Glossary
Working Backwards & Product Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the Amazon Working Backwards method and product terms - PR/FAQ, the so-what test, two-pizza teams, and more.
What Is Working Backwards?
Working Backwards is Amazon's product method: start from the customer, write the launch press release and FAQ before building, and commit only if it holds up.
What Is a PR/FAQ?
A PR/FAQ is a one-page mock press release for a finished product plus a list of customer and stakeholder questions - written before the product is built.
What Is the So-What Test?
The so-what test asks whether a product is meaningfully better, faster, easier, or cheaper than the alternative. If not, the idea - not the wording - needs to change.
What Is a Future Press Release?
A future press release announces a product as if it already shipped - written before building it, to force clarity about the customer and the value.
What Is a Two-Pizza Team?
A two-pizza team is an Amazon team small enough to be fed by two pizzas - roughly 6–10 people - designed to stay autonomous, fast, and accountable.
What Is a Single-Threaded Leader?
A single-threaded leader (STL) owns one initiative full-time, with no competing responsibilities - Amazon's answer to initiatives that stall when no one fully owns them.
What Is a Narrative Memo (Six-Pager)?
A narrative memo is Amazon's six-page written document that replaces slide decks - read silently at the start of a meeting to force complete, rigorous thinking.
What Is Customer Obsession?
Customer obsession is Amazon's first leadership principle: start from the customer and work backward, rather than from competitors or internal capabilities.
What Are Tenets?
Tenets are a team's explicit guiding principles - the trade-offs it will consistently make - written down so decisions stay aligned without re-litigating them each time.
Input vs. Output Metrics
Input metrics measure the controllable actions that drive results; output metrics measure the results themselves. Amazon manages inputs because you can't directly control outputs.
One-Way vs. Two-Way Doors (Type 1 & Type 2 Decisions)
One-way-door decisions are hard to reverse and deserve caution; two-way-door decisions are reversible and should be made fast. Treating them the same slows everything down.
What Is a Bar Raiser?
A bar raiser is a trained Amazon interviewer from outside the hiring team with veto power, there to keep hiring quality high regardless of short-term pressure to fill a role.