Customer Obsession

Customer Obsession is the Amazon operating principle of starting with customer needs, trust, and long-term value, then working backwards into products, processes, trade-offs, and business decisions.

Key points

• In Jassy’s explanation, customer obsession is deliberately first because Amazon’s work starts with customers and works backwards from there ^[src-015].
• Competitors, economics, and market dynamics matter, but they are secondary inputs rather than the centre of decision-making ^[src-015].
• The principle becomes operational through mechanisms such as customer reviews, customer-problem framing, and Working Backwards documents before implementation begins ^[src-015].
• Jassy uses AWS cost optimisation during the pandemic as an example of prioritising customer survival and trust over short-term revenue maximisation ^[src-015].
• The principle expects broad ownership: employees at any level are expected to notice what customers need and improve the experience ^[src-015].
• AWS frames Working Backwards as the mechanism that converts the intention to be customer-centric into repeatable action: identify the customer, define the problem, invent, refine, then test with customers ^[src-017].
• Customer obsession becomes more concrete when teams choose one primary persona and one meaningful pain point rather than trying to solve for everyone at once ^[src-017].

Related entities

• Amazon — uses customer obsession as a central cultural and product-development principle
• Andy Jassy — explains customer obsession as the foundation for the other principles
• Amazon Web Services — teaches customer-centred working backwards to external customers

Related concepts

• Amazon Leadership Principles
• Working Backwards
• Customer Co-Design
• PR FAQ

Source references

• ^[src-015] Inside Amazon — “The Leadership Principles Explained by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy | Full Length Video” (2024-05-21)
• ^[src-017] AWS Events — “Working Backwards | How to Build Like AWS” (2026-02-24)