Former Amazon Engineer Reveals Key to Company Success Through Daily Reading

As a principal engineer at Amazon, Steve Huynh began meetings with a unique 'study hall' session.

Huynh emphasized Amazon's strong 'reading culture' even among the technical teams, recounting during an interview on the Pragmatic Engineer podcast how employees regularly created detailed six-page documents. These memos played a crucial role in keeping teams informed and presenting new developments.

"On a typical day, I devoted about 1-4 hours to reading these documents while working at Amazon," Huynh shared, marveling at the practice. He suggested that this cultural aspect could benefit many other companies.

The Power of Memos at Amazon

According to Huynh, the disciplined approach to drafting and reading these concise six-page documents was integral to Amazon's 'secret sauce.' This method was a standard requirement across varied tasks like business planning, technical designs, and media announcements.

Joining Amazon in 2006, a few years post its initial profitability, Huynh witnessed Jeff Bezos pioneering this memo-writing tradition. Known for advocating for straightforward and direct communication, Bezos mandated these memos instead of PowerPoint presentations, noting in his 2017 letter to shareholders the varying quality of these write-ups.

Employees would read these memos collaboratively before meetings. Bezos discussed on the Lex Fridman Podcast in 2023 why memos were not read beforehand, explaining that this prevented superficial reading and ensured thorough preparedness.

Legacy Continues Under New Leadership

Andy Jassy, who succeeded Bezos as CEO, upheld this memo-centric culture. Reflecting on his early days at Amazon, Jassy described crafting a detailed 'vision doc' when proposing what would become Amazon Web Services, revisiting it multiple times for clarity and precision — a practice that underscores the depth and commitment required in memo writing.

Jassy's 2024 communication to shareholders reaffirmed the value of keeping memos concise, noting it facilitates focused discussions and probing the 'why' behind decisions.

Personal Growth Through Reading

Huynh recounted how regularly engaging with these comprehensive documents enhanced his ability to communicate complex ideas succinctly. This skill, cultivated over his tenure at Amazon, enriched his overall professional capabilities.

After leaving Amazon, Huynh transitioned to a full-time career in YouTube content creation. Despite moving on, he holds Amazon’s rigorous reading tradition in high regard, although he acknowledges that replicating it would require a foundational commitment to discipline and principles.

Huynh and his podcast interviewer, Gergely Orosz, converge on the point that fostering such a culture requires strong, top-tier leadership to truly take root.