I'm very interested in this 6-page memo, I also found during my PhD that writing can really help clarify thinking. You may think you have a very clear idea in your mind but then when you write this to paper, many gaps can suddenly appear. I've looked all over online for an example of a memo but I couldn't find anything beyond a basic narrative structure.

You mentioned below that you have templated FAQ docs, I'm assuming these templates are the approximate structure of the memo? Would you be willing to share? This would be very helpful for my startup when we are planning our strategy.

Sorry for the late reply. The template is more formatting than anything else. The core questions:

1) What is in this doc? What decision do we need to make? 2) Why is this important? 3) Who is the customer for this solution? 4) How have others tried to or solved this and how were their solutions insufficient? 5) How are we planning on solving this? 6) specifics 7) What options have we considered and thrown out? 8) What resources are required? 9) What are the one-way doors in this plan? (meaning: what decisions cannot be undone) 10) Timing?

What is it like being in the stack ranking system? Is it as stressful as it is reported or have its drawbacks been exaggerated in the media?

If you come prepared, it's not as bad as you think. Being stack ranked +you're not in the room for that) can lead to stress though. I would say my experiences at MSFT under Gates and Ballmer for stack ranking felt far more capricious than at AMZN.

Did you ever feel like it was a waste of time or do you feel it genuinely added value to the company to engage in that exercise?

Genuinely added value. I was firmly in the "NO" camp when I got to AMZN. Writing was something that people who didn't understand hustle did. :)

What I found, over time, was that the exercise of writing forces critical thinking. PowerPoint is corporate theater. Very easy to convince with your voice instead of facts, logic, data, and insight.

There were certainly times where I felt that the doc process was used unnecessarily as a blunt cudgel, but for the big decisions, and the planning process, it was incredibly helpful. As I have transitioned to working with companies as an investor, advisor, and board member, I have continued to use the templated FAQ docs for driving decisions. I am starting to get my teams to use them for board meetings.

Sorry for the double post, accidentally hit reply twice on mobile client.

You can delete the comment within the first two hours, I think. Certainly can be edited.

Did you ever feel like it was a waste of time or do you feel it genuinely added value to the company to engage in that exercise

How did you feel about Kindle jailbreaks? Why not just let people get root if they wanted on the device they paid for?

Don't need to work at Kindle to know that publishers demand the drm, not a require by Amazon itself.

You can get Kindle books on an Android app on a rooted phone, or on a PC, or on a browser.

Nothing about DRM requires Amazon to jail the device.

IANAL but you should be careful about sharing private information about a large publicly traded company

Always appreciate the reminder. I'm answering questions at a high level and hoping to share the learning from my time at AMZN. Anything confidential will remain as such.