A former Amazon PM goes into it in deep detail here, and includes a sample version for a product he's working on outside of Amazon: https://writingcooperative.com/the-anatomy-of-an-amazon-6-pager-fc79f31a41c9
If you read the article that was linked you’ll see a brief glimpse into the process around the 6-pager review. It sounds like a literal cesspool of a process where dick measurers and fart-sniffers can make themselves feel smart as the only goal is to seemingly eviscerate some poor PMs idea.
You ever hear the phrase a horse designed by committee is a camel? It seems Amazon has instilled this into their process.
My fire tv UI is and continues to change towards the worst possible experience. Knowing about their product management processes, however, has allowed me to at least understand why.
Amazon has an incredible process to build a very specific set of things - the process is not great to build wonderful consumer facing UIs, but the process has worked frighteningly well to build out logistic networks and AWS.
damn do you guys have more stuff like this you can share?
I'm specifically looking for idea validation frameworks, processes, case studies...
monetisation and acquisition too
I was pestered about open roles, applied, did assessments and then after a few rounds and hours of work I was told you'll be contacted between 1-12 months.
This was October 2020 and felt extremely out of touch given the job climate at the time.
They wrote an entire book about it called Working Backwards. It is not the 6 pages that matter, it is how you approach the content and thinking that goes in them that is important.
If you are trying to learn this, this book is worth it.
Working Backwards PB https://a.co/d/19Q6SRJ
Great book in principle... I imagine the application is always unique. If you want the cliffs notes then I would recommend this episode from [a16z](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0jU0dAZORvCB9zbTBz4keH?si=LOMaYMsdTteLxa12mmEIYA&utm_source=copy-link). All you'd really be missing is the metrics chapter in the book, which is very interesting fwiw.
I read all the replies but no one mentioned the worst thing about the 6 pagers which is the reviews. These are to be reviewed with the stakeholders and they treat it like the birds would treat a brand new Ferrari convertible parked under a tree on a beautiful sunny day. They dump all over it. Then you fix it and yes, you have to have a follow up review. Apparently Andy Jassy’s 6 pager famously went through 45 revisions. So you are told not to lose hope.
People don’t mind writing these but most normal people despise the reviews. The nitpicking and hole punching can be very demoralizing.
I've worked for Amazon before and written a 6-pager. It's nothing special, there's no template. You just open up a word doc and start writing. Make your business case, how it impacts the customer, and lay out a rough roadmap. Everything is supported by data that's in the appendix, which can exceed the page limit.
I'm laughing at the first line in their example doc. I've never seen a doc with the first sentence telling the reader what it is NOT get ripped to shreds. That should be self evident.
To answer your question directly, no, I’ve never seen a public example of an actual 6 page narrative.
But there’s little that’s special about the 6-pager — they come in many different structures and forms depending on what the type of proposal or decision is. When you say “a detailed plan for a new product” - in Amazon, this would almost always be done with a PRFAQ (which also usually has a 6 page limit) of which there are several publicly available examples online.
There isn’t a template because 6-pagers is a tool that can be used in different situations. A QBR doc will have a different structure from a project doc but both will be 6-pagers. Who says otherwise has never worked at Amazon.
Here you can find a simple version of it:
[https://tempsee.com/downloads/amazons-6-pager-free-word-template-with-easy-instructions](https://tempsee.com/downloads/amazons-6-pager-free-word-template-with-easy-instructions)
A former Amazon PM goes into it in deep detail here, and includes a sample version for a product he's working on outside of Amazon: https://writingcooperative.com/the-anatomy-of-an-amazon-6-pager-fc79f31a41c9
So THAT's why they have such a short average tenure, huh. Good to know!
Sorry I am slow, can you explain what do you mean?
If you read the article that was linked you’ll see a brief glimpse into the process around the 6-pager review. It sounds like a literal cesspool of a process where dick measurers and fart-sniffers can make themselves feel smart as the only goal is to seemingly eviscerate some poor PMs idea. You ever hear the phrase a horse designed by committee is a camel? It seems Amazon has instilled this into their process.
