Reverse working also called "Working Backwards" is a method initiated by the e-commerce giant Amazon. 

Over the past 25 years, Amazon has transformed itself greatly. The company has grown from an online bookstore to one of the largest retailers in the world. Its strength is built on its ability to reinvent itself and offer new ways of working. 

How does Amazon capitalize on employee ideas through reverse work? 

Do you want to encourage your employees to come up with innovative ideas?

Definition of reverse work

Customer obsession is one of Amazon's biggest leadership principles. And reverse work is based on this principle.

This methodology consists of focusing on the customer first, then determining the products to be created to satisfy them. 

"The reverse workflow is not designed to be easy; it's designed to save a huge amount of work on the backend and to make sure we're building the right thing."

Jeff Bezos

What are the main principles?

The reverse work consists of any employee with an innovative idea articulating his or her objective in a clear manner. They write a mock press release to customers. They announce a finished product, ready to ship.

The problems faced by customers are the focus of the release. It highlights the failure of current solutions and what will rectify them.

According to this article, the communiqué gives key decision makers an idea of what the customer experience would look like. This reverse work practice lists the important information in a concise manner as well as the reasons why customers are excited.

Ideally, it should include: 

• the name of the product
• the target audience
• the solution provided to the problems encountered
• benefits for the customer
• a quote from a member of the company explaining the purpose of the product development in an inspiring way 
• A FAQ answering business or tactical questions about the creation of the product

All employees then have access to the communiqué. Everyone canenrich it and bring real added value to it. The product description must be perfectly in line with customer expectations, thanks to co-construction.

The goal is to spend time revising and improving the release. It is "ready" when the announcement is short, clear and makes a compelling case for the product. 

Typically, in a traditional organization, a press release is written at the end of the product development process. Engineers and product managers complete this process and hand over to marketing and sales. They look at the product from the customer's perspective. They then write the press release describing the product's key features and benefits

With reverse engineering and starting with the press release, both parties work together. This includes features, cost, customer experience and price. They then move on to thinking about what to build. This thinking brings out the challenges they would face in product development and manufacturing. 

The benefits of reverse working

Sometimes you don't know if an idea is worth investing time in. Reverse engineering helps to test its viability. The press release brings people together based oncollective intelligence. They enrich the project and come up with a solution that perfectly meets the customer's needs. 

The work done upstream saves time on problem solving once the product is finished. It is written, refined, enriched and allows to know the real added value of an idea. This clarity helps to abandon mediocre ideas to focus on legitimate ones. This leads to projects that are perfectly aligned with customer expectations. 

The communiqué is then validated and moves on to the product development stage. It is then used as a strategic guide that helps to respect the defined main lines.

A participatory innovation platform for reverse engineering 

As theemergence of ideas is at the heart of the reverse working method, arming yourself with a participative innovation platform can be relevant. Employees have a space at their disposal to propose and share their innovation ideas. 

They create their press release directly on the platform with the necessary information. They then open the access to all the teams. 

Each press release has its own exchange space. Everyone can then exchange, support the project, enrich it with innovative ideas and bring real added value. 

Depending on the feedback, management has several options. It can validate the project, make it evolve at the deployment stage, ask for modifications or refuse it.

A participative innovation platform consolidates the reverse work method. Employees gather and co-construct innovation projects and follow their progress. Everyone gains time and efficiency.