Working Backwards

Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon

Colin Bryar & Bill Carr

Recommended By

Book Reviews

Book Synopsis

"Working Backwards" by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr offers a behind-the-scenes look into the remarkable success of Amazon, one of the world's most renowned companies. Drawing from their extensive experience as former members of the Amazon team, Bryar and Carr provide valuable insights into Amazon's unique working methods and corporate culture.

The book explores the concept of "working backwards," a key strategy embraced by Amazon in their decision-making process. It delves into the details of this approach, demonstrating how it thwarts the common pitfalls of decision-making and fosters clarity and alignment among team members.

"Working Backwards" takes readers through a series of memorable anecdotes and case studies, showcasing how Amazon applied these techniques to develop successful products and services, including the Kindle, Prime Video, and Amazon Web Services.

Bryar and Carr discuss the important principles that guided Amazon's evolution and growth, such as customer obsession, long-term thinking, and continuous experimentation. They also shed light on the mechanisms employed by the company to maintain a high sense of urgency and accountability within their teams.

Through this comprehensive and insightful exploration of Amazon's strategy, "Working Backwards" offers invaluable advice for entrepreneurs, business leaders, and anyone interested in understanding how innovation and customer-centricity can lead to remarkable success.

Explore More Books

See All
Well
Toussaint Louverture
Diaspora
Six Easy Pieces
Kingpin
The Undoing Project
Wake Up to the Joy of You
Carry on, Jeeves
Kelly
Where Mountains Roar
Where Wizards Stay Up Late
Uncommon Measure
One Hundred Years of Solitude
The Right Call
Crossing the Chasm
Anthropic Bias
Intellectuals and Race
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
From Headless Chicken to Golden Goose
Talent
Forged in Crisis
The Viral Storm
Tent Life in Siberia
Lying
Essays and Lectures
The French Revolution and What Went Wrong
Diffusion of Innovations
Steve Jobs & The NeXT Big Thing
The Plant Paradox
The Kite Runner
The Origin of Wealth
How Nature Works
On The Move
Scale
Little Leaders
Fahrenheit 451
Burn
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover
The Dragons of Eden
Law, Legislation, and Liberty
The Closing of the American Mind
Fortune's Formula
How Will You Measure Your Life?
Shantaram
Architects of the Web
The Innovators Dilemma
The Great Revolt
Diaminds
Our Final Invention
Layered Money
The Marked Children
On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right When You're Not
The Fabric of Reality
Right Thing, Right Now
The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide to Becoming a Whiskey Know-It-All
Mohammed and Charlemagne
The Ambiguities of Experience
Failing Forward
Total Freedom
The Hunger Games
Academically Adrift
American Exceptionalism
The Red Queen
Educated
Leadership the Outward Bound Way
Pandemic 1918
The Persian Expedition
Simple Rules
Empire
The Dog Stars
Dynasty
Competing in the Age of AI
More Heat Than Light
The Course of Love
A Mathematician's Lament
Waking Up
The Back of the Napkin
Glass
Masters of Doom
Success
The Coming Wave
Exponential Organizations
Pasture Perfect
The Robotics Primer
The Martians of Science
This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends
Rainbows End
Obsession
The Compleat Strategyst
All The Light We Cannot See
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln
The Passage of Power
Eating The Big Fish
Plants of the Gods
The Accidental Universe
Permaculture: A Designer's Manual
Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar
The Man Who Knew Infinity
Ordinary Men