Day 1 is both a culture and an operating model
In every Annual Report, Jeff Bezos attaches a copy of his original 1997 Letter to Shareholders. In that 1997 letter, Bezos outlines the fundamental measures of Amazon’s potential success—relentlessly focusing on customers, creating long term value over short-term corporate profit, and making many bold bets. “This is Day 1 for the Internet,” Bezos wrote, “and, if we execute well, for Amazon.com."
Those principles—maintaining a long-term focus, obsessing over customers and their needs, and boldly innovating to meet those needs—have remained consistent for over two decades, and lie at the heart of what is known at Amazon as a “Day 1” mentality. Day 1 is both a culture and an operating model that puts the customer at the center of everything Amazon does. We strive to deeply understand customers and work backwards from their pain points to rapidly develop innovations that create meaningful solutions in their lives. Day 1 is about being constantly curious, nimble, and experimental. It means being brave enough to fail if it means that by applying lessons learnt, we can better surprise and delight customers in the future.
Amazon's Day 1 culture
"Day 1 is both a culture and an operating model that puts the customer at the center of everything Amazon does."
Keys to decision making at speed
- Recognize two-way doors. While some decisions are one-way doors, others are two-way doors, meaning they are reversible, and you can correct mistakes quickly.
- Don't wait for all the data. If you wait until you know everything, you are probably being too slow. Most decisions only need about 70% of the information you wish you had.
- Disagree and commit. People can disagree, but once a decision is made, everyone must commit to it. This saves time versus trying to convince each other.
Comparing factors of Day 1 vs. Day 2
Day 1 mentality
- Focused on customers
- High-quality, high-velocity decisions
- Experiments to incubate new capabilities
- Embrace failures
- Nimble organization structures
- Small teams who own what they create
- Prioritizes long term, sustained value
Day 2 mentality
- Focused on internal challenges
- Bureaucratic, consensus-based decisions
- Invests in entrenched capabilities
- Fears failure
- Deeply layered organizational structures
- Large teams with many dependencies
- Prioritizes immediate, short-term value