Amazon Productivity Strategies for Workplace Success

How I Prioritize Deep Work as a Program Manager at Amazon Deep work isn’t about working longer—it’s about working better. Early in my career, my calendar was packed with meetings, leaving little room for focused, high-impact work. Then I noticed how a senior leader blocked out entire afternoons for “strategy time” with zero interruptions. That practice transformed my approach to time management. Here’s how I prioritize deep work effectively: 1️⃣ Time Blocking with a Twist I block at least two hours of deep work daily, but I also set an “emergency exit”—a single task I’ll switch to if urgent issues come up. This flexibility has prevented more than one deep work block from getting derailed. 2️⃣ Meeting-Free Mornings I reserve mornings for deep work and limit meetings to the afternoon whenever possible. This practice has doubled my productivity on complex tasks. During a recent roadmap planning session, this focus led to a clearer and more actionable plan. 3️⃣ Context Over Time I prepare a quick one-pager summarizing the context, goals, and next steps for every deep work session. This practice helps me get into flow faster by eliminating decision fatigue. Deep work isn’t about isolation—it’s about intention. If you’re struggling to focus, try blocking time for deep work with a clear purpose. How do you prioritize deep work? #DeepWork #Productivity #TimeManagement #Amazon

I have been at Amazon for 10 years, but I still treat every day like day 1. Here are 3 insights from innovating daily at the world's largest startup 👇 1. Drive the core flywheel Amazon has a variety of products and services, but it still has one absolute core offering: serving customers’ desire for lower prices, better selection, and convenient services. While building Amazon Key, I have worked to align our business to this core offering and drive the flywheel faster. If your product or your role supports the essential initiative of the business, the demand for it will grow. As a result, you will grow too. → Actionable insight: Get involved with the core offering of the company you work for. The branches of your company will grow, change, or be cut back at different points in time. But, if you position yourself as a driver of the core flywheel, you will continue to have the chance to innovate. 2. Build new categories Amazon Key began with a singular function, but exploring new categories and addressing under served needs expanded its impact. Now, we have a variety of customer offerings, and our technology is used for various internal operations. Multiple operational elements within Amazon are supported by Amazon Key’s technology. This means that Amazon Key provides both consumer value and is an essential internal tool. → Actionable insight: Don’t limit yourself to a narrow scope. Look for ways your work can create value in different areas of the business. Innovate beyond the initial purpose to unlock broader opportunities. 3. Vision alone doesn’t cut it Amazon is the most innovative company in the world. That means there is a constant flow of great ideas, but ideas and vision aren’t enough. Results are what get attention, funding, and resources. → Actionable insight: The people who grow the fastest are the ones who have bold plans and then find ways to make them work. If you want to excel and get the resources to continue building, show that you can drive results. Driving innovation comes from constantly being open to new ideas and always pushing hard to turn those ideas into results. If you do all 3 of these things, you will be able to build and excel. You will get the resources, support, and opportunities to solve bigger and bigger problems. Questions? Let me know below.

Two months into Amazon, I've learned more about working at big tech than 4 years of getting here taught me. A lot of people DM me asking about my experience at Amazon and what they should focus on when they join their first "real" job. Here are my top 7 lesser-talked-about lessons: 1/ Your impact > Your hours I used to think working late meant working hard. Then I got paged during an outage at 2 AM and realized: it's not about how many hours you're online, it's about solving the right problems. Ship value, not activity. 2/ Documentation is your best friend I learned this the hard way. When you're working across teams and time zones, nobody's going to remember what you said in a Slack thread 3 weeks ago. Write it down, make it searchable, and your future self (and your teammates) will thank you. 3/ Ask questions early, not after you're stuck I used to wait 2 hours trying to debug something alone before asking for help. Now, if I'm stuck for 15 minutes, I ping someone. Nobody thinks you're dumb for asking. They think you're smart for unblocking yourself fast. 4/ Say no to protect your yes Everything feels urgent in big tech. Someone always needs something "real quick." But if you say yes to everything, you dilute your focus. Protect your priorities. Say no to things that don't move your core work forward. 5/ Feedback is data, not criticism I used to take feedback personally. Now I see it as a signal. If my teammates, say, my design doc needs more clarity, that's not a judgement, it's information I can act on. Don't make it personal, but use it for your upskilling. 6/ Work friends ≠ Real friends Be professional. Be kind. But don't overshare. Office dynamics change, and there are many circumstances that might change. Keep some boundaries. 7/ Systems > Speed At Amazon, I'm learning to build systems that scale. Fast is good, but fast and repeatable is better. Automate what you can. Document what you can't. For 19-year-old me in India, Amazon was the impossible dream. Now I'm here, and I'm realizing: getting in was hard, but in reality, staying sharp, learning fast, and building the right habits are the real work you need to focus on. What's one lesson from your job that nobody prepared you for? #amazon #lessons #life