Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life

by Ozan Varol

Amazon takes a similar backward perspective on its products.84 Amazonians write internal press releases for products that don’t yet exist. Each press release functions as a thought experiment—the initial vision of a breakthrough idea. The document describes the “customer problem, how current solutions (internal or external) fail, and how the new product will blow away existing solutions.” The press release is then presented to the company with the same enthusiasm that accompanies the public launch of a finished product. “We only fund things that we can articulate crisply,” explained Amazon’s Jeff Wilke. The articulation is so crisp that the press releases include a six-page list of hypothetical frequently asked questions from customers. This exercise forces the team of experts at Amazon to put themselves in the position of nonexperts and view the product from their perspective. It requires them to ask “stupid” questions and come up with answers—even before the product is built.