November 14: Own your dependency
It is not okay to fail because of a breakdown of dependencies
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Source: The Amazon Way (page 21)
Published: June 2021
Own your dependency
At Amazon, one of your primary directives is to identify and tenaciously manage every potential business-derailing dependency you have. It is not okay to fail because of a breakdown of dependencies.
In a 2003 S-Team meeting, Jeff [Bezos] broke down the process of managing dependencies into three easy steps (while, of course, yelling and wildly gesticulating like a madman):
Whenever possible, take over the dependencies, so you don’t have to rely on someone else.
If that is impossible, negotiate and manage unambiguous and clear commitments from others.
Create hedges whenever possible. For every dependency, devise a fallback plan—a redundancy in a supply chain, for example.
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