Unrealistic beliefs on scope-often hidden and undiscussed-kill high standards.

A culture of high standards is protective of all the "invisible" but crucial work that goes on in every company. I'm talkingabout the work that no one sees. The work that gets done when no one is watching. In a high standards culture, doing that work well is its own reward-it's part of what it means to be a professional.

Here's what we've figured out. Often, when a memo isn't great, it's not the writer's inability to recognize the high standard, but instead a wrong expectation on scope: they mistakenly believe a high-standards, six-page memo can be written in one or two days or even a few hours, when really it might take a week or more! They're trying to perfect a handstand in just two weeks, and we're not coaching them right.

I ask people to visualize the company five years from now. At that point, each of us should look around and say, "The standards are so high now-boy, I'm glad I got in when I did!"

The best customer service is if the customer doesn't need to call you, doesn't need to talk to you. It just works.

AWS is customer obsessed, inventive and experimental, long-term oriented, and cares deeply about operational excellence.