5 ms·

Yes, a bit of shakeup at the top. Jassy now CEO, Dave Clark stepping into Jeff Wilke's role as head of retail. I assume Charlie Bell will step up as head of AW

by libria 6y ago

Yes, a bit of shakeup at the top. Jassy now CEO, Dave Clark stepping into Jeff Wilke's role as head of retail. I assume Charlie Bell will step up as head of AWS.

temp0826 6y ago
Listening to cbell rip someone apart in the weekly ops meeting while watching the #wtf peanut gallery whilst sipping my coffee are probably my fondest memories of working at AWS
- randallsquared 6y ago
  I'll try "Places I wouldn't want to work" for 400K, Alex.
  - Spinnaker_ 6y ago
    It's funny how differently people respond to that type of stuff. I grew up playing pretty competitive sports. Being ripped apart in front of my peers was a once a week occurrence for me for most of my life. I had no interest in doing it to anyone else, but it didn't seem like a big deal, and didn't bother me much. My first job was at a company where it happened a lot. I didn't realize how toxic it was until I started talking with co-workers who were having panic attacks from it.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - ygjb 6y ago
      Yep. Not sports here, but military. I will take a dressing down, public or otherwise, over office politics and some of the corporate shenanigans that I have encountered in my private sector career. Give it to me straight, let me know how bad I fucked up, and what we can do to fix it, or walk me out the door. That said, I also understand that this doesn't work for alot of people.
    - clausok 6y ago
      Same for me. My high school and college hockey coaches could really let you have it. They never pulled you aside and did it in private either. My college coach had episodes that would make even Bobby Knight look like a pussycat. He once had a roll-on-the-floor grappling fight with a teammate in the locker room between periods. (Coach had a big tactical advantage: he wasn't wearing skates) When I ended up working on a trading desk the impromptu performance review broadsides -- in front of everyone -- felt very familiar.
  - hintymad 6y ago
    It's actually a rare opportunity that someone smart can "rip me apart" for the right reason. Candid truth does not hurt. It stimulates growth. In contrast, the worst place is where everyone is nice, but does not tell you what you have done wrong.
    - paxys 6y ago
      Candid truths can be shared in blameless postmortems and a hundred other ways. An executive shouting at someone in a large meeting is an ego trip, nothing more.
      - xyzelement 6y ago
        Blameless is often pointless because sometimes something about the person is the problem. If the project failed because Bob ran it and Bob is too risk averse, then you can't fix it without talking about Bob. Bob either needs to figure out how to be less risk averse (hard and time consuming journey) or Bob shouldn't run projects that require risk taking. Doesn't mean Bob is bad or gets fired, but he is part of the picture. The whole blameless thing is so weak - if there's something about you that caused the failure, don't you want to know?
        ehaughee 6y ago
        The key mental shift (for me anyway) is that if a system can be brought to its knees by a single person, then the system is very likely flawed. You need to design a better system when the flaw in the system is the people. What that often looks like is changing/instituting processes such that quantitative measure (metrics, checklists, etc) governs decisions (thereby removing much, but importantly not all, of the human element), or you design processes in such a way that one person is not in charge of making the decision (the "two person rule", CRs, leadership approval). There are of course other tools but these two are pretty common in my experience.
        adwn 6y ago
        > if a system can be brought to its knees by a single person, then the system is very likely flawed. That just means that the person who designed the system deserves the blame. I'm only half-joking here. You can't just rely on the "system" – someone needs to be responsible, either for the decision or for creating the system that makes the decision.
- mabbo 6y ago
  Thing is, cbell doesn't make it personal (in any of the calls I've seen). It's about raising the bar. He demands quality, and he gets it. His weekly ops meetings have been imitated by other orgs, terribly, because they don't understand the point. They think ripping into people is the goal. I've got a project this year that I'm told is on his radar. I'm not terrified. I'm excited, because it means I have to deliver the best I am capable of and I'll get help to do it.
  - ignoramous 6y ago
    Like you, I don't think those meetings were particularly brutal but merely kept plain and honest, and more importantly, were of great learning value besides being a fantastic demonstration of leadership by cbell.
  - myroon5 6y ago
    > His weekly ops meetings have been imitated by other orgs, terribly, because they don't understand the point couldn't agree more. Almost every day of the week now with AWS, org, service, and team level ops meetings, and most of them miss the forest for the trees
  - gowld 6y ago
    "ripping into people" was famous Bezos/Amazon culture from the start.
- bscanlan 6y ago
  I miss #wtf. I hope it lives on in Slack.
  - joolsbot 6y ago
    Its still alive :)
    - amazon_throw 6y ago
      Indeed it is, as are many of the older, more grognard corners of IRC. Also, IRC is still alive.
- senderista 6y ago
  I had to substitute for my manager once in the ops meeting and I've never been so terrified watching that roulette wheel spin...
QuinnyPig 6y ago
Smart money is on Matt Garman.

