Amazon / AWS Working Backwards PR-FAQ

Source

• Amazon, “What’s it like to work at Amazon?” https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/an-insider-look-at-amazons-culture-and-processes
• AWS Executive Insights, “The Secrets to Project Management at AWS” https://d1.awsstatic.com/onedam/marketing-channels/website/aws/en_US/whitepapers/approved/executive-insights/product-management-ebook-pdf.pdf
• AWS re:Invent 2023, “Define your next $1B opportunity: Introduction to Working Backwards” https://d1.awsstatic.com/events/Summits/reinvent2023/INO101_Define-your-next-%241B-opportunity-Introduction-to-Working-Backwards.pdf

Summary

Amazon describes Working Backwards as a product-development mechanism that starts by defining the intended customer experience and then works backward until the team has clarity about what to build. Its principal artifact is the PR/FAQ: a short future press release plus frequently asked questions.

AWS describes the press release as a one-page narrative written before budget, team formation, or code. The FAQ has two halves: customer questions first, then internal questions about business viability, resources, risk, and other decision concerns. The point is not to answer every possible question. The point is to answer enough of the most important questions to make better decisions throughout the lifecycle.

The re:Invent material reinforces five working-backwards questions:

1. Who is the customer, and what insight do we have about them?
2. What is the prevailing customer problem or opportunity?
3. What is the solution and the most important customer benefit?
4. How do we describe the solution and experience to customers?
5. How do we test the solution with customers and measure success?

HELIX Implications

• Keep the press release customer-facing, concise, and jargon-free.
• Treat the press release as the north-star narrative, not as a feature list.
• Split FAQs into external customer questions and internal decision questions.
• Include only questions that materially affect commitment, scope, risk, or adoption.
• Use the FAQ to expose feasibility, business viability, security, and measurement risks before downstream requirements are locked.
• Preserve the iterative nature of the artifact: the PR-FAQ can be revised as learning changes the product argument.