CHICAGO, August 6, 2026 — Before Amazon AWS pushes forward with a new product or service, the champions draft a press release about the venture and what it will do. Never mind that there’s not yet a prototype or anything more solid than a notion. The release serves as a crystallization of the idea, enabling the proponents to circulate the suggestion to a host of internal parties for criticisms, comments and suggestions.
The process was sketched out for attendees of Go2MarketEdge by Kwesi Edwards, Amazon AWS’ worldwide lead data migration and modernization specialist. By design, he explained, the approach is the reverse of the usual development process, where a “Eureka moment” leads to development of a product that’s then marketed and turned over to sales. Only then does the producer learn whether customers like the innovation.
“We think that’s backward,” said Edwards. “What if you could get some idea of an actual problem you're solving for the customer and then work backwards from that?” It’s how Amazon ensures it’s focused on the customer rather than advancing tech for tech’s sake, he explained.
So, he continued, “We do a press release first. We stay internal with it. We review it with a lot of people.
“Then you move to FAQs,” or the questions that arise in the launch team’s minds.
To help associates grasp the underlying concept, visuals might be generated. But only then, said Edwards, does the actual modeling begin.
He also warned against “analysis paralysis,” or allowing the development process to freeze because proponents of the innovation want to collect more information about the venture’s prospects.
“If you have 70% of the information that you wish you had, and it's a two-way door” —meaning the move can be undone — “you've already waited too long. Because that last 30% or 20% of information is going to take forever to get, and nine times out of 10, it's not going to help me make a better decision.”
Edwards aired Amazon AWS’ approach to development during one of the stops on G2ME’s four-company immersive tour of Silicon Valley tech giants. Conference attendees also heard from executives of Google, AI investor and incubator Plug and Play, and Stanford University’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence program.
The conference is presented by IFMA The Food Away from Home Association.