5 rules for growth; lessons learned by Amazon Carlos Conde Amazon Web Services - Webrazzi Summit 2015

1. Carlos Conde • Chief Tech. Evangelist
@caarlco
5 RULES FOR GROWTH
Lessons learned from Amazon

2. WORK BACKWARDS
FROM THE CUSTOMER

3. 1. PRESS RELEASE
2. FAQ
3. USER MANUAL

4. PUT THE CUSTOMER FIRST
...AND WORK BACKWARDS

5. #1
Define your Culture

7. ‟2 PIZZA” TEAMS

9. A STRONG CULTURE CAN
OVERCOME ALMOST ANY
POOR TECHNICAL DECISION

10. A WEAK CULTURE CAN'T BE
SAVED WITH THE BEST
TECHNOLOGY

12. #2
Experiment Frequently

15. SEPARATE DECISION
FROM EVALUATION

16. SPEED OF ITERATION
BEATS QUALITY OF ITERATION

17. 11.6s
Mean time between
deployments
(weekday)
1,079
Max number of
deployments in a
single hour
10,000
Mean number of
hosts
simultaneously
receiving a
deployment
30,000
Max number of
hosts
simultaneously
receiving a
deployment
DEPLOYMENTS AT
AMAZON.COM

18. FAIL FAST
FAIL LOW-COST

19. TO INCREASE INNOVATION
LOWER THE COST OF FAILURE

20. #3
Learn from your failures

21. SUCCESS MAKE PEOPLE FEEL GOOD
FAILURES MAKES PEOPLE BETTER

22. IF SOMETHING IS HARD
REPETITION MAKES IT EASIER

25. GAME DAYS
Simulation situations for
resilience engineering

26. #4
Build a platform

27. « The most radical and transformative of
inventions are often those that empower
others to unleash their creativity – to
pursue their dreams. »
– Jeff Bezos

32. PAY PER USE
NO UP-FRONT COST
ON-DEMAND

33. #5
Focus on your business

34. « People think focus means saying yes to the
thing you’ve got to focus on. But it means
saying no to the hundred other good ideas
that there are.
You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as
proud of the things we haven’t done as the
things I have done. Innovation is saying no to
1,000 things. »
– Steve Jobs

35. MAKE A TO-DON’T LIST

37. 1. Define your culture
2. Experiment frequently
3. Learn from failures
4. Build a platform
5. Focus on your business

38. « We've had three big ideas at Amazon and
they're the reason we're successful:
put the customer first, invent, and be patient »
– Jeff Bezos

39. @caarlco
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