The document discusses Amazon's approach to product management, emphasizing the importance of working backwards from customer needs to enhance developer and designer productivity. It highlights various Amazon initiatives, including the launch of the Amazon Lumberyard game engine and new EC2 high memory instances for in-memory databases, both aimed at improving developer experiences. Additionally, it details Amazon's commitment to workforce development through job creation and educational programs.

1. WORKING BACKWARDSWORKING BACKWARDS
FROM THE CUSTOMERFROM THE CUSTOMER

2. THOMAS LOBINGERTHOMAS LOBINGER
SENIOR MANAGER, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT – TECHSENIOR MANAGER, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT – TECH
AMAZON DEVELOPMENT CENTER IN BERLINAMAZON DEVELOPMENT CENTER IN BERLIN

3. CHOCOLATE FACTORYCHOCOLATE FACTORY
LocationLocation Berlin, Seattle, Palo AltoBerlin, Seattle, Palo Alto
SizeSize 3 x 2-pizza teams3 x 2-pizza teams
GoalGoal Increase developers and designersIncrease developers and designers
productivity and happinessproductivity and happiness

4. HOW TO SHARE AND WORKHOW TO SHARE AND WORK
ON IDEAS?ON IDEAS?
HOW TO ALIGN TEAM MEMBERS ANDHOW TO ALIGN TEAM MEMBERS AND
GOALS TO CREATE A SHAREDGOALS TO CREATE A SHARED
UNDERSTANDING AND VISION?UNDERSTANDING AND VISION?

5. USER STORIESUSER STORIES
As a TYPE OF USER,
I want to SOME GOAL
so that SOME REASON.

6. User stories help shift the focus from writing aboutUser stories help shift the focus from writing about
requirements torequirements to talking about them. They aligntalking about them. They align
team members and create a shared understanding.team members and create a shared understanding.
— someone smart on the Internet— someone smart on the Internet

7. (1) BACKUP SOFTWARE(1) BACKUP SOFTWARE
As a POWER USER,
I want to SPECIFY FILES OR FOLDERS TO EXCLUDE
so that MY BACKUP DRIVE SPACE IS USED EFFICIENTLY.

8. THAT MIGHT WORKTHAT MIGHT WORK,, BUT ...BUT ...

9. (2) BACKUP SOFTWARE(2) BACKUP SOFTWARE
As a PHOTOGRAPHER,
I want to BACKUP MY PHOTOS
so that THEY ARE SAVE.

10. Do we have a similar enough idea?Do we have a similar enough idea?
Does it even make sense to startDoes it even make sense to start
a conversation based on this?a conversation based on this?

11. I thinkI think user stories just work for small scale problems.user stories just work for small scale problems.
The size of a well de ned problem is limited by the complexityThe size of a well de ned problem is limited by the complexity
achievable in a single sentence.achievable in a single sentence.
There areThere are veryvery powerful sentences capturing ideas and visions butpowerful sentences capturing ideas and visions but
they don't get real without further speci cations.they don't get real without further speci cations.

12. Article 1.Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignityAll human beings are born free and equal in dignity
and rights. They are endowed with reason andand rights. They are endowed with reason and
conscience and should act towards one another inconscience and should act towards one another in
a spirit of brotherhood.a spirit of brotherhood.
— United Nations, The Universal Declaration of— United Nations, The Universal Declaration of
Human RightsHuman Rights

13. SO ... HOW DO YOU DO IT?SO ... HOW DO YOU DO IT?
HOW TO ALIGN TEAMS AND BIGHOW TO ALIGN TEAMS AND BIG
PROJECTS TO CREATE A SHAREDPROJECTS TO CREATE A SHARED
UNDERSTANDING AND VISION?UNDERSTANDING AND VISION?

14. AMAZONAMAZON

15. IN 2017 AMAZON WEBIN 2017 AMAZON WEB
SERVICES LAUNCHEDSERVICES LAUNCHED
1.430 NEW SERVICES OR1.430 NEW SERVICES OR
MAJOR FEATURES.MAJOR FEATURES.

16. HOW DOES THIS WORK?HOW DOES THIS WORK?
14 Amazon Leadership Principles
Peculiar Amazon ways of doing things, e.g. meetings

17. WORKING BACKWARDSWORKING BACKWARDS

18. 1) PRESS RELEASE1) PRESS RELEASE

19. Heading
Amazon Web Services Announces Amazon Lumberyard
A Free, Cross-Platform, 3D Game Engine Integrated
with AWS and Twitch

20. Summary
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 2016-- Amazon Web
Services Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ:
AMZN), today announced Amazon Lumberyard, a free,
cross-platform, 3D game engine for developers to
create the highest-quality games, connect their
games to the vast compute and storage of the AWS
Cloud, and engage fans on Twitch. Amazon Lumberyard
helps developers build beautiful worlds, make
realistic characters, and create stunning real-time
effects. With Amazon Lumberyard’s visual scripting
tool, even non-technical game developers can add
cloud-connected features to a game in minutes (such

21. as a community news feed, daily gifts, or server
side combat resolution) through a drag-and-drop
graphical user interface.

22. Problem / Opportunity
Building technology capable of making the highest-
quality games is difficult, time-consuming, and
expensive. Game developers either have to spend
several years creating the more than 20 significant
technology components that are needed to build the
highest-quality games (such as real-time graphics
rendering, world and character editors, animation
systems, physics simulation, low-latency
networking, particle systems, scripting systems,
terrain generation, and more), or they have to
invest in commercial game engines that are
expensive and do not include native integrations

23. with Twitch or cloud back-end technologies (like
AWS).

24. Solution
With Amazon Lumberyard, game developers can:
Create the highest-quality games—Amazon Lumberyard
helps developers build rich, engaging, world-class
games—from a full-featured editor, to native code
performance and stunning visuals, and hundreds of
other features like performant networking, cloth
physics, character and animation editors, particle
editor, UI editor, audio tools, weather effects,
vehicle systems, flocking AI, perception handling,
camera frameworks, path finding, and more.
Developers also have full access to Amazon
Lumberyard source code, making it easy to customize

25. the technology to create differentiated gameplay.
Build live, online features in minutes—Live, online
games enjoy higher engagement and retention than
offline games. Amazon Lumberyard’s visual scripting
tool, with its drag-and-drop graphical user
interface, makes it easy to build connected game
features that access AWS services, such as
DynamoDB, Lambda, and S3. In minutes, game
designers can create features such as granting a
daily gift or sending in-game notifications without
having to write a single line of code. Amazon
Lumberyard also comes integrated with AWS’s C++ SDK
to provide developers access to dozens of AWS
services through native C++ code, the most common
language used to make games.

26. Reach and engage fans on Twitch Amazon Lumberyard
is integrated with Twitch so that developers can
build gameplay features that engage the more than
1.7 million monthly broadcasters, and more than 100
million monthly viewers on Twitch. With Amazon
Lumberyard's Twitch ChatPlay, developers can use a
drag-and-drop visual scripting interface to create
gameplay features that let Twitch viewers use chat
to directly impact the game they are watching in
real-time. For example, with Twitch ChatPlay within
Amazon Lumberyard, a developer could build a game
that lets viewers on Twitch control a character or
vote on game outcomes using chat commands like
"up," "down," "live," or "die." And, the Twitch
JoinIn feature within Amazon Lumberyard helps

27. developers build games that allow Twitch
broadcasters to instantly invite their live
audiences to join them side-by-side in the game,
with a single click, while others continue to
watch.

28. Quote by Amazon
“Many of the world's most popular games are powered
by AWS's technology infrastructure platform," said
Mike Frazzini, Vice President of Amazon Games.
“When we’ve talked to game developers, they've
asked for a game engine with the power and
capability of leading commercial engines, but
that's significantly less expensive, and deeply
integrated with AWS for the back-end and Twitch for
the gamer community. We're excited to deliver that
for our game developers today with the launch of
Amazon Lumberyard and Amazon GameLift."

29. How to get started
Amazon Lumberyard is available for download in beta
for PC and console game developers. The Amazon
Lumberyard engine is free to use, including source.
There are no seat fees, subscription fees, or
requirements to share revenue. Standard AWS fees
apply should developers choose to use other AWS
services.

30. Quote by Customer
“Amazon has been a great partner and we are deeply
excited about both Amazon Lumberyard and Amazon
GameLift,” said Josh Atkins, Vice President of
Creative Development, 2K Games. “The integration of
a fantastic game engine with amazing cloud services
presents a wonderful opportunity for both
independent developers and established publishers.”

31. Closing / Call to Action
Amazon Lumberyard is free, and available today in
beta for developers building PC and console games,
with mobile and virtual reality (VR) platforms
coming soon.
To learn more about Amazon Lumberyard, visit
http://aws.amazon.com/lumberyard.

32. Heading
AWS Announces New Amazon EC2 High Memory Instances
for Large In-Memory Databases

33. Sub-Heading
New High Memory instances offer up to 12 TB of
memory today, scaling to 24 TB in 2019
High Memory instances will deliver the most memory
of any SAP-certified cloud instance

34. Summary
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 27, 2018-- Today
Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com
company (NASDAQ:AMZN), announced the availability
of new High Memory instances for Amazon Elastic
Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). Purpose built to run
large in-memory databases, including production
deployments of SAP HANA, Amazon EC2 High Memory
instances deliver 6 TB, 9 TB, and 12 TB of memory
today, with 18 TB and 24 TB instances coming in
2019. Combining the largest memory sizes available
in the cloud with the agility and reliability of
AWS, Amazon EC2 High Memory instances enable

35. customers to scale their in memory database
deployments and seamlessly integrate them with the
rest of AWS, including storage, networking, IoT,
analytics, and machine learning services.

36. Problem / Opportunity
As enterprises continue to process more and more
real-time data to make faster business decisions,
production deployments of in-memory databases
continue to expand. In-memory databases process
multiple terabytes of data on a single server in
real time, requiring predictable memory scaling and
low latency connections to the business logic
hosted in the cloud for responsive application
performance. Customers making a shift to the cloud
want to be able to run their large in-memory
databases in the cloud and ultra-close to the rest
of the services interacting with their in-memory

37. databases. Some providers have tried to solve this
by offering customers a hosted in-memory database
on-premises or in a co-located data center. The
problem with this approach is that the extra
networking required to connect the environment to
the cloud compounds the cost, makes operating more
complex, and adds application latency and
variability.

38. Solution
In contrast, with Amazon EC2’s 6 TB, 9 TB, and 12
TB High Memory instances, customers can run their
in-memory databases in the cloud in the same Amazon
Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) as the rest of their
enterprise applications, enabling lower latency,
operational simplicity, and more predictable
performance.

39. Quote by Amazon
“Amazon EC2 provides the most comprehensive
selection of instances by far, giving customers the
flexibility to select the right instance for the
right workload today and into the future,” said
Matt Garman, Vice President of Compute Services at
AWS. “We have memory-optimized instances today, and
they’ve proven quite popular with customers who
want to run memory intensive applications,
including in-memory databases. With 12 TB instances
available in AWS, and 24 TB instances coming next
year, Amazon EC2 High Memory instances give our
customers the ability to scale their in-memory

40. database with predictable performance in the same
VPC as their other AWS services. Customers can grow
their in-memory database and easily connect it to
their storage, networking, analytics, IoT, and
machine learning services – helping them make
faster and better business decisions.”

41. Quote by Customer
FAST RETAILING CO., LTD, known as UNIQLO brand
worldwide, has the conviction and vision to offer
the ultimate everyday clothes that make people's
lives richer and more comfortable. Strong growth in
international market with more than 1,200 stores
outside of Japan. “Our fast-paced industry requires
data and analytics in real time, and we use SAP
HANA database to support us,” said Makoto Hoketsu,
CIO, at Fast Retailing. “We have been running HANA
on Amazon EC2 X1e instances with 4 TB memory, and
will transition to the new Amazon EC2 High Memory
instance with 6 TB memory to support growing

42. business demands. These new instances offer
performance suitable for our large HANA deployment,
while enabling the benefits of cloud, like
automated deployments, simple management from the
AWS console, and integration with other AWS
services. The flexibility of moving from one
instance size to another within minutes means that
we can scale our business operations without having
to overprovision capacity today.”

43. Closing / Call to Action
To get started, visit
https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/high-
memory/.

44. Heading
Amazon Announces Second Stockton Fulfillment Center

45. Sub-Heading
Combined, Amazon’s two Stockton facilities will
bring more than 2,000 full-time jobs
Amazon has created more than 39,000 full-time jobs
in California and invested over $19 billion in the
state since 2011, including infrastructure and
compensation

46. Summary
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 17, 2018--
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced
plans to open its second large-scale facility in
Stockton. The new fulfillment center will create
more than 1,000 full-time jobs with competitive
hourly wages and a comprehensive benefits package
including healthcare, 401(k) and company stock
awards starting on day one.

