What you don't know about working at AWS | Hacker News Reader

What you don't know about working at AWS

infoworld.com

8 pointsNikolaNovak12 comments

This is kind of terrifying:

  *When I joined AWS, I initially avoided using the LPs in discussions. It didn’t go well. I’d say, “We should contribute to project X because it’s the right thing to do!” Blank stares. “We need to give engineers more time to contribute to project Y so we can influence the project’s direction.” Raised eyebrows. I was getting nowhere.

  *But then I tried framing my arguments with the LPs and things got much better. I started saying things like, “It’s hard to ‘Obsess over Customers’ and deliver innovation with ‘Frugality’ if we don’t ‘Earn Trust’ with the communities we depend on by making code contributions. This also allows us to ‘Insist on the Highest Standards’ because our contributions put us in a better position to ‘Deliver Results’ and support customers.”

  *Suddenly, people understood what I meant

I can't tell if people "suddenly understood", or are LPs just terrifying sticks managers use to get their way, and once phrased that way nobody dares dissent. The transformation of communication is exactly what I experienced in communist party governing meetings decades ago - who is going to fit their wants into official paradigm better and thus hit with a bigger Big Brother stick :-/

It would help if you added space between the quote and the comment.

Hmm, I used hacker news block quote system, so the quote should show indented and mono space, whereas my comment is regular font. They appear quite distinct on Firefox on windows and chrome on Android to me. As well there's a blank space line. Can you advise what additional space would've been beneficial?

Probably a line break for screen readers, or HN readers.

I'm getting more confused.... There's a double line break between them. That's what stops the block quotes (or at least that what I use to stop the HN block quotes :).

It must be something that looks different on our browsers :-/

(there's also an asterisk in front of quotes lines...)

Hmm. I think the combination of asterisks and indentation breaks something.

Formatting options: https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc

I actually think this is a positive feature. "the right thing to do" and "increase influence" are nebulous and subjective statements. The corporate language surprisingly conveys more content about how something generates concrete value for AWS.

The phrasing in the quote reads like corp speak madlibs. For instance, I don't see how 'Earn Trust' by writing code aligns with the stated definition of the LP.

'Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume. They benchmark themselves and their teams against the best.'

Re: https://www.aboutamazon.com/about-us/leadership-principles

When your promo/PIP process is almost exclusively framed in terms of these tenets it makes more sense why "suddenly people understood what you meant". Specifically, do what i want or these will be the checkboxes you will miss on the next promo cycle.

I think it's all about making it easier for managers to show how what youre recommending can and does align with corporate or division goals. When you use the lingo to make that easy you're making it easy for them to reuse the same corporate bullshit with their bosses.

I wonder if external entities (eg. Elastic) can also successfully use the Leadership Principles to frame disputes with AWS, or if an effort like that would fall flat.

I think the fact that all Amazon corp employees still sign a non-compete yet there is an LP titled "Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer" whose definition includes "Leaders have a vision for and commitment to their employees’ personal success, whether that be at Amazon or elsewhere." highlights what the company actually values, i.e. internal propaganda and external litigiousness. Good luck quoting LP's to an Amazon lawyer.

One could be extremely generous and assume that the LPs date from before Amazon sprawled into so many market segments (ie. it looks rather different if the noncompete only constrains a former employee from working for other online book retailers).

Is there a revision history for the LPs? In fact, have they ever been revised at all?

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