the principles and practices outlined in Part 1 guided product development in a real situation. Praise to whoever is responsible for two devices that make this book more helpful. One is detailed appendices with examples that you can use as models, as well as a timeline to show you what was happening and when. The other is the practice of beginning each chapter with a short overview of what you’ll find in it. In a Nutshell Any business reader will benefit from reading Working Backwards, applying the principles, and adapting the practices Amazon uses so successfully.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2022 by Wally Bock
Format: Kindle
I thoroughly enjoyed this book on several levels. If you are an entrepreneur or business leader (or student of business), it is a "must read" -- and I say that having read many books about successful businesses as well as high profile business failures (eg, Long Term Capital Management, Enron, Theranos, etc). It presents a panoply of principles and processes that Amazon honed over many years by trial and error, and which have contributed to Amazon's tremendous success. Importantly, these principles and processes, to varying degrees, can be scaled to apply to other businesses -- from start-ups to large businesses -- across industries. Some of these principles are not intuitive, or even somewhat counter-intuitive, such as Amazon's decision to ban use of PowerPoint presentations and insist on using (seemingly tedious) 6 page narratives for presenting and evaluating prospective new ventures or products. The authors do a great job using concrete examples of how the principles and processes worked in practice at Amazon, and how they could work in other contexts as well. These examples are presented through the lens of each authors unique experience at Amazon, with many interesting and often humorous anecdotes that bring life to the book, insight into one of the world's most innovative companies, and make Working Backwards much more than just a "business" book. Anyone who is curious about Amazon -- or who wants a voyeuristic "peek" into what it would be like to work with Jeff Bezos and within Amazon's senior leadership team -- will enjoy this book.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2021 by Brian R.
Format: Audiobook
In over two decades of its existence, Amazon has changed the business landscape. After its founding, many investors made fun of the company for reinvesting its profits - or even running at a loss - so that it could position itself better in the future workplace. Once the home of just bookselling, it has become a powerhouse of logistics, web development, eBooks, and digital devices. The authors, former senior leaders at the company, team together to tell that story. I found the first half of the book entrancing as they gave us an insider's look into "Amazonian" values at work. The company consistently chose the long game over the short game - an unusual trait in American business. Though they almost never won on day one, week one, quarter one, or even year one, they eventually established dominance in a domain against the biggest of hitters of Big Tech. Certainly, such an approach is as enlightening as it is inspiring. Therefore, I garnered insight by seeing how they applied their values to real business problems. Phrases like "customer obsession" became real. However, the second half of the book tended to drone on in success stories instead of insights. Perhaps it was me being distracted, but the story of Amazon Web Services' launch did not provide nearly as much insight as the earlier stories did. It seemed more hemming and hawing about how Amazon dominating yet another market sector instead of providing strategic insight that could be reapplied. Nonetheless, for those of us in companies of any size, inspiring wisdom of how to achieve market dominance is always welcomed. It's interesting how much determination and perseverance play a central role in this story. In my field of academic research, those factors are still dominant in my team's efforts, too. Many companies simply seek to borrow research's long efforts, but the authors demonstrate how companies, with the right leadership, can achieve such innovation themselves, too. The authors demonstrate how we can all be "Amazonian" in our own ways, and I think the world's business climate could be better for it.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson
Format: Hardcover
I finished Working Backwards last week, and wanted to express just how much I liked it. I thought the book was organized really well— the Working Backwards principles at the front are useful and interesting and set up the second half of the book very nicely. The narratives about Prime Video, Prime, AWS, etc. are compelling and I found myself quite drawn in by the stories. The book clearly functions well on two levels- providing a fascinating insider look into the principles that helped build the foundation for so much of Amazon’s extraordinary success, and at the same time serving as an instruction guide for those looking to apply the principles to their own venture. I ended up gifting some copies to a couple of my coworkers because I genuinely think they are going to like the book and it will be extremely relevant to their careers. As a college student just beginning my business career, I am so glad that this book was recommended to me!
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Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2021 by Claire
Format: Kindle
Never was an Amazonian or really read an entire book centered on their practices; my mistake. The authors presented such a solid fundamental approach you are surprised there are not more people waving the flag. After explaining the approach they present basically a few case studies to show not only the success of the method but the struggle before, during, and after the approach had been used. Proving like any other successful system used and Eisenhower so famously put, "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. I have read the book twice and listened to it at least once and some parts twice. For a decade, I have written a press release for projects and/or marketing campaigns and utilized the Backward Planning methods of McTighe and Wiggins. Also, have been a strong advocate of Jim Collin's work. If you choose to read the book you will instantly see the connection. Even with that background, this work I feel helped me achieve another level that I had not been using. I am an avid reader and in addition, browse hundreds of books a year. The Kindle preview provided me more value than 90% of the books I read. After reading, I instantly purchased both the book and the audio.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2021 by Joe Dager
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 the RIGHT people in every part of business; and to make sure those people were in it for the long-term. If you run a business, the explanations of the Amazon way will make you think about ways to improve everything you do. Excellent book - thoroughly enjoyed reading.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2022 by LoveWorksDotCom
Format: Hardcover
The book offers a reader a view into what makes Amazon a successful company. In my opinion, not only do they not know, they lack the insight and self-awareness to understand what they're writing. It is somewhat interesting as a history of amazon, which I found vaguely interesting having lived through the growth of amazon as a user. But even if their amazon principle are true, they fail to link them to amazon's success, and give insights into how these insight could be applied to every day work. In the final summary, half the points can only be applied by the highest level of management in a company, and are not accessible to a normal worker.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2025 by Ian Price
Format: Hardcover
Overall, this is a solid and insightful read for anyone interested in business management, product development, or corporate leadership. The authors offer a great look into Amazon's core mechanisms
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2026 by pete