Writing: Academia vs Amazon

Ever think about how you write and why? If you are transitioning from Academia to Big Tech, your brain will likely operate in two modes – one for dissecting complex research and another for crafting concise, action-oriented documents. You are not alone. As someone who has traversed both the world of academia and the fast-paced environment of Amazon, it is time to reflect.

While both rely heavily on written communication, the how and the purpose are almost completely different. In Academia, the focus is on creating new knowledge, sharing it, and having others critically analyze or build upon it. The paper is the product, driving advancement in science and scholarly discourse. the other side of it though, is that Academia is often a "publish or perish" space. If you aren't advancing science in your work and aren't out there driving the conversation on the topic, you quickly fade away and your funding dries up.

At Amazon, the company is driven by documents. Meetings often start with a document, people provide critical analysis of it, and the meeting ideally concludes with a decision driven by that document. Amazon documents force the person working on the problem to put their ideas to paper and to make the case for why a particular choice should be made. The typical Amazon 6-pager consists of background, problem statement, proposed solution, and next steps ideally written to effectively convey a complex idea. By writing a strong doc, you level set everyone with detailed information about the problem, and your proposed path forward. The result is not the doc though, it is the action that the doc drives and the impact of that action.

Let's talk about the how a bit. In Academia, there is a strict adherence to the academic writing style (e.g., specific citation format and structure). The focus of a strong academic paper is clear, logical, and evidence-based support for the hypothesis and supporting analysis/conclusion. In an academic paper, you work backwards from your hypothesis and design an experiment that either disproves it or validates it while working to advance the state of science in your field. It is uncommon to consider the end user experience, the focus is on the knowledge.

In Amazon, you are working backwards from the customer, clearly and concisely presenting a decision/path and supporting that with data. You are not (typically) advancing the state of science, and you are (almost) entirely focused on solving an end-user experience. These docs are intended to be very action oriented, outlining what the company should do next to solve the customer problem. There are also different types of documents at Amazon. The typical 6-pager, which is focused on presenting a problem, solution, and actionable next steps. Then there is the PRFAQ, which is used to state what the world will be like when a new solution launches, talking about the problem, solution, and the realized benefits. Then there is the 1-pager, which is typically focused on quick overviews, status updates, or conveying a very specific point / decision.

I found myself in a unique position to blend the two. Amazon values innovation, moving fast, and ideally embraces failing (fast) if you learn from it and iterate to a better state. It feels strange at first to start a meeting by bringing everyone together, and then sitting in silence while people quickly read the document, leaving comments, and then engaging in a conversation after. After a few meetings though, it starts to make sense, and you realize the value it brings. However, there is a negative in practice, that is not as it is intended to be. Sometimes we focus too much on writing the perfect document with the perfect plan, and not enough on embracing the scientific method to rapidly advance our knowledge and understanding while we iterate toward success.

That is something I am working to shift at Amazon. Pushing to embrace Amazon's original intent and vision of a "day one" mentality, melding that with the Academic pursuit of knowledge creation. What about you? What lessons or approaches are you using to help influence the direction of your company? What writing strategies have you found effective in bridging the gap between academic rigor and practical problem-solving?

?