This document discusses mechanisms and process excellence. It begins by defining mechanisms as complete processes that convert inputs into outputs and are assembled from organizational levers. The document then provides examples of mechanisms used at Amazon, such as the Andon Cord for customer service and Weekly Business Reviews. It explains how to create mechanisms by starting with a business challenge, working backwards from desired outputs, and focusing on converting inputs. Key elements of mechanisms include tools, adoption, inspection, and iteration. The presentation concludes by discussing when and how to establish mechanisms in an organization.

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
© 2021, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon Confidential and Trademark.
Process Excellence
through Mechanisms
Influencing beyond line of sight
Ahmet Emre Açar
Principal Advisor, Professional Services
PEXCON 2022

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
There are many advantages to a customer-centric
approach, but here’s the big one: Customers
are always beautifully, wonderfully dissatisfied,
even when they report being happy and business is
great. Even when they don’t yet know it, customers
want something better, and your desire to delight
customers will drive you to invent on their behalf.
Jeff Bezos
2016 letter to shareholders
2

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
“
”
Often, when we find a recurring problem, something that
happens over and over again, we pull the team together,
ask them to try harder, do better –essentially, we ask for
good intentions. This rarely works... When you are asking
for good intentions, you are not asking for a change...
because people already had good intentions. But if good
intentions don’t work, what does? Mechanisms work.
- Jeff Bezos, February 1, 2008 All Hands
Good Intentions don’t work.
Mechanisms work.

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Leadership Mistakes
2 Mistakes that Leaders make when you put
them under pressure:
From good intentions
to Mechanisms

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Mechanism
INPUTS OUTPUTS
TOOL
ADOPTION
INSPECTION
ITERATION
BUSINESS
CHALLENGE

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
What are Mechanisms?
Dissecting a Mechanism: working backwards
Why do we use them at AWS?
What are Elements of Mechanisms?
How can you use them?

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
The Andon Cord is our
mechanism to drive customer
obsession in customer service,
enabling service agents to
pull defective products off
the website without having to
defer to managers, acting
quickly to act on behalf of our
customers.
Mechanisms influence beyond Line of Sight

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
The wheel of fortune is a
mechanism to ensure a good
conduct in WBR, MBR and
metrics meetings with
multiple owners. It enforces
readiness of all participants.
Mechanisms solve Reoccurring Challenges

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Bar Raisers bring an objective
perspective into an activity, to
insist on high standards on
mechanisms and to prevent
bias from creeping in.
Mechanisms focus on
Business Outcomes

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Correction of Error is a
mechanism for improving
quality by documenting and
addressing issues. You will
want to define a standardized
way to document critical root
causes, and ensure they are
reviewed and addressed.
Mechanisms aim for
Systemic Change

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Working Backwards is our
mechanism for innovation, to
drive customer obsession, to
invent and simplify on behalf
of our customers.
Mechanisms Deliver Results

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
What are Mechanisms?
Dissecting a Mechanism: working backwards
Why do we use them at AWS?
What are Elements of Mechanisms?
How can you use them?

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Working Backwards
Innovation is creativity with execution…

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
•
Working Backwards - Inputs
Who is the customer?
What is the customer problem or opportunity?
What is the most important customer benefit?
How do you know what customers need or want?
What does the customer experience look like?

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Working Backwards Outputs
15
Press Release
FAQ

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
PRFAQs drive experiments in stages
16
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the version of a new product
that brings back the maximum amount of validated learning
about your customers with the least effort.
A Minimum Lovable Product (MLP) is the version of a new product
that will generate enough customer enthusiasm (delighted
customers) for the product to rapidly climb up the adoption curve
A Proof of Concept (POC) is an experiment to demonstrate the
feasibility of a narrow set of assumptions. Prototypes are
experiments to explore the desirability, feasibility or viability to
gather data for decision making.

