131–136 of 136 posts
Sounds about right
Azon turned throwaway compute instances and one-click 2 day delivery ecom into huge cash cows.
They aren't some golden example of how to properly design infrastructure, it just worked out for them. luck/timing/reinvestment had a lot to do with it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The "text of the memo" is really just the article's author not understanding the context of Steve Yegge's years-later retelling, from which that text comes. "His Big Mandate went something along these lines" (Yegge's words right before the quoted text) doesn't even imply there was a singular 'memo' involved, and definitely (and obviously) wasn't meant to say that the text was actually what Bezos wrote. So the footnot…
I wish this comment was the top comment. Not to be too critical, but this blog post is a (in my opinion, poor) rehash of Steve Yegge's infamous Google+ post which he accidentally posted online. It's entertaining and one of the most influential memos I've read in the last twenty years. His followup memo was great as well.
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That is quite the conclusion you've made from a single data point!
Well - you can argue about the opposite as well! But I would claim that this is an existence proof - if the management will and focus is there for an API enabled business (it was) this case study proves that is not sufficient to create the kind of company that Amazon became. An API program isn't a magic bullet (as everyone knows by now I guess!)
- An API program isn’t a magic bullet
- An API program is a necessary, but not sufficient condition to replicate Amazon’s success
You’re right that this case study proves that it alone is insufficient to create the kind of company that Amazon became, but does it also prove that it’s unnecessary to create the kind of company that Amazon became?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well - you can argue about the opposite as well! But I would claim that this is an existence proof - if the management will and focus is there for an API enabled business (it was) this case study proves that is not sufficient to create the kind of company that Amazon became. An API program isn't a magic bullet (as everyone knows by now I guess!)
The following can be true at the same time: - An API program isn’t a magic bullet - An API program is a necessary, but not sufficient condition to replicate Amazon’s success You’re right that this case study proves that it alone is insufficient to create the kind of company that Amazon became, but does it also prove that it’s unnecessary to create the kind of company that Amazon became?
I think that the testamentary on this thread from current Amazon employees that they have ditched API requirements is evidence that it is also unneeded to sustain the kind of company that Amazon is.