Why amazon’s fitness function failed and what replaced it
A predecessor to Amazon’s successful system of measuring input metrics was the attempted “fitness function.” The goal was to create a composite metric for business performance, and it was a disaster. Here’s why: The fitness function was an idea formed by senior leadership, and it came alongside the creation of two-pizza teams—autonomous, single-threaded teams. The […]
by Bill Carr
How total addressable market drives Amazon product success
At Amazon, we worked on Prime Video and Amazon Music for 8 years before they were successful. We kept going because the total addressable market (TAM) is enormous— nearly every household on Earth listens to music and watches video. When deciding between several good new product or business ideas, pick the one with the highest […]
by Bill Carr
How Amazon executives make and execute great plans
I was an executive at Amazon for 15 years, and I was fortunate to work alongside many other execs. The work of the best executives can be described in 7 words: “They make good plans and execute them.” It sounds so simple, but only the best actually do it. There are a number of common […]
by Bill Carr
Building Amazon-style weekly business reviews with the WBR app
An effective Weekly Business Review is essential to operational excellence. It requires an upfront investment in data, metrics, reporting, and meeting discipline. That’s why we created an app to make it easy to generate Amazon-style WBR reports. An Amazon WBR aims to answer three critical questions every week: 1. How did our business do last […]
by Bill Carr
How to prepare for meetings with Jeff Bezos
I have spent 1000+ hours in meetings with Jeff Bezos. His process of inquiry and review challenged and improved my thinking more than anyone I have worked with. Here is how I prepared for meetings with him: 1) The famous narrative memo Many people know that Amazon meetings are conducted using a structured, six-page narrative […]
by Bill Carr
The importance of input metrics for customer experience
There’s no excuse for a bad website or app customer experience in 2025. I just lost 10 minutes of my life in an endless loop of login failures on the Virginia Mason payment gateway. The site’s UI is painfully bad, and the password recovery flow is prehistoric. I eventually skipped that flow and used the […]
by Bill Carr
How Amazon uses input metrics to drive results
One of the most common mistakes that companies make is to focus too narrowly on a small set of metrics while overlooking the broader ecosystem of inputs that drive results. At Amazon, we rejected the conventional wisdom that Executives should focus on just a few high-level metrics. Instead, we spent years developing mechanisms to measure, […]
by Bill Carr
Six principles for writing effective business reviews
A well-written Monthly or Quarterly Business Review (M/QBR) will increase the CEO’s confidence in your leadership and decision-making. Based on my 15 years at Amazon and four years advising companies on Amazon principles, here are the six key principles for writing effective M/QBRs: 1. Start with Input Metrics → Weak M/QBRs focus exclusively on output […]
by Bill Carr
A structured approach to identifying key input metrics
Determining which input metrics will measure value creation for customers and drive business growth requires a structured process. Based on our experience at Amazon, we have helped more than 50 companies discover and implement their input metrics. Here is one of the methods we teach them to use: 1) Identify Key Drivers – Start with […]
by Bill Carr
How Amazon uses input metrics to drive customer growth
Financial results are lagging indicators. They measure what has already happened and offer little guidance on what to do next. This is why Amazon operates around input metrics that can be deliberately managed to drive growth. Here’s how they work. Controllable, customer-facing input metrics are just as the name describes: 1. Controllable – These are […]
by Bill Carr