Amazon has a strong writing culture. Every review meeting typically lasts an hour where the first 30 mins everyone sits quietly reading the document written by the presenter. With red pens in hand, the attendees underline and take notes on the margins of the hardcopy. The documents are in narrative form with lots of objective details. Once everyone has read the document, the presenter takes feedback page by page. For anyone new at writing documents, the first few of these meetings at Amazon can be brutal. But they also are great learning opportunities. To help managers be successful, Amazon provides instructor led training sessions to improve writing skills. To get ahead in the company, writing is a must have skill.

I worked at Amazon for more than 10 years, initially as an engineer and then as a manager. Over those 10 years I learnt writing effectively to communicate and influence my peers and leadership. Those lessons in writing taught me to think with clarity and drive down to the essence of the topic of interest. I use those lessons everyday even after leaving Amazon and they make me more effective at work.

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