The Amazon planning process is divided into a bi-annual process dubbed OP-1 (Operating Plan) and OP-2. A product manager we spoke with said that some teams review one leadership principle per month, and everyone is expected to attend and discuss how to apply the principle in their work-even if you’ve been with the company for a decade or more. Lastly, Amazon reinforces these ways of working and cultural values by constantly reinforcing their 14 leadership principles. Even after every team’s plans have been collated across the entire organization, Bezos only wants to see a six-page document. Yes, there is an explicit six-page rule at Amazon, and when plans are shared they must fit on those six pages––and when plans are combined across multiple teams, they are still expected to fit on just six pages. This means that plans are hatched and shared by a dispersed group of product managers across the organization who have to work together, rather than a top-down mandate. There’s no Chief Product Officer at Amazon and no product divisions, either. The positive side of this is that data can be used as a tool for reversing any decision, no matter the seniority of the decision maker.” Everything is subject to this, from hiring decisions (‘Is the candidate better than 50% of employees at the same role?’) to design (‘What proportion of customers in a usability test stumbled in the treatment?’). While this seems obvious and commonplace in the tech industry, at Amazon it is taken to the extreme where even small decisions or things that are seemingly not quantifiable are measured and evaluated. Former Amazon employee Samir Lakhani noted, “At Amazon, people make decisions using data. This also reduces the natural urge of leadership to micromanage teams and dictate their outputs. Teams are therefore encouraged to try lots of different outputs to uncover which is most effective in reaching their desired outcomes. An output is the result of an activity (e.g., three new features launched) rather than the result of those outputs (e.g., checkout takes 20% less time for customers). ![]() This isn’t just a marketing slogan-one Product Manager we spoke with told us there’s literally nothing more damaging to your reputation at the company than being labeled “customer un-obsessed.” What Makes Amazon’s Culture Uniqueīefore we detail Amazon’s budgeting process, it’s important to understand Amazon’s culture, and how that plays a role in all of their processes. ![]() ![]() When done well, teams feel a sense of ownership and control over their goals, while also the freedom to adapt when early uncertainties produce unintended consequences and outcomes. Amazon’s process allows a very large organization to strategically divide its resources while still maintaining autonomy and flexibility across its divisions and their teams. In this article, we’ll explore Amazon’s semi-annual budgeting and planning process, dubbed OP-1 and OP-2 (OP stands for Operating Plan). Amazon’s rise has naturally piqued collective curiosity into how the business runs itself. Today, Amazon employs more than 750,000 employees across multiple divisions-all of which could be valuable public companies in their own right. The grind was wearing.Amazon, the world’s most valuable company, has grown their share price by over 1000% since they went public in 1997 by cornering the market for nearly all of our needs and wants. I might be designing a logo, then watching a video of a man immolated by ISIS, then translating business documents. When I found HITs, I would rush to get them done. Since tasks are posted randomly throughout the day and night, I had to stay glued to the screen. The worker flexibility and choice that Amazon touts, therefore, was to me mostly a mirage.ĭuring a typical long day at the keyboard, teeth might not be brushed, showers not taken, doctor's appointments missed. One study found the median hourly wage for all MTurk tasks is only $1.38. You don't know if another task will pop up, and most HITs pay less than a dime. But you cannot be picky when you have a daily income goal. Technically, I could have refused those tasks, although there is no way to definitively know the content before you accept. "Content moderation" work on MTurk can mean exposure to some of the worst imagery available online. ![]() There were physical consequences - problems with my wrist, elbow and shoulder - and a psychological toll.
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