In 2018, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, reportedly said at the Bush Center’s Forum on Leadership in 2018 “…And it’s probably the smartest thing we ever did.” Was he referring to the $8 million in series A funding from investors in 1995? Or the creation of affiliate program in 1996? Or maybe he was referring to the launching of its first remote distribution center in 1997? Was Amazon Prime in 2005 “the smartest thing we ever did”? No. He referred to outlawing PowerPoint presentations at Amazon “many, many years ago” as the smartest thing they ever did. He replaced PowerPoint presentations with a “high quality” 6-page memo which took a week or more and a team to perfect. The Amazon meeting starts with a 30 min study hall, where all participants read the memo in silence. The idea is that a well-structured narrative memo forces better thought, understanding, and discussion than a bullet point presentation. A quick google search results in dozens of articles and blogs published in the last few years, deeming the decision to ban PowerPoint as innovative, brilliant, and “the smartest thing”. And it is easy for these authors to find a receptive audience, for who among us has not been victim to boring, useless, waste-of-time PowerPoint presentations? It’s PowerPoint’s fault. Even Amazon CEO says so. The billionaire must be right!
It seems PowerPoint is not only counterproductive and ineffective in meetings, it is also a killer. Yes, it is responsible for the 2003 destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the death of seven astronauts.
During 2003 Columbia launch, a piece of insulation foam broke off the fuel tank and hit the left wing. NASA was aware that this occurred due to video of the launch, so engineers assessed the risk of critical damage and the ability of the shuttle to re-enter safely. This assessment was done during the 2 weeks, while the space shuttle was in orbit. “To help NASA officials assess the threat, Boeing Corporation engineers quickly prepared 3 reports, a total of 28 PowerPoint slides, dealing with debris impact”
The Boeing “reports”, or more accurately the PowerPoint slides were presented, reviewed, and approved. The conclusion was “no safety-of-flight issue” therefore no action was taken. The tragic event ensued. Following the accident, the slides were heavily scrutinized and the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) stated, “The Board views the endemic use of PowerPoint briefing slides instead of technical papers as an illustration of the problematic methods of technical communication at NASA.”
Yes, the use of PowerPoint slides instead of formal technical reports is (obviously) inappropriate, but this is not why Columbia Space Shuttle burned up on re-entry. The issues at NASA ran deep in 2003:
Debris Assessment Team started to analyse the risk right away. The team requested multiple times to have in-orbit photos taken of the wing, in order to properly assess the damage. The DoD had the technology to do this. NASA management repeatedly refused the requests from the team. Finally, the team concluded “no safety-of-flight issue” but engineers were very concerned that this conclusion was based on significant assumptions and many unknowns. There were many failures and missed opportunities from top-down at NASA. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board report should be a mandatory read for every engineer and engineering manager.
Getting back to topic, many journalists, bloggists and other writers are quick to link PowerPoint to a catastrophic event with an eye-catching headline. Ironically, they are doing exactly what they criticize of PowerPoint, which is presenting a statement (bullet-point or title) with very little depth and analysis.
Amazon has 1.3 million employees worldwide, comprised of thousands of teams and departments. Are there really no PowerPoint presentations? Is Keynote, or Prezi, or Google Slides also outlawed at Amazon? The original 2004 email from Jeff Bezos has the subject heading “No PowerPoint presentations from now on at s-team”. The Amazon s-team is comprised of the top 20-30 executives at Amazon. A book called “The Amazon Management System” published in 2019 also states that the no-PowerPoint policy is for s-team only. The many articles, CEO interviews, and opinions available online gives the impression that the cornerstone of all Amazon communication is based on the no PowerPoint rule. I guess it is much easier to write and read about how PowerPoint = bad, than to write/read about the communication management strategy for a 1.3 million employee organization.
Those of us who are not part of the s-team realize (I hope) that PowerPoint and other similar software packages are useful presentation tools. We know that presentation slides are not a substitute for formal reports or memos, and they are not intended to detail well thought out narratives. When used properly in a well-prepared presentation, a slide deck can keep an audience engaged and help achieve the objective of a meeting. Producing effective presentations (and meetings in general) is hard. Very Hard. They require skill, experience, and significant preparation. The focus should be on analysing, training, and improving techniques and strategies rather than blaming and eliminating a tool like PowerPoint. We should also work on changing culture. What does it say about our corporate culture when the most senior executives at Amazon have to be babysat to make sure they are reading a document in preparation for a discussion? Time spent in meetings is work time. Whatever your level or title is, if you’re not paying attention to the presentation, you’re not doing your job. Work is not always exciting!
Domenic Santoianni 