15 Lessons from Andy Jassy, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

We've gotten to know Andy Jassy live on stage, and in hours and days of video over many years. From AWS re:Invent Keynotes, to interviews, profile stories, and so on. I encourage you to spend some time with Andy on YouTube, you'll learn a lot.

To pull foundational principals from a single asset, I went back to this less viewed fireside chat from AWS Summit San Francisco 2017. I was in the house that day, a relatively small audience, and felt that Andy was sharing what made Amazon tick. These operating principles are openly communicated for all to see. But ideas alone are a dime a dozen. What makes Amazon Amazon is the culture of execution Jeff, Andy, and the team have built, which consistently delivers at a relentless pace, even with 1 million employees*.

15 lessons in 15 quick clips

#1 Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning - Invest heavily (12:16)

"It's something we passionately believe will make a huge difference in the year, and we're investing a gigantic amount of resources"

#2 Technology Democratization - broader access to top tier tech (15:41)

"If you look at the history of AWS, in every part of our business, and what's driven us, is democratizing technologies that were only available to a small number of companies"

#3 Connected Devices, Edge, IoT - It's real, and poised to deliver on the promise (24:40)

"Of all the buzzwords we've heard since the start of AWS, the ones that have delivered the fastest on their promise, are IoT, connected devices, and edge."

#4 Analytics & being a data-driven (beyond Ai&ML) - no excuses (31:59)

"It's never been easier, and less expensive to collect, store, analyze and share data .. its a new day for analytics for companies"

#5 Atomization of computing resources into smaller units - huge impact in chips, serverless, containers, infrastructure (33:40)

The trend we see is more and more companies are using smaller units of compute" basic unit of compute continues to get smaller, (serverless)

#6 Software procurement model is changing - options beyond the old school sales rep (34:49)

I think in general, both consumers and sellers of software really don't like the process that has existed over the last few decades

And now the good stuff, Amazon's culture & innovation engine secrets revealed.

#7 Amazon disproportionally indexes on hiring builders, who view the launch as the starting line, not the finish (38:14)

#8 Amazon is organized around small autonomous teams that have all the resource they need to control their own destiny (38:57)

#9 When the leaders walk into a meeting, we're looking for ways to say 'yes.' (40:26)

#10 - We have mechanisms in place to make fast decisions, and we're willing to fail. Reward people for inputs (not outputs, output might not work) (41:28)

#11 - We are pioneers, we like to invent (45:27)

#12 - Powerpoint was not an effective tool. Instead, we use a 6-page narrative that's reviewed by all in advance. We start the conversation from an educated place. (48:33)

#13 - Work backward from a crisp FAQ and Press Release with benefits that matter (50:53)

#14 - We're an unusually truth-seeking culture, have backbone, disagree, and commit. (54:24)

#15 - A short story to wrap these concepts (53:54)

(Yes, I left out being customer-obsessed and eating their own dog food, but you knew those already)

Andy, Thanks for sharing your thoughts so broadly and frequently.

Congrats on your Promotion.

Fireside Chat with Andy Jassy, AWS CEO, at the AWS Summit San Francisco, April 2017

#Leadership #AWS #AndyJassy #Amazon

* "Amazon now employs more than 1 million people" - Washington Post Oct 29, 2020

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