pdf (download) Building Alexa at Amazon: Innovating from Vision to Scale

When Jeff Bezos sent a simple email proposing a device you could talk to from across the room, most experts said it couldn't be done Farfield voice recognition was considered impossible But impossible sometimes just takes a little longer at AmazonIn this richlydetailed inside account, Al Lindsaythe first technical hire and former VP of Engineering for Alexareveals how Amazon built one of the fastestgrowing consumer products in history From renting houses across America to collect voice data, to solving seemingly insurmountable technical challenges, to scaling to hundreds of millions of users, Lindsay provides a master class in innovation, leadership, and building revolutionary productsDrawing on his eight years leading the Alexa engineering organization, Lindsay shares:How Amazon tackled impossible technical problems by breaking them into manageable piecesThe secrets to successfully managing distributed global teams across multiple time zonesKey strategies for reducing friction to drive massive user adoptionCritical lessons from strategic acquisitions and integrationAmazon's unique playbook for achieving hyperscaleA Clear, Entertaining Guide on How to Build Great Technology Products and TeamsPractical, authoritative, and filled with unforgettable stories from the front lines of innovation, Building Alexa at Amazon is an essential playbook for anyone building transformative products or leading ambitious technical projects It's also a deeply human story about the team that created a product that changed how we interact with technologyand made the impossible inevitableAs Al Lindsay himself explains:Building Alexa was the most challenging thing I have ever done It was an immense technical effort Building Alexa required us to learn to handle hyperscaling ( million endpoints in a few years) We were close to the Sun, under perpetual review and scrutiny from Jeff Bezos There was constant pressure to deliver more, faster It was also very challenging from a professional development perspective and from a personal development perspective, pushing me out of all my comfort zones Yet it was the most exhilarating, rewarding and fun time in my career, and I wouldnt trade it for anythingWhat Early Readers Are Saying:I was fortunate enough to be on this journey with Al I saw first hand all the challenges and obstacles we faced and how we overcame them This book is a very practical guide for the leaders that are building categorydefining products that carry high innovation risks, integrating acquisitions, building world class global teams, solving hard technical problems and /or scaling the organization These lessons from Alexa have been invaluable for me and countless others not only during our career at Alexa, but also in our roles since then I highly recommend this bookManoj SindwhaniLearn the lessons of scale and building breakout products from one of the few who have done it Order your copy nowGiving Back: All author and publisher proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to Ronald