
Writing Documents at Amazon - sib
https://medium.com/@sib1013/writing-docs-at-amazon-e025808616bd
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uffjedn
This is almost not at all about writing documents, but more about how to not
suck at meetings with Jeff Bezos (a manual).

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mstade
That's my take away as well, but I don't think it's a bad read. It shows
something about leadership I think. In my experience – in organizations big
and small – most meetings have no agenda beyond a subject line in an email.
Invitees come in with little idea of what the meeting is about or how to
prepare for it, so the first part of the meeting is just pleasentries and
trying to figure out why you're even meeting in the first place. Once you
start picking up steam, more often than not I find the meeting is cut short by
people having to run into another meeting, or find some other (valid or not)
excuse to duck out. Follow up meetings are usually scheduled, with an agenda
that tries (and often fails) to tl;dr the previous meeting and if you're lucky
that meeting actually leads to actionable points.

Having a consistent structure to meetings – with clear requirements such as a
two page document in clear no-frills language detailing the reason for the
meeting, background, questions and potential solutions etc. – may well seem
draconian to many people these days, but I find it helps with focus and
clarity. Combined with a clear vision (my number one ask from leadership) I
think it really helps boost productivity even if it does take time to prepare.
At least that cost is fairly easy to account for, whereas the follow-up cost
to bad meetings often isn't. Crucially though, people _must_ read the document
prior to the meeting – no excuses – or you'll end up with the first half or
third spent on just reading the document or having to recite it to those that
haven't read it. It's perhaps still better than the subject line agenda style
meetings, but possibly not by much.

This is very much a cultural thing. It's extremely difficult to apply to just
_your_ meetings. I've tried.

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alx_mcc
> Crucially though, people must read the document prior to the meeting

Amazon accounted for this:

"Each meeting requires a well-crafted, six-page memo that the whole room sits
and reads at the start."

[https://www.businessinsider.com/bezos-admits-amazon-has-
the-...](https://www.businessinsider.com/bezos-admits-amazon-has-the-weirdest-
meeting-culture-2018-4)

