The people around me all seem to be discussing this wonderful post about Amazon.

The Secret to Amazons Success Internal APIs

There is a trap in all of this. This is not THE secret. It’s one of many. Let’s look at the things that have been presented and THE secret about Amazon…

• Internal APIs.
• Vertical Integration.
• Exploitation of warehouse workers.
• Automation.
• Going for growth not profits.
• Failing fast and often.
• A/B Testing in production.
• Agile Development.
• Predatory Pricing.
• Real-time measurement of employee’s productivity.

So if I had a company to run, what are the three things that I’d prioritise from the list of secrets.

• Internal APIs. Yes it makes the list after all that. Once a company reaches scale it needs to expose it’s parts so that it can be broken down into solvable problems.
• Continuous Improvement and LEAN production. The machine that changed the world.
• Agile Development and Automation everywhere.

All three of these things lead to feedback loops of improvement.

Things that don’t make the list, Stock Options, a big HQ, a good logo, a great TV ad, and many others!