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
PRFAQ funding mechanism
Batch Investment to experiment and mitigate risks
17
Funding is released in iterations as product
teams demonstrate realization of value to
the business and IT.
Provides the stakeholders regular
opportunities to assess value delivered and
make decisions to continue, pivot, or stop
investing.
Incentivizes teams to deliver quality results
quickly, as future funding cycles are not
guaranteed
Funding
Cycle
M
L
P
M
L
P
M
L
P
Small
Batch
Delivery
Cycle
Jan May Sept
$ $ $
Risk
Risk

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
What are Mechanisms?
Dissecting a Mechanism: working backwards
Why do we use them at AWS?
How do you create Mechanisms?
When can you use them?

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Long-Range
Planning
Company
Product / Service
Business Unit /
Product Portfolio
OP1 / OP2 Narratives
Strategy Narratives
PR/FAQ, MLP Epics and Stories
Feature Roadmaps
Decisions at various levels… through common mental models and principles.
• Tenets – a set of principles and believes that
guides decision-making
• Calculated Risk Taking – Many decisions and
actions are reversible (i.e., 2-way door
decisions)
• Single-threaded owner / team – Customer
intimacy and strong judgment
• Dive Deep – Stay connected to the details, but
be skeptical when metrics and anecdotes differ
• Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit – Do not
compromise for the sake of social cohesion; but
once a decision is made, commit wholly
System of Mechanisms

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Mechanisms
at Team Level
Common mechanisms
have owners across teams
and are applied broadly
across Amazon. Each team
can also create their own
mechanisms which can
scale through community of
practice calls or other ways
of adoption.

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Mechanism, not Mechanistic Process
“Mechanistic” Examples are uninspected,
unadopted tools or those that don’t
convert inputs into the desired outputs.
• NA Retail WBR (evolved to monthly)
• NPI (deprecated)
• Alert emails (e.g. pricing errors, CP
negative shipping)
Mechanisms are:
1) Are Complete Processes
2) Convert Inputs into Outputs
3) Are Assembled from
Organizational Levers
If points 1) and 2) lack in any way,
you have the wrong levers.

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
IAT WBR Mechanism
Mechanism Owner: AEA
Proposed Date: Weekly Proposed Time: Tuesdays, 1:45pm to 3:15pm Scheduler: Practice Manager
Inputs: Data driven updates from business owners
Outputs: Improved decision making, removal of blockers across teams, accelerations of best practices and learnings
Tools: Chime Call, Calendar Series, WBR Quip Doc, Asana Business Update Dashboard, OP Narrative
- WBR Document: Team goals, OP1 tracking metrics, Headcount table, Action items log
- BU Dashboard: Goals, Top input goals, Top output goals, Top dependencies, Launch Calendar, KPI
- Narrative: Key callouts, business trends, and/or learnings, Major risks, issues, and challenges
Proposed Attendees: Required List (practice members), Guest List
Adoption: Mandatory Attendance (unless you know of a better mechanism)
Inspection: Quarterly review in lead meeting: What is going well? What is going poorly? What do we want to change?

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
© 2021, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon Confidential and Trademark.
What are your
Business Challenges?

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
What are Mechanisms?
Dissecting a Mechanism: working backwards
Why do we use them at AWS?
How do you create Mechanisms?
When can you use them?

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Start with the Challenge
INPUTS OUTPUTS
TOOL
ADOPTION
INSPECTION
ITERATION
BUSINESS
CHALLENGE

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Work Back from the Outputs…
INPUTS OUTPUTS
TOOL
ADOPTION
INSPECTION
ITERATION
BUSINESS
CHALLENGE

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
…but focus on the Inputs.
INPUTS OUTPUTS
TOOL
ADOPTION
INSPECTION
ITERATION
BUSINESS
CHALLENGE

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
TOOLS
Transform inputs to outputs
Can be simple or complex
Help accomplish large goals
Only as good as its adoption
Constructed from Organizational Levers

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
ADOPTION
Who are the stakeholders?
Whose contribution do you need?
What could you use to drive adoption?
What are the indicators of adoption?

