Corporate Culture Lessons from Amazon
Here’s a nice list of qualities and approaches from early ex-Amazon staff – things to ponder and wonder how we can do more of.
The full list is on 37signals.
But some of my favourites are:
- Work from the customer backward. Focus on value you want to deliver for the customer.
- Start with a press release of what features the user will see and work backwards to check that you are building something valuable. [My equivalent: imagine the Steve Job’s keynote]
- Open up your system with APIs and you’ll create an ecosystem around your application.
- Look for three things in interviews: enthusiasm, creativity, competence. The single biggest predictor of success at Amazon.com was enthusiasm.
- Innovation can only come from the bottom. Those closest to the problem are in the best position to solve it. any organization that depends on innovation must embrace chaos. Loyalty and obedience are not your tools.
- People’s side projects, the one’s they follow because they are interested, are often ones where you get the most value and innovation. Never underestimate the power of wandering where you are most interested.
