innovation

Most big technology companies are competitor focused. They see what others are doing, and then work to fast follow. In contrast, 90 to 95 percent of what we build in AWS is driven by what customers tell us they want.

That right there is the recipe for genuine innovation:

• Embrace uncertainty and the fact one doesn’t know the future.


• Understand that people are inventing things — and not just technologies, but also use cases — constantly.


• Remember that the art comes in editing after the invention, not before.

Innovators are usually synthesizers—they synthesize everything they know and add their own personal talents, and out comes something new.