47. Solution
Employees at the 1 million-square-foot fulfillment
center will pick, pack and ship items to customers
such as patio furniture, bikes, outdoor equipment
and rugs.
Amazon offers full-time employees innovative
programs like Career Choice, where the company will
pre-pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses
related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether
the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.
Since the program’s launch, over 16,000 associates
have pursued degrees in game design and visual

48. communications, nursing, IT programming and
radiology, to name a few. Named #1 on LinkedIn’s
2018 Top Companies list, Amazon provides
comprehensive benefits to its employees, including
generous parental leave, company stock, healthcare
and 401(k) retirement savings plan.

49. Quote by Amazon
“Since we first began operating in California six
years ago, we have found a network of support from
community leaders, a dedicated workforce and
fantastic customers,” said Mark Stewart, Vice
President of Amazon’s North America Operations.
“We’re excited to expand in Stockton and develop
our employees through on-the-job skills training
and through our Career Choice program, which
hundreds of our California associates have used to
go back to school.”

50. Quote by Customer
“Stockton is a city with great momentum, and we’ve
made jobs and economic development top priority,”
said Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs. “I am excited
about connecting our local workforce with the 1,000
jobs and investment Amazon is bringing to our
community with this new project.”

51. Heading
Woody Allen’s Upcoming Untitled Film Acquired by
Amazon Studios

52. Summary
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 2016--
(NASDAQ:AMZN)
Woody Allen’s latest as yet untitled feature film
has been acquired for all North American rights,
including theatrical and streaming, by Amazon
Studios. The film, shot last summer on location in
New York and Los Angeles, is a romantic comedy
staged in the 1930s and stars Jeannie Berlin, Steve
Carell, Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, Parker
Posey, Kristen Stewart, Corey Stoll, and Ken Stott.

53. Quote by Amazon
“Woody Allen is a brilliant filmmaker,” said Roy
Price, Head of Amazon Studios. “We’re so proud to
be in business with him for both his next film and
his first ever TV series.”

54. How to get started
Amazon will open the film this summer with a
traditional, nationwide theatrical release.
Following its theatrical run, it will become
available exclusively to Prime members through
Prime Video.

55. Heading Name the product in a way the reader will understand.
Sub-Heading Describe who the market for the product is and what
bene t they get.
Summary Give a summary of the product and the bene t.
Problem Describe the customer problem.
Solution Describe how your product elegantly solves the problem.
Quote from You A quote from a spokesperson in your company.
How to Get Started Describe how easy it is to get started.
Customer Quote Provide a quote from a customer that describes
how they experienced the bene t.
Closing and Call to Action Wrap it up and give pointers where the
reader should go next.

56. WRITING A PRESS RELEASEWRITING A PRESS RELEASE
Take your time and nail it.Take your time and nail it.
No weasel words & factual.No weasel words & factual.
Ignore all constraints.Ignore all constraints.
If you are not excited after reading the press release, don't do it.If you are not excited after reading the press release, don't do it.

57. 2) FAQS2) FAQS

58. Add meat to the skeleton provided by the press release.Add meat to the skeleton provided by the press release.
Include questions that came up writing the PR.Include questions that came up writing the PR.
Group FAQs by target audience.Group FAQs by target audience.

59. CustomersCustomers
What’s going to excite me about this?
What might disappoint me?
How will I discover or nd this?
I'm located in Germany will I be able to use it?
...

60. StakeholdersStakeholders
Why is this important right now?
How do you know if you are succeeding?
What is going to provoke the most debate?
Is there potential for fraud or risk?
...

61. 3) MOCKUPS3) MOCKUPS

62. Sketch the customer experience.
Keep the delity of your mockups on a level that matches your
current progress.
Tell the story on how a customer uses the product/service to solve
their problem.

63. DONE.DONE.

64. DONE?DONE?

65. ITERATE!ITERATE!

66. Mock Press ReleaseMock Press Release Describe your idea using customer-centricDescribe your idea using customer-centric
language.language.
FAQsFAQs Unpack assumptions and anticipate needs.Unpack assumptions and anticipate needs.
MockupsMockups Show what the customer experience looks like.Show what the customer experience looks like.

67. THANKS.THANKS.
LEARN MORELEARN MORE
"Werner Vogels - working backwards""Werner Vogels - working backwards"
Try it out, make it your own, fail fast.Try it out, make it your own, fail fast.
Go build!Go build!
@tlobinger@tlobinger