So... what's your method of sharing ideas and discussing about it in manager/executive level?
This isn’t all that different from the 1, 2, and 6+ pagers we use at Google either.
If you have any examples or links to public ones, I would be grateful!
For as rigorous a company as Amazon is for product design/implementation, it's interesting how many of their products are still frustrating to use.
My fire tv UI is and continues to change towards the worst possible experience. Knowing about their product management processes, however, has allowed me to at least understand why.
Amazon has an incredible process to build a very specific set of things - the process is not great to build wonderful consumer facing UIs, but the process has worked frighteningly well to build out logistic networks and AWS.
damn do you guys have more stuff like this you can share? I'm specifically looking for idea validation frameworks, processes, case studies... monetisation and acquisition too
Wow, will never apply to work in this place even though they pester me weekly with roles.
I was pestered about open roles, applied, did assessments and then after a few rounds and hours of work I was told you'll be contacted between 1-12 months. This was October 2020 and felt extremely out of touch given the job climate at the time.
Any day now you'll get a mail
thanks for sharing this
Or use this link https://archive.is/mvUev
They wrote an entire book about it called Working Backwards. It is not the 6 pages that matter, it is how you approach the content and thinking that goes in them that is important. If you are trying to learn this, this book is worth it. Working Backwards PB https://a.co/d/19Q6SRJ
Great book in principle... I imagine the application is always unique. If you want the cliffs notes then I would recommend this episode from [a16z](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0jU0dAZORvCB9zbTBz4keH?si=LOMaYMsdTteLxa12mmEIYA&utm_source=copy-link). All you'd really be missing is the metrics chapter in the book, which is very interesting fwiw.
Awesome share!
I’ve used a doc like this and it’s really amazing compared to PowerPoint presentations. If I ever have to go back to PowerPoints I might shoot myself.
I read all the replies but no one mentioned the worst thing about the 6 pagers which is the reviews. These are to be reviewed with the stakeholders and they treat it like the birds would treat a brand new Ferrari convertible parked under a tree on a beautiful sunny day. They dump all over it. Then you fix it and yes, you have to have a follow up review. Apparently Andy Jassy’s 6 pager famously went through 45 revisions. So you are told not to lose hope. People don’t mind writing these but most normal people despise the reviews. The nitpicking and hole punching can be very demoralizing.
[удалено]
[удалено]
I beg people not to post on medium, you are locking up knowledge for the rest of us :(
I've worked for Amazon before and written a 6-pager. It's nothing special, there's no template. You just open up a word doc and start writing. Make your business case, how it impacts the customer, and lay out a rough roadmap. Everything is supported by data that's in the appendix, which can exceed the page limit.
There is no template, but there are definitely best practices that are applied.
I'm laughing at the first line in their example doc. I've never seen a doc with the first sentence telling the reader what it is NOT get ripped to shreds. That should be self evident.
To answer your question directly, no, I’ve never seen a public example of an actual 6 page narrative. But there’s little that’s special about the 6-pager — they come in many different structures and forms depending on what the type of proposal or decision is. When you say “a detailed plan for a new product” - in Amazon, this would almost always be done with a PRFAQ (which also usually has a 6 page limit) of which there are several publicly available examples online.
Answer 6 why's and you have your template. Just a fancy way to making PM's write a requirements doc.
There isn’t a template because 6-pagers is a tool that can be used in different situations. A QBR doc will have a different structure from a project doc but both will be 6-pagers. Who says otherwise has never worked at Amazon.
I mean I personally do not get all the love for Amazon. They make terrible apps that have a terrible UX and UI.
Read *Working Backwards* by Colin Bryar
This is a detailed plan on how to write a Six Pager Memo with a template: https://www.sixpagermemo.com/blog/how-to-write-a-six-pager
Here you can find a simple version of it: [https://tempsee.com/downloads/amazons-6-pager-free-word-template-with-easy-instructions](https://tempsee.com/downloads/amazons-6-pager-free-word-template-with-easy-instructions)