Ever wonder how Amazon grew to be so big and successful, so quickly? One obvious reason is that they have a strong leader with a clear vision. But inspiring more than three hundred thousand employees to think the same way is no easy task. Passion and vision must somehow be systemized when it’s magnified onto a grand scale.

While Jeff Bezos believes companies shouldn’t be ruled by process, he did implement Working Backwards as a way of making sure his organization stays innovative. According to the Chief Technology Officer for Amazon Web Services, Werner Vogels, small teams are required to use the following four steps when starting each new project:

1. Start by writing the press release. Amazon employees must come up with a succinct document that tells the world what their new product is and why it exists, before it’s even been invented.
2. Write the answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs). These small teams are asked to put themselves in the shoes of their customers and come up with any questions they might ask about the new product. They just make ’em up!
3. Define the customer experience. They come up with stories (this sounds like a job for a fiction writer) about how customers are solving their problems using the new non-existent product.
4. Write the user manual. They must write a detailed manual telling the customer exactly how to use the new product — while it’s still just a figment of their imagination.

Many writers already subscribe to this method. Edgar Allan Poe was a fan.

I was introduced to it by Robert McKee, the Hollywood script doctor. This was a hallelujah moment for me, because until then I had always been a great starter, but somehow would write myself into a cul-de-sac, never to find my way back to the freeway.

It’s probably more accurate to call it plotting backwards. Jumping forward to the end helps in so many ways. However, McKee warns that once the story has been plotted out and the first draft written, the end will probably shift further down the road than originally planned.

In their book, The Essential Guide To Getting Your Book Published, David Henry Sterry and Arielle Eckstut push this theory even closer to the Amazon model, advocating writing a pitch early on in the process. Especially for a memoir or other non-fiction book. They recommend a one-liner, along the lines of the old Hollywood elevator pitch, and a longer 30-60 second version. They also encourage establishing a solid online presence well before a finished book sees the light of day.

Apart from avoiding plot holes and creative road blocks, working backwards makes the abstract ideas rolling around inside my head seem more tangible. My book starts to take shape in the real world, a long time before it’s finished. I’m definitely a fan.