Stop Pitching, Start Writing: Why the 6-Pager is the Ultimate AI Competitive Advantage
The first time I sat in an S-team meeting at Amazon, I thought there had been a scheduling mistake. We filed into the conference room, sat down, and for thirty minutes, the only sound was the turning of pages. No handshakes, no small talk, and definitely no glowing blue projector light. We were reading a document presented by an Engineering VP. When we were all done, we took turns going around the room asking questions. The questions were fair and tough. Jeff went last. When we were finished, we reviewed actions and takeaways and left.
It felt counterintuitive at first. In most of the corporate world, time is the scarcest resource, and reading time is something you do on a plane. But that half hour of silence was the most productive thirty minutes of the day.
Why I Hate Slides
The challenge with slides is that everyone spends way too much time trying to make them look pretty instead of focusing on the content. Also, a slide with a few bullet points shows the bottom line, but it does not convey the thought and rigor that led to it.
I hate reviewing product and technology slides. By the time I have asked my questions, the author may just as well have written a document and saved us all a lot of time. Remember when grade school teachers used to say, "show your work"? They want to know how you’re thinking and approaching problems. The actual answer is almost less important than demonstrating a complete grasp of the topic.
Clarity as a Competitive Advantage
Writing documents is an art. Defining the problem or opportunity clearly and articulating the strategy leaves no room for fluff. Every objective statement must be backed up by facts and data, not hyperbole.
We lived in a very complex and fast-moving business, and these meetings were opportunities to synchronize across the company. I found it a very valuable use of my time to receive and to provide feedback. This document culture and the legendary six-pager remain the gold standard for high-velocity, high-rigor decision making.
The 5 Pillars of the Six-Pager
The "Level Set" Guarantee: Why not read the doc in advance? Even with good intentions, there is no way to guarantee everyone has actually done it. Reading it live during the scheduled time for that exact activity ensures everyone is literally on the same page.
Questions with High Rigor and Low Ego: The atmosphere was fair yet tough, with no ego involved. A perfectly acceptable answer was, "I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you by Tuesday at noon." Intellectual honesty was valued far above performance.
The "Six-Page" Sweet Spot: Why six pages? Well, two pages are insufficient, and thirty pages are overkill. Experience has shown that complex ideas, strategies, and tactics can be expressed in six pages or less. There was no hard-and-fast rule that a document had to use all six pages, either.
Why the Leader Goes Last: This ensures that their questions, coming from the most senior person in the room, don't influence or bias everyone else's questions.
The Anatomy of the Follow-up: All actions were clear, including the owner, the intended outcome, and a completion date. Usually, one of the actions was a follow-up in a timeframe that matched the complexity, impact, and value to the business and our customers.
From Conference Rooms to Global Threads: The Distributed Reality
In a highly distributed world, the game changes somewhat. Scheduling a live meeting with staff on the US West Coast, East Coast, Europe, and India is tough. Someone is invariably joining the meeting either very early in the morning or very late at night. No one is at their best at those times, and it impacts family life. To maintain this rigor without sacrificing the team's well-being, the process has to evolve.
The process I use now transitions the silent read into a high-velocity asynchronous review.
The Asynchronous Workflow
To begin, the author solicits initial input and reviews drafts with their immediate team. This ensures that by the time the doc is shared more widely, it is already high-quality, straightforward to review, and ready for substantive feedback.
Next, the author defines exactly who they need to review the doc. It would be unusual for a nominated reviewer not to add comments or questions.
We set a reasonable deadline that matches the doc's complexity and current business commitments. If a reviewer needs more time, they ask for it. Otherwise, we don't chase. We operate as professionals, and the cultural expectation is that document reviews are prioritized.
Reviewers add their questions, and the author answers them by making changes directly to the body of the document rather than engaging in an elongated discussion using comments. Changes are made as suggestions so everyone can see what was modified. When the questions are answered, the author adds a comment saying "done," but they don't remove the original question because it provides the context needed to understand why the text changed.
Anyone can add a comment saying "needs covering live" to indicate that they would value a live discussion on a key point. This ensures that if a live meeting is necessary, it is brief and focused only on the most critical items.
There are likely several approvers representing different, dependent areas of the business. We keep this list short, limiting it only to the ultimate stakeholders responsible for the outcome. Each approver ensures their discipline is in agreement.
Egos at the Digital Door and The Final Baseline
Again, the key thing is for every reviewer to check their ego at the door. This isn't a game of Jeopardy. There isn't a win or lose. We all benefit from a clean, well-thought-through document.
When the review is completed and approved, the author finalizes the document with two critical steps to preserve the history without the mess:
First, the key questions and associated answers raised during the review are written into a formal FAQ section at the bottom of the document. Detailed datasets are included in the appendices. As future questions arise, they are answered in the FAQ to preserve the original approved text.
Second, the author closes all active comment threads to keep the document clean, then locks it from further editing. If the doc ever needs a major revision and re-approval, the version change is announced to all stakeholders.
Building the Corporate Corpus and the AI Advantage
There is a massive additional benefit to finished, approved, and clean documents. They become a key part of the company's information corpus.
In the modern enterprise, this is your ultimate competitive advantage for RAG-based AI systems. Slide decks are fragmented. They give an AI disconnected bullet points without context. A narrative-based document provides the full rationale, the connective tissue of how your business thinks. When backed by a rich FAQ and exhaustive appendices, you aren't just saving time on a single decision. You are building a flawless, high-context digital brain that can accurately guide and onboard other teams for years to come.
I have had a lot of pushback on the need for documents. Some people prefer slides, but I have explained why I don't. A document and the transparent thought process it requires are an invaluable way of working. It is the difference between having an idea and having a plan.
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Notes: If you really want to understand why PowerPoint is a competent slide manager and projector for low-resolution materials and nothing more, Edward Tufte’s The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint tells you in great detail (it’s a narrative document, BTW).