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Convert Inputs into Outputs
Are Assembled from Organisational Levers
Are Complete Processes
- Is it delivering the desired outputs?
- Are we auditing regularly?
- Are we making progress and / or
improvements?
- Does the data drive decisions?
INSPECTION

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
ITERATION
Build: experiment with different tools that pull
different levers.
Adopt: starts when the tool is working, and
worth pushing out to a larger audience.
Inspect: occurs when the tool is broadly adopted.
Check the mechanism health and adjust at each
stage.

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
What are Mechanisms?
Dissecting a Mechanism: working backwards
Why do we use them at AWS?
How do you create Mechanisms?
When can you use them?

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Solve Business Challenges
What are you solving?
What levers will you pull?
Who will support you?
How will you get support for it?
How will you scale its use?
How will you inspect the success?

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Organisational Levers
Mental Models
- Ideas about how the world works, beliefs
- Leadership Principles, Tenets
- Culture, World View
Goals
- Objectives of any scope
- Priorities: what matters when truly constrained?
- Forecast, evaluate, motivate
Organization Structure
- Who has formal authority and responsibility?
- Tall vs Flat, Single-threaded vs Multi-tasked
- Single-threaded Owners
Policies & Rewards
- Policy vs. Individual Judgement
- Align positive + negative consequences
- Drivers of recognition, compensation, satisfaction
Process Steps
- Operation of the Mechanisms
- Rhythm of Standardization and Improvement
- Methods of Improvement
Message Flow
- Who needs what information? How do they get it?
- Signal vs. Noise – Attention is constrained
- Feedback Loops, Dive Deep
Metrics
- Manage inputs, monitor outputs
- Direct vs. Proxy
- Patterns, Outliers and Anectodes
Resources
- Allocation of money and people to work
- Technology, Job Aids, Tools
- Identify the irreducible inputs

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
How do you establish Mechanisms in your Organisation?

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
© 2021, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon Confidential and Trademark.
Thank you!
36
acaahmet@amazon.com

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Turn inputs into outputs
Mechanism Inputs Outputs
CS Andon Cord Customer Reported Defects Halted Sales of Defective Items,
Attention of Business Leaders to
Research and Resolve Root Cause
Weekly Business
Reviews (WBR)
Operational Data Business Decisions which improve
operations, aligned with Tenets
Working Backwards Customer Insights, Initial Ideas Clear Product Vision, Well-Informed
Decisions on Customer Insights
Interview Loop Candidates New Amazonians
Startup Connections Well-Informed Use Case, Building
Blocks
Startup Partnership, Building Block
Solutions
Correction of Errors Unintended Errors Root Cause Solutions

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Organisational Levers
Mental Models
- Ideas about how the world works, beliefs
- Leadership Principles, Tenets
- Culture, World View
Goals
- Objectives of any scope
- Priorities: what matters when truly constrained?
- Forecast, evaluate, motivate
Organization Structure
- Who has formal authority and responsibility?
- Tall vs Flat, Single-threaded vs Multi-tasked
- Single-threaded Owners
Policies & Rewards
- Policy vs. Individual Judgement
- Align positive + negative consequences
- Drivers of recognition, compensation, satisfaction
Process Steps
- Operation of the Mechanisms
- Rhythm of Standardization and Improvement
- Methods of Improvement
Message Flow
- Who needs what information? How do they get it?
- Signal vs. Noise – Attention is constrained
- Feedback Loops, Dive Deep
Metrics
- Manage inputs, monitor outputs
- Direct vs. Proxy
- Patterns, Outliers and Anectodes
Resources
- Allocation of money and people to work
- Technology, Job Aids, Tools
- Identify the irreducible inputs

