Definition Workflow Amazon Working Backwards (Feature)

aws-two-way-door

Amazon Working Backwards with two-way-door ceremony — for reversible decisions (typically features, experiments, incremental bets). Starts with the human-authored Press Release (the same founding artifact regardless of scale), stress-tested by the FAQ; the iterative PR/FAQ review is the only formal gate and the 6-pager is optional. Optional post-FAQ deepening: OpportunitySpec (discovery, feature scale) or MRD (market validation, product scale) — the door sets the ceremony; the scale picks the tool.

Inspired by Amazon Working Backwards (Feature). The methodology is its originators’ own published work, drawn from their public writing and talks. ProductBuildersHQ has implemented it as a machine-readable workflow in VisionSpec so it can be automated — spec synthesis and LLM-as-a-Judge evaluation, built in. This encoding is an independent interpretation, not affiliated with or endorsed by its originators. Source →

Methodology reference →

Specs in This Workflow

FAQ Required gtm Stress-tests the press release. Absorbs the business case: users, problem, timing, feasibility.

PRD Required source

Press Required gtm The founding artifact: human-authored press release announcing the customer experience. Written first; everything else works backward from it.

TPD Required technical Test plan document

TRD Required technical

UXD Required source

BMC Optional gtm Business Model Canvas extracted from MRD for stakeholder review

IRD Optional technical Infrastructure requirements

MRD Optional source Optional market validation deepening the FAQ's business-case answers with evidence (typical at product scale)

1-Pager Optional gtm

6-Pager Optional gtm

OpportunitySpec Optional source Optional 12-box canvas combining Patton (discovery) + Cagan (business case) — deepens the FAQ's answers when the risk warrants it

SPEC Optional output

Synthesis Rules

How downstream specs are generated from upstream ones.

MRD BMC

Extract Business Model Canvas blocks from MRD sections 2-11. Format as standalone canvas for visual review.

Press FAQ

Press +FAQ MRD

Deepen and validate the FAQ's business-case answers with market evidence: segments, sizing, competition, positioning.

Press +FAQ OpportunitySpec

Press +FAQ +OpportunitySpec +MRD PRD

Derive product requirements from the announced customer experience (press) and its stress-tested constraints (FAQ), grounded in whichever optional deepening is present: the discovery canvas (OpportunitySpec, typical at feature scale) or market validation (MRD, typical at product scale).

Press

Human-authored founding artifact — not synthesized. Write the press release first; everything else works backward from it.

MRD +PRD +UXD +TRD +TPD SPEC

Unified specification consolidating all approved specs.

PRD +TRD +UXD TPD

Test plan covering all PRD requirements with traceability, including UX acceptance flows.

PRD +UXD TRD

Technical design to support PRD requirements.

Methodology Principles

Customer Obsession Start with the customer and work backwards; earn and keep customer trust. Economics count: exciting customers with something unsustainable is not doing right by them. Competitors inform, customers decide.

Ownership Think long-term; never sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. Act for the whole company. The test: what would I do if this were my personal money?

Invent And Simplify Expect invention and simplification; be externally aware and take ideas from everywhere — no 'not invented here.' Accept being misunderstood for long periods.

Are Right A Lot Judgment over ego: seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm your own beliefs. The goal is the best answer for the customer, whoever's idea it is. Leaders speak last.

Learn And Be Curious Never done learning; curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.

Hire And Develop The Best Raise the performance bar with every hire; develop leaders and take ownership of others' growth.

Insist On Highest Standards Relentlessly, even unreasonably, high standards. Defects do not get sent down the line. Higher expectations produce better results.

Think Big Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Communicate a bold direction; look around corners for ways to serve customers.

Bias For Action Speed matters and is a leadership decision, not a circumstance. Most decisions are reversible two-way doors — make them quickly at the team level. Reserve deep study for one-way doors. Days or hours, not weeks.

Frugality Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention. No extra points for headcount, budget, or fixed expense.

Earn Trust Listen attentively, speak candidly, treat others respectfully. Be vocally self-critical, even when awkward; benchmark against the best.

Deep Dive Operate at all levels and stay connected to the details; audit frequently; be skeptical when metrics and anecdotes differ. It is hard to fake the details in a narrative — that is why the narrative format works.

Have Backbone Respectfully challenge decisions when you disagree, even when uncomfortable. No compromise for social cohesion. Once decided, commit wholly.

Deliver Results Focus on the key inputs and deliver with the right quality, on time. Launch is the starting line, not the finish.

Strive To Be Earths Best Employer Work to create a safer, more productive, more diverse, and more just work environment; lead with empathy and make others' success possible.

Success And Scale Bring Broad Responsibility Big things carry big obligations: be humble about second-order effects, better every day for customers, employees, communities, and the world, and leave things better than found.

Included Assets

15 document templates · 13 LLM-as-a-Judge rubrics — embedded in visionspec.