enhancing the amazon working backwards process

In a previous post I discussed the famous amazon “press release backwards” technique for product teams - designed for customer-facing “product” teams — teams that create a product or service to be consumed by either B2C or B2B customers, the technique is in my opinion a valuable exercise that forces teams to consider the value of the thing they’re making for their intended audience BEFORE they start working on it. 
 
Indeed, the idea behind this process is that if the teams can’t tell a super compelling story about the product, then the concepts they’re considering are too complicated or probably not worth the effort developing. It also forces the team to start with empathy for the customer rather than a set of features. It forces the team to understand the purpose of the work they’re doing rather than just the building and delivery aspects.
 
A few suggestions to enhance the technique
 
Obviously there isn’t a “one size fits all” for product development teams, and while working on a hard digital transformation effort for a global non-tech company, I found that the following had to be addressed:
 
Suggestion 1: More focus on key outcomes, which are the measurable changes in customer behavior that tell us we’ve delivered something of value, designed and implemented it well and that it solves a real need for a real customer.
 
Suggestion 2: Add in the FAQs a discussion of the collaboration challenges the team needs to overcome – for example projects usually don’t see the light of day without direct contact from legal, marketing, brand, risk, compliance and multiple other teams.
 
 
As a result, here are a few additions to the “Amazon press release backwards” famous template for product teams to consider when working on new initiatives and products – let me know what you think!
 

• What did you ship? What is the name of the product and what does it do? Can you explain it in layman’s terms? What is the scope of the project and how does it work?

 

• What customer problems does it solve? What does this new product help users or customers do better? More quickly or efficiently? How does it make THEM more successful? This is key to building a customer-centric solution that actually delivers value.

 

• How do you know the problem solved those problems? What measurable changes in customer behavior have been observed to indicate that you have indeed solved the problem for your customers and that they love this product? It is worth to get the team thinking about this question now, rather than after your launch - “If we build and launch this product or initiative, what will our users be doing differently than they are today?”

 

• What business benefit has been achieved? Now that our customers are successful, how has that translated into business benefits? Are we making more money? Have we reduced our costs? Is it easier to acquire new customers? In other words, why do we as businesses care about this product?

 

• Internal quote from someone involved or invested in this project and its success. Provide a quote that focuses on how this project improved the customer experience and why the business took it on. This should come from someone involved in the process and invested in its success.

 

• Provide a customer quote sharing how this new product made them more successful or helped them achieve something. Make sure to note who the customer is and what role the product plays in their life and how their life has been improved with this new service.

 

• How did the team work together to achieve these results? What challenges did the team overcome to make the product successful? Trying to predict the challenges the teams face today to achieving the kind of success you’ve imagined for this product. What would get in the way? How will you collaborate across different groups? Locations? Meet legal requirements?

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Let me know what you think! 
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​My name's phil mora and I blog about the things I love: fitness, hacking work, tech and anything holistic. 
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Head of Digital Product
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