At Amazon, “working backwards” was embedded in everything – even in the daily work product managers did. Working backwards helped in drafting a clear plan of action for any goal – critical issue, executive presentation, etc. It always starts with an end goal and drafting steps to reach that end goal. We called it a “Working back plan” that helped create transparency, break down an ambiguous task into its constituents, assign a time frame to every task and be accountable for it, and adjust the plan based on the progress. 

A typical working back plan involves the main action steps that are needed to accomplish a goal. A goal could be anything – completing a document for a leadership presentation, to come up with the right next steps for an ambiguous problem, or even to write the first version of PRFAQ. 

The items within the working back plan always consists of three main components: a) The action item, b) Responsible person for the action item, and c) Deadline date. A typical working back plan creates transparency and accountability within the team. Having a date by when a particular action item needs to be done creates a sense of urgency as well as makes the person accountable for the task. Moreover, it helps to draft a plan of action in order to accomplish a goal in the given timeframe. One of the advantages of a working back plan is that it removes any ambiguity in the task as they are written down and helps to counter any inertia in the process.  

The deadlines or timelines are deliberately made challenging to get yourself moving towards the goal. Without commitment it is difficult to make forward progress and hence assigning the right person creates accountability and ensures that we make progress towards the common goal. Moving fast also helps in countering perfection not becoming the enemy of the good. It is the innate principle within the “Bias for action” leadership principle at Amazon which states that speed matters in business.