2nd/10_Wiki/Topic_General/From_Other/Working-Backwards.md

id, title, category, status, canonical_id, aliases, duplicate_of, source_trust_level, confidence_score, verification_status, tags, raw_sources, last_reinforced, github_commit, tech_stack

id	title	category	status	canonical_id	aliases	duplicate_of	source_trust_level	confidence_score	verification_status	tags	raw_sources	last_reinforced	github_commit	tech_stack
wiki-2026-0508-working-backwards	Working Backwards	10_Wiki/Topics	verified	self	PR-FAQ Amazon Working Backwards Press Release First	none	A	0.9	applied	product-management amazon framework decision-making		2026-05-10	pending	language framework N/A PR-FAQ Document

Working Backwards

매 한 줄

"매 customer 부터 거꾸로". Amazon이 1990s 말 정착시킨 product development framework — 매 internal press release 와 FAQ 를 먼저 작성한 뒤 거기서 spec 를 도출. 2026 현재 Amazon, Coupang, 토스 등 product-led org 의 standard discipline.

매 핵심

매 5개 customer question

1. Who is the customer? 매 구체적 segment.
2. What is the customer problem or opportunity?
3. What is the most important customer benefit? (선택 X — 1개)
4. How do you know what customers need or want? (data, interview, signal)
5. What does the customer experience look like? (end-to-end flow)

매 PR-FAQ 구조

• Press Release (1 page): headline, sub-headline, summary, problem, solution, leader quote, customer quote, how to get started.
• External FAQ (1-2 page): customer-facing 의 anticipated Q.
• Internal FAQ (3-5 page): build cost, risk, business model, dependency, metric.

매 응용

1. New product 0→1 (Kindle, AWS S3 의 origin docs는 PR-FAQ).
2. Major feature launch 의 alignment.
3. Roadmap prioritization (PR-FAQ readable → ship-worthy).

💻 패턴

PR-FAQ template (Markdown)

# [Product Name] launches [date]

**[Punchy 1-line headline]**

[Sub-headline: 1-2 sentence customer benefit]

**SEATTLE — [Date]** — Today, [company] announced [product]. [Product]
solves [problem] for [customer segment] by [solution mechanism].

> "[Customer quote — specific, emotional, concrete benefit]"
>   — [Persona name, role]

> "[Internal leader quote — vision]"
>   — [Leader, title]

To get started, customers can [single clear CTA].

---

## FAQ — External

**Q: How is this different from [competitor]?**
A: ...

**Q: How much does it cost?**
A: ...

## FAQ — Internal

**Q: What's the build cost & timeline?**
A: ...

**Q: What's the customer #1 success metric?**
A: ... (single number, owned)

**Q: What's the biggest risk and how do we mitigate?**
A: ...

**Q: What dependencies does this have?**
A: ...

**Q: What's the kill criterion?**
A: ... (numeric trigger to stop)

Five-Whys driving from PR back to spec

PR claim: "Latency under 200ms p99"
  Why? → Customer task abandons at >300ms (data: session log)
    Why? → Cognitive flow break
      Why? → Page reflow during quote refresh
        Why? → Server-side rendering on every poll
          Why? → No client-side delta caching
→ Spec: implement WS-based delta + client cache. Owner: X. Metric: p99<200ms.

PR-FAQ readiness rubric

| Criterion                              | Score 1-5 |
|----------------------------------------|-----------|
| Headline passes "would I click" test   |           |
| Customer quote sounds like real user   |           |
| #1 benefit is concrete & measurable    |           |
| Internal FAQ has kill criterion        |           |
| Dependency list complete               |           |
| Metric is single number with owner     |           |
Total ≥ 24/30 → ship-worthy review.

Inverted backlog prioritization

# 매 score = (PR clarity) * (customer benefit magnitude) / (build cost * risk)
def working_backwards_score(pr_clarity, benefit, cost, risk):
    return (pr_clarity * benefit) / (cost * risk + 1e-6)

backlog = sorted(items, key=lambda i: -working_backwards_score(**i))

매 결정 기준

상황	Approach
0→1 new product	Full PR-FAQ before any code
Major feature in existing product	Mini PR-FAQ (1 page total)
Bug fix / small improvement	Skip — JIRA ticket OK
Stakeholder misalignment	PR-FAQ as alignment artifact
Roadmap prioritization	Compare PR-FAQ readability head-to-head

기본값: any project >2 engineer-weeks → PR-FAQ first.

🔗 Graph

• 변형: Press Release First
• Adjacent: Lean Startup

🤖 LLM 활용

언제: PR draft 초안, FAQ Q-set 생성, customer quote persona 생성, 다른 PR-FAQ 와의 consistency check. 언제 X: 매 actual customer voice 의 substitute X — 매 real interview 가 source of truth.

❌ 안티패턴

• Solution-first PR: 매 problem 정의 없이 feature listing — 매 reverse 의 본질 무시.
• Vague metric: "improve experience" 의 X — 매 single number + owner.
• No kill criterion: 매 internal FAQ 에 numeric stop trigger 필수.
• PR after build: 매 retroactive PR — 매 Working Backwards 의 X. 매 build 전에 작성.
• Buzzword quote: customer quote 가 marketing speak — real user transcript 기반.

🧪 검증 / 중복

• Verified (Bryar & Carr "Working Backwards" 2021, Amazon shareholder letters 1997-, Coupang internal docs).
• 신뢰도 A.

🕓 Changelog

날짜	변경
2026-05-08	Phase 1
2026-05-10	Manual cleanup — PR-FAQ template + readiness rubric