39. © 2021, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon Confidential and Trademark.
PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Organisational Levers
Mental Models
- Ideas about how the world works, beliefs
- Leadership Principles, Tenets
- Culture, World View
Goals
- Objectives of any scope
- Priorities: what matters when truly constrained?
- Forecast, evaluate, motivate
Organization Structure
- Who has formal authority and responsibility?
- Tall vs Flat, Single-threaded vs Multi-tasked
- Single-threaded Owners
Policies & Rewards
- Policy vs. Individual Judgement
- Align positive + negative consequences
- Drivers of recognition, compensation, satisfaction
Process Steps
- Operation of the Mechanisms
- Rhythm of Standardization and Improvement
- Methods of Improvement
Message Flow
- Who needs what information? How do they get it?
- Signal vs. Noise – Attention is constrained
- Feedback Loops, Dive Deep
Metrics
- Manage inputs, monitor outputs
- Direct vs. Proxy
- Patterns, Outliers and Anectodes
Resources
- Allocation of money and people to work
- Technology, Job Aids, Tools
- Identify the irreducible inputs

40. © 2021, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon Confidential and Trademark.
PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Organisational Levers
Mental Models
- Ideas about how the world works, beliefs
- Leadership Principles, Tenets
- Culture, World View
Goals
- Objectives of any scope
- Priorities: what matters when truly constrained?
- Forecast, evaluate, motivate
Organization Structure
- Who has formal authority and responsibility?
- Tall vs Flat, Single-threaded vs Multi-tasked
- Single-threaded Owners
Policies & Rewards
- Policy vs. Individual Judgement
- Align positive + negative consequences
- Drivers of recognition, compensation, satisfaction
Process Steps
- Operation of the Mechanisms
- Rhythm of Standardization and Improvement
- Methods of Improvement
Message Flow
- Who needs what information? How do they get it?
- Signal vs. Noise – Attention is constrained
- Feedback Loops, Dive Deep
Metrics
- Manage inputs, monitor outputs
- Direct vs. Proxy
- Patterns, Outliers and Anectodes
Resources
- Allocation of money and people to work
- Technology, Job Aids, Tools
- Identify the irreducible inputs

41. © 2021, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon Confidential and Trademark.
PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Organisational Levers
Mental Models
- Ideas about how the world works, beliefs
- Leadership Principles, Tenets
- Culture, World View
Goals
- Objectives of any scope
- Priorities: what matters when truly constrained?
- Forecast, evaluate, motivate
Organization Structure
- Who has formal authority and responsibility?
- Tall vs Flat, Single-threaded vs Multi-tasked
- Single-threaded Owners
Policies & Rewards
- Policy vs. Individual Judgement
- Align positive + negative consequences
- Drivers of recognition, compensation, satisfaction
Process Steps
- Operation of the Mechanisms
- Rhythm of Standardization and Improvement
- Methods of Improvement
Message Flow
- Who needs what information? How do they get it?
- Signal vs. Noise – Attention is constrained
- Feedback Loops, Dive Deep
Metrics
- Manage inputs, monitor outputs
- Direct vs. Proxy
- Patterns, Outliers and Anectodes
Resources
- Allocation of money and people to work
- Technology, Job Aids, Tools
- Identify the irreducible inputs

42. © 2021, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon Confidential and Trademark.
PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Organisational Levers
Mental Models
- Ideas about how the world works, beliefs
- Leadership Principles, Tenets
- Culture, World View
Goals
- Objectives of any scope
- Priorities: what matters when truly constrained?
- Forecast, evaluate, motivate
Organization Structure
- Who has formal authority and responsibility?
- Tall vs Flat, Single-threaded vs Multi-tasked
- Single-threaded Owners
Policies & Rewards
- Policy vs. Individual Judgement
- Align positive + negative consequences
- Drivers of recognition, compensation, satisfaction
Process Steps
- Operation of the Mechanisms
- Rhythm of Standardization and Improvement
- Methods of Improvement
Message Flow
- Who needs what information? How do they get it?
- Signal vs. Noise – Attention is constrained
- Feedback Loops, Dive Deep
Metrics
- Manage inputs, monitor outputs
- Direct vs. Proxy
- Patterns, Outliers and Anectodes
Resources
- Allocation of money and people to work
- Technology, Job Aids, Tools
- Identify the irreducible inputs

43. © 2021, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon Confidential and Trademark.
PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Organisational Levers
Mental Models
- Ideas about how the world works, beliefs
- Leadership Principles, Tenets
- Culture, World View
Goals
- Objectives of any scope
- Priorities: what matters when truly constrained?
- Forecast, evaluate, motivate
Organization Structure
- Who has formal authority and responsibility?
- Tall vs Flat, Single-threaded vs Multi-tasked
- Single-threaded Owners
Policies & Rewards
- Policy vs. Individual Judgement
- Align positive + negative consequences
- Drivers of recognition, compensation, satisfaction
Process Steps
- Operation of the Mechanisms
- Rhythm of Standardization and Improvement
- Methods of Improvement
Message Flow
- Who needs what information? How do they get it?
- Signal vs. Noise – Attention is constrained
- Feedback Loops, Dive Deep
Metrics
- Manage inputs, monitor outputs
- Direct vs. Proxy
- Patterns, Outliers and Anectodes
Resources
- Allocation of money and people to work
- Technology, Job Aids, Tools
- Identify the irreducible inputs

44. © 2021, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon Confidential and Trademark.
PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Organisational Levers
Mental Models
- Ideas about how the world works, beliefs
- Leadership Principles, Tenets
- Culture, World View
Goals
- Objectives of any scope
- Priorities: what matters when truly constrained?
- Forecast, evaluate, motivate
Organization Structure
- Who has formal authority and responsibility?
- Tall vs Flat, Single-threaded vs Multi-tasked
- Single-threaded Owners
Policies & Rewards
- Policy vs. Individual Judgement
- Align positive + negative consequences
- Drivers of recognition, compensation, satisfaction
Process Steps
- Operation of the Mechanisms
- Rhythm of Standardization and Improvement
- Methods of Improvement
Message Flow
- Who needs what information? How do they get it?
- Signal vs. Noise – Attention is constrained
- Feedback Loops, Dive Deep
Metrics
- Manage inputs, monitor outputs
- Direct vs. Proxy
- Patterns, Outliers and Anectodes
Resources
- Allocation of money and people to work
- Technology, Job Aids, Tools
- Identify the irreducible inputs

45. © 2021, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Amazon Confidential and Trademark.
PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Organisational Levers
Mental Models
- Ideas about how the world works, beliefs
- Leadership Principles, Tenets
- Culture, World View
Goals
- Objectives of any scope
- Priorities: what matters when truly constrained?
- Forecast, evaluate, motivate
Organization Structure
- Who has formal authority and responsibility?
- Tall vs Flat, Single-threaded vs Multi-tasked
- Single-threaded Owners
Policies & Rewards
- Policy vs. Individual Judgement
- Align positive + negative consequences
- Drivers of recognition, compensation, satisfaction
Process Steps
- Operation of the Mechanisms
- Rhythm of Standardization and Improvement
- Methods of Improvement
Message Flow
- Who needs what information? How do they get it?
- Signal vs. Noise – Attention is constrained
- Feedback Loops, Dive Deep
Metrics
- Manage inputs, monitor outputs
- Direct vs. Proxy
- Patterns, Outliers and Anectodes
Resources
- Allocation of money and people to work
- Technology, Job Aids, Tools
- Identify the irreducible inputs
- Start manual, automate

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PROCESS EXCELLENCE WITH MECHANISMS
Conflicting Mental Models
For Against
Mental Models
Goals
Organization Structure
Policies & Rewards
Process Steps
Message Flow
Metrics
Resources
Mental Models
Goals
Organization Structure
Policies & Rewards
Process Steps
Message Flow
Metrics
Resources