In the advertising world, the process of coming up with ideas can be more about inspiration and reverse engineering than following a linear path.

The working backwards process at Amazon emphasizes starting with the problem and obsessing over it, rather than jