It’s been a year since I started at Google after being at Amazon for eight years. Boy, what a journey this last year has been for me, both professionally and personally. When I was leaving Amazon, several subscribers asked me to share what I was learning at Google. Today, I’d like to reflect over my past year, how I’ve seen Google and Amazon operate differently, and how I’ve grown as a UX leader.
Tim - I've always learned so much from you, and your newsletter proves that there's more than one way to transfer knowledge. Thank you for sharing your experience -- and for all the years you shared your wisdom with our students at SVC.
As someone who did a move "the other way" (Nike being closer to Google) I see so many similarities in your journey but you know, the upside down. Thank you for taking the time to write down some of your thoughts - perhaps I should do a the upside down presentation (Yes I am trying to show how presentations can be impactful at Amazon :))
Thanks for taking the time to share, Tim! "I wonder if this is what it's like at other companies" has been a recurring question at various points in my 7+ years at Amazon. It's great to read such a thoughtful reflection on your first year observations from Google.
I've become a fan of the Amazon doc writing culture and its hard to imagine how big decisions can be made based on slideshows, but it seems to be working for Goog :). I really appreciate Google's high bar for quality, that sounds like a refreshing way to work. It's good to have evidence that a company can take the time to build quality experiences (even if it means slowing down a bit) and still be wildly successful.
Hey, Tim! Great to hear from you. Cosmic timing, because a few of us current Amazonians were talking earlier tonight about some of your docs that continue to have significant value for us on the Alexa side. Reading your missives about the last year and your learnings really drove home how important writing is to rounding ourselves out as effective designers.
Congrats on your new adventure and good for you prioritizing your time. That’s a quality life skill! Thanks for the empathy-building and insights.
Having onboarded at a new company not long ago, I so appreciated joining a team where so many people offered an open door for any questions. Many specifically offered help to find things or manage tools, both big ones for getting up and running, and so nice to have the explicit offer of help.
Thanks for sharing this! I liked your comment about empathy and respect being a bit more elevated in Amazon; frankly, it's one of the reasons I left and joined at Google recently. One hopeful comment I have regarding that is that at least with the Amazon Principal Engineering community, their tenets very recently expanded to include "Lead with Empathy": https://www.amazon.jobs/en/landing_pages/pe-community-tenets While it's certainly not at the level of being something for the entire company, it's fantastic to start seeing it at the top of the software engineering community at Amazon. Thought I'd share!
Yay! Tim is back! 🎉🚀
Tim - I've always learned so much from you, and your newsletter proves that there's more than one way to transfer knowledge. Thank you for sharing your experience -- and for all the years you shared your wisdom with our students at SVC.
It's great to have you back!
As someone who did a move "the other way" (Nike being closer to Google) I see so many similarities in your journey but you know, the upside down. Thank you for taking the time to write down some of your thoughts - perhaps I should do a the upside down presentation (Yes I am trying to show how presentations can be impactful at Amazon :))
Thanks for taking the time to share, Tim! "I wonder if this is what it's like at other companies" has been a recurring question at various points in my 7+ years at Amazon. It's great to read such a thoughtful reflection on your first year observations from Google.
I've become a fan of the Amazon doc writing culture and its hard to imagine how big decisions can be made based on slideshows, but it seems to be working for Goog :). I really appreciate Google's high bar for quality, that sounds like a refreshing way to work. It's good to have evidence that a company can take the time to build quality experiences (even if it means slowing down a bit) and still be wildly successful.
Happy to hear you're settling in and doing well!
This insightful article amplifies, yet again, how lucky we are to have you at Google. Nicely done!!
Fun and insightful read Tim, thx!
Hey, Tim! Great to hear from you. Cosmic timing, because a few of us current Amazonians were talking earlier tonight about some of your docs that continue to have significant value for us on the Alexa side. Reading your missives about the last year and your learnings really drove home how important writing is to rounding ourselves out as effective designers.
Congrats on your new adventure and good for you prioritizing your time. That’s a quality life skill! Thanks for the empathy-building and insights.
Having onboarded at a new company not long ago, I so appreciated joining a team where so many people offered an open door for any questions. Many specifically offered help to find things or manage tools, both big ones for getting up and running, and so nice to have the explicit offer of help.
Thanks for sharing this! I liked your comment about empathy and respect being a bit more elevated in Amazon; frankly, it's one of the reasons I left and joined at Google recently. One hopeful comment I have regarding that is that at least with the Amazon Principal Engineering community, their tenets very recently expanded to include "Lead with Empathy": https://www.amazon.jobs/en/landing_pages/pe-community-tenets While it's certainly not at the level of being something for the entire company, it's fantastic to start seeing it at the top of the software engineering community at Amazon. Thought I'd share!