by libria 6y ago

Yes, a bit of shakeup at the top. Jassy now CEO, Dave Clark stepping into Jeff Wilke's role as head of retail. I assume Charlie Bell will step up as head of AWS.

temp0826 6y ago

Listening to cbell rip someone apart in the weekly ops meeting while watching the #wtf peanut gallery whilst sipping my coffee are probably my fondest memories of working at AWS

randallsquared 6y ago
I'll try "Places I wouldn't want to work" for 400K, Alex.
- Spinnaker_ 6y ago
  It's funny how differently people respond to that type of stuff. I grew up playing pretty competitive sports. Being ripped apart in front of my peers was a once a week occurrence for me for most of my life. I had no interest in doing it to anyone else, but it didn't seem like a big deal, and didn't bother me much. My first job was at a company where it happened a lot. I didn't realize how toxic it was until I started talking with co-workers who were having panic attacks from it.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - ygjb 6y ago
    Yep. Not sports here, but military. I will take a dressing down, public or otherwise, over office politics and some of the corporate shenanigans that I have encountered in my private sector career. Give it to me straight, let me know how bad I fucked up, and what we can do to fix it, or walk me out the door. That said, I also understand that this doesn't work for alot of people.
  - clausok 6y ago
    Same for me. My high school and college hockey coaches could really let you have it. They never pulled you aside and did it in private either. My college coach had episodes that would make even Bobby Knight look like a pussycat. He once had a roll-on-the-floor grappling fight with a teammate in the locker room between periods. (Coach had a big tactical advantage: he wasn't wearing skates) When I ended up working on a trading desk the impromptu performance review broadsides -- in front of everyone -- felt very familiar.
- hintymad 6y ago
  It's actually a rare opportunity that someone smart can "rip me apart" for the right reason. Candid truth does not hurt. It stimulates growth. In contrast, the worst place is where everyone is nice, but does not tell you what you have done wrong.
  - paxys 6y ago
    Candid truths can be shared in blameless postmortems and a hundred other ways. An executive shouting at someone in a large meeting is an ego trip, nothing more.
    - xyzelement 6y ago
      Blameless is often pointless because sometimes something about the person is the problem. If the project failed because Bob ran it and Bob is too risk averse, then you can't fix it without talking about Bob. Bob either needs to figure out how to be less risk averse (hard and time consuming journey) or Bob shouldn't run projects that require risk taking. Doesn't mean Bob is bad or gets fired, but he is part of the picture. The whole blameless thing is so weak - if there's something about you that caused the failure, don't you want to know?
      - ehaughee 6y ago
        The key mental shift (for me anyway) is that if a system can be brought to its knees by a single person, then the system is very likely flawed. You need to design a better system when the flaw in the system is the people. What that often looks like is changing/instituting processes such that quantitative measure (metrics, checklists, etc) governs decisions (thereby removing much, but importantly not all, of the human element), or you design processes in such a way that one person is not in charge of making the decision (the "two person rule", CRs, leadership approval). There are of course other tools but these two are pretty common in my experience.
        adwn 6y ago
        > if a system can be brought to its knees by a single person, then the system is very likely flawed. That just means that the person who designed the system deserves the blame. I'm only half-joking here. You can't just rely on the "system" – someone needs to be responsible, either for the decision or for creating the system that makes the decision.
mabbo 6y ago
Thing is, cbell doesn't make it personal (in any of the calls I've seen). It's about raising the bar. He demands quality, and he gets it. His weekly ops meetings have been imitated by other orgs, terribly, because they don't understand the point. They think ripping into people is the goal. I've got a project this year that I'm told is on his radar. I'm not terrified. I'm excited, because it means I have to deliver the best I am capable of and I'll get help to do it.
- ignoramous 6y ago
  Like you, I don't think those meetings were particularly brutal but merely kept plain and honest, and more importantly, were of great learning value besides being a fantastic demonstration of leadership by cbell.
- myroon5 6y ago
  > His weekly ops meetings have been imitated by other orgs, terribly, because they don't understand the point couldn't agree more. Almost every day of the week now with AWS, org, service, and team level ops meetings, and most of them miss the forest for the trees
- gowld 6y ago
  "ripping into people" was famous Bezos/Amazon culture from the start.
bscanlan 6y ago
I miss #wtf. I hope it lives on in Slack.
- joolsbot 6y ago
  Its still alive :)
  - amazon_throw 6y ago
    Indeed it is, as are many of the older, more grognard corners of IRC. Also, IRC is still alive.
senderista 6y ago
I had to substitute for my manager once in the ops meeting and I've never been so terrified watching that roulette wheel spin...

QuinnyPig 6y ago

Smart money is on Matt Garman.