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I too was frustrated with this article. What is a narrative memo? Is there an outline? Examples?

RobertoG 8y ago
We are just reading the text. Maybe the answers are in the attached Power Point.
eyjafjallajokul 8y ago
Amazon employee here - Here's an overview of how Amazon does "Working Backwards" narratives - https://www.forbes.com/sites/innovatorsdna/2017/08/08/how-does-amazon-stay-at-day-one/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/innovatorsdna/2017/08/08/how-do...
- mwexler 8y ago
  That was a good read. Thanks for pointing it out.
  - jamesblonde 8y ago
    The first few lines are a straight out lie! Alexa was not developed internally at Amazon - it was bought in, on the cheap - https://www.logicalclocks.com/what-is-it-with-european-data-companies/ https://www.logicalclocks.com/what-is-it-with-european-data-... .
    - sib 8y ago
      > Alexa was not developed internally at Amazon - it was bought in, on the cheap That's a flat-out lie itself. A knowledge graph was acquired. Alexa - which, at this point, represents many thousands of years of engineering effort, was most certainly developed in-house. Source: I wrote the 2-pager recommending the acquisition of said knowledge graph company.
jcrites 8y ago
A better word would be "essay". It's simply a written document proposing and explaining some idea. The essay will be read by its reviewers quietly, so the document needs to be clear and self-sufficient in presenting that idea. The essay will be discussed verbally too, but only after the reviewers have a chance to fully read the document and ruminate over it, typically for 30 minutes or more. The verbal discussion can elaborate on points made in the essay but isn't a substitute for them. This means that the quality of the writing needs to be high, and the hope is that high-quality writing facilitates high-quality thinking and presentation of ideas.
dom_woodman 8y ago
+1 on this. Is there a good source of examples? I think it would probably help my comprehension.

We are just reading the text. Maybe the answers are in the attached Power Point.

Amazon employee here - Here's an overview of how Amazon does "Working Backwards" narratives - https://www.forbes.com/sites/innovatorsdna/2017/08/08/how-does-amazon-stay-at-day-one/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/innovatorsdna/2017/08/08/how-do...

mwexler 8y ago
That was a good read. Thanks for pointing it out.
- jamesblonde 8y ago
  The first few lines are a straight out lie! Alexa was not developed internally at Amazon - it was bought in, on the cheap - https://www.logicalclocks.com/what-is-it-with-european-data-companies/ https://www.logicalclocks.com/what-is-it-with-european-data-... .
  - sib 8y ago
    > Alexa was not developed internally at Amazon - it was bought in, on the cheap That's a flat-out lie itself. A knowledge graph was acquired. Alexa - which, at this point, represents many thousands of years of engineering effort, was most certainly developed in-house. Source: I wrote the 2-pager recommending the acquisition of said knowledge graph company.

jcrites 8y ago

A better word would be "essay". It's simply a written document proposing and explaining some idea. The essay will be read by its reviewers quietly, so the document needs to be clear and self-sufficient in presenting that idea. The essay will be discussed verbally too, but only after the reviewers have a chance to fully read the document and ruminate over it, typically for 30 minutes or more. The verbal discussion can elaborate on points made in the essay but isn't a substitute for them. This means that the quality of the writing needs to be high, and the hope is that high-quality writing facilitates high-quality thinking and presentation of ideas.

dom_woodman 8y ago

+1 on this. Is there a good source of examples? I think it would probably help my comprehension.