Amazon's approach to product development is called "working backwards," a process that each new product initiative at the company begins with. Ian McAllister, director of Airbnb and former GM of Amazon, describes this in detail:

For new initiatives a product manager typically starts by writing an internal press release announcing the finished product. The target audience for the press release is the new/updated product's customers, which can be retail customers or internal users of a tool or technology. Internal press releases are centered around the customer problem, how current solutions (internal or external) fail, and how the new product will blow away existing solutions.

This is followed by an FAQ and an appendix. The total "planning" document created by working backwards is six pages long.

Working backwards is a framework for how to think about product without lengthy roadmaps that end up being scrapped. It's a way to short-circuit the traditional product development track, and make sure that you build something that your customers will actually care about. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is probably the best example of how far the "working backwards" methodology can take you. It's a $9.6B run rate business, and helped launch the cloud.

One-third of daily internet users visit websites built on top of Amazon's cloud. AWS accounts for an incredible 36% of Amazon's operating profits.