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Do you have a source for the Amazon statement being false?\ https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/14/jeff-bezos-this-is-the-smartest-thing-we-ever-did-at-amazon.html ht

Do you have a source for the Amazon statement being false?\ https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/14/jeff-bezos-this-is-the-smartest-thing-we-ever-did-at-amazon.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/14/jeff-bezos-this-is-the-smart...

jen20 4y ago
I was in a call with some folks from Amazon (AWS) yesterday where they presented via PowerPoint.
- fnordpiglet 4y ago
  Sales != Engineering. I occasionally built a PowerPoint if it was useful to. But the standard was information was conveyed in a written narrative. A PowerPoint is something you use when you’re talking in front of a large audience to have something happen every now and then to make your talking less boring. For a discussion you write a story. At least that’s how I did Amazon.
  - jen20 4y ago
    This was an engineering call. I'm not suggesting it's used heavily, just that it is not banned, of if it is, the ban is not universally respected.
- saratogacx 4y ago
  That is a presentation to the outside. Internally, PowerPoint gets almost zero use. Everything is document+appendix based. There are exceptions for things like org level meetings and announcements that are more of a broadcast medium but anything that is collaborative or at a smaller scale is done through a rather ridged standard document format. Overall, there isn't a ban on use but it has a very limited use compared to many other companies.
taude 4y ago
When I've gone to some of the big AWS events, they were definitely using PowerPoint during the presentations.
rchaud 4y ago
Business lore is full of ridiculous apocryphal tales journalists absolutely love running with because they make CEOs seem 'quirky' and 'outside-the-box'. I remember one from the "The Everything Store" book where Bezos both insisted on his lieutenants writing memos to 'clarify thinking', while personally responding to emails by forwarding it to someone else with a "?" and nothing more.

jen20 4y ago

I was in a call with some folks from Amazon (AWS) yesterday where they presented via PowerPoint.

fnordpiglet 4y ago
Sales != Engineering. I occasionally built a PowerPoint if it was useful to. But the standard was information was conveyed in a written narrative. A PowerPoint is something you use when you’re talking in front of a large audience to have something happen every now and then to make your talking less boring. For a discussion you write a story. At least that’s how I did Amazon.
- jen20 4y ago
  This was an engineering call. I'm not suggesting it's used heavily, just that it is not banned, of if it is, the ban is not universally respected.
saratogacx 4y ago
That is a presentation to the outside. Internally, PowerPoint gets almost zero use. Everything is document+appendix based. There are exceptions for things like org level meetings and announcements that are more of a broadcast medium but anything that is collaborative or at a smaller scale is done through a rather ridged standard document format. Overall, there isn't a ban on use but it has a very limited use compared to many other companies.

taude 4y ago

When I've gone to some of the big AWS events, they were definitely using PowerPoint during the presentations.

rchaud 4y ago

Business lore is full of ridiculous apocryphal tales journalists absolutely love running with because they make CEOs seem 'quirky' and 'outside-the-box'. I remember one from the "The Everything Store" book where Bezos both insisted on his lieutenants writing memos to 'clarify thinking', while personally responding to emails by forwarding it to someone else with a "?" and nothing more.