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Good intentions don’t work. Mechanisms do.

Mechanisms, not good intentions, drive business success. Learn how to apply Amazon's approach to scaling your operations effectively.

Paul Duvall

• 6 min read
Credit: https://unsplash.com/@pluyar

When I joined AWS in early 2021, one of the first things that caught my attention was an internal application called Embark. It turned out to be my personal portal for getting onboarded at Amazon over the course of 90 days. Embark gave me a schedule of tasks—trainings, 1:1s, knowledge checks, and so on. What I didn’t realize at first was that Embark was part of what Amazon calls a “mechanism,” which is basically a repeatable solution to a recurring business problem.

Source: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/essential-eight-maturity/theme-8.html
Amazon's Mechanism Flow

Back when I was building and growing Stelligent, I was actually trying to create these sorts of mechanisms myself, although I didn’t do it as systematically as Amazon does. At Stelligent, we used to call them “systems,” but Amazon’s mechanisms have a unique pattern or framework that goes beyond what people usually label as systems, processes, or standard operating procedures.

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"There’s a saying often heard at Amazon: 'Good intentions don’t work. Mechanisms do.' No company can rely on good intentions like 'We must try harder!' or 'Next time remember to…' to improve a process, solve a problem, or fix a mistake. That’s because people already had good intentions when the problems cropped up in the first place. Amazon realized early on that if you don’t change the underlying condition that created a problem, you should expect the problem to recur." (Source: Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, Bryar, Colin; Carr, Bill)

I actually discovered the concept of mechanisms through Embark itself—Amazon has all kinds of cool internal apps, and one of them explained how mechanisms work. I got super excited (yes, sad) because it gave me a clear framework for something I’d thought about for years while running my own company. From that moment, I couldn’t wait to use mechanisms to help me build and scale my business inside AWS.

The starting point for any mechanism is the business challenge you’re trying to address. At AWS, you don’t build a mechanism just because you want to; you build it to fix a recurring problem in your business.

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People often ask whether mechanisms work for small businesses, including those within larger companies. My answer is a resounding “Yes!” While smaller businesses may not invest as much time and resources as large enterprises scaling them, they still face recurring challenges—hiring, onboarding, and delivering solutions. Self-reinforcing mechanisms streamline these processes, ensuring consistency and efficiency.

At Amazon, this meant starting with the customer and working backward. What problem needs fixing? What inefficiencies need streamlining? Once you're clear on that, it's time to focus on the outputs—what results should your mechanism produce?

Next, you need to decide on the tools you'll use to make it happen. A tool, program, or procedure is designed to systematically convert inputs into outputs. These could be applications, scripts, document templates, or even a simple wiki—anything that systematically transforms inputs into outputs. The key is picking the right combination of resources to get the job done efficiently.

Once you’ve built something, the next challenge is adoption—getting people to actually use it. Just because you’ve created a solution doesn’t mean everyone will automatically jump on board. And here’s the thing: adoption isn’t a one-time effort. You can’t just send out one email and expect everyone to embrace the change. You might need to create a wiki page, record a short training video, follow up with reminders, or even hold live sessions to walk people through it. The key is persistence—continuously reinforcing the value of your mechanism until it becomes part of the workflow.

But adoption alone isn’t enough. You also need a way to inspect how well your mechanism is working over time. Just because people start using it doesn’t mean it’s delivering the expected results. That’s where tracking comes in—whether it’s monitoring key metrics on a dashboard, setting up a daily report, or making it part of your weekly business review. Inspection helps you see what’s working, what’s not, and where you might need to adjust. It’s about making sure the mechanism isn’t just in place but is actually driving meaningful impact.

Defining the right inputs is crucial to making your mechanism work effectively. Think of them as the fuel that powers everything. Whether it’s software, people, data, or other essential resources, these inputs determine how well your mechanism functions. Without the right ones in place, even the best-designed system can stall.

And finally, the secret to long-term success: iteration. Once your mechanism is in place, it should never be static. Start small, gather feedback, and continuously improve. Ask yourself: What’s working? What needs adjusting? How can you expand its impact? Are there better tools to incorporate?

At the end of the day, great mechanisms aren’t built overnight—they evolve. Business challenges change, and your outputs, tools, adoption, inspection, inputs, and iteration should keep pace. Build, test, refine, and repeat. That’s how you create something that not only solves a problem today but keeps getting better over time.

Let’s walk through an example of hiring in a small but growing business. In an earlier post, I mentioned the hiring challenges we faced when our company started scaling. With an increase in customer demand, we needed to hire more people while still keeping the bar high. We also wanted to cast a wider net for talent. Without knowing it, we basically created a mechanism to tackle this, and here’s a quick overview of what that might look like:

  • Business Challenge – Hire at a high bar to deliver real value to customers.
  • Outputs – Meet increased demand without lowering our hiring standards.
  • Tools – Applicant Tracking System, Google Drive, a meeting platform (Zoom, Google Meet, etc.), and document templates.
  • Adoption – Everyone involved in the hiring process (recruiters, tech screeners, interviewers) puts their feedback into a central system.
  • Inspection – A dashboard that shows where each candidate is in the interview process.
  • Inputs – Recruiters, technical interviewers, screening questions, remote pairing ideas, a mini project to assess skills.
  • Iteration – Regularly check the metrics dashboard for things like lead times, cycle times, wait times, successful hires, and candidates who weren’t a good fit.

When you put all these pieces together, you’ve got a mechanism that tackles hiring challenges head-on. While Amazon may apply mechanisms at a massive scale, the same principles can deliver significant impact for smaller teams, too. What matters most is that you tailor these steps—defining your business challenge, identifying outputs, selecting the right tools, driving adoption, inspecting for results, and iterating—to fit your business's unique needs.

As you scale a mechanism, consider which organizational levers you can pull: rethinking team mental models, integrating goals into everyday workflows, measuring outcomes with clear metrics, and aligning policies to your objectives. This isn’t just about checking boxes; it’s about continually refining a process that reinforces itself with every improvement. When people understand why something matters and how to do it, you create a culture that outlasts any single project or tool.

Ultimately, mechanisms aren’t just for giant enterprises. They’re a blueprint for sustainable, repeatable excellence—whether you’re a thriving startup, a small business, or a growing business inside a global company. By starting small, staying attuned to feedback, and relentlessly iterating, you can build mechanisms that become your organization’s secret weapon for scaling.

I could probably write a whole book on using mechanisms to transform operations and spur growth for entrepreneurs. But the main takeaway is this: a well-crafted mechanism aligns your team around a common purpose and improves itself over time. Start with a clear challenge, define what success looks like, and systematically fill in each piece. Before you know it, you’ll have a self-reinforcing engine that drives your business forward—one mechanism at a time.

Example Mechanisms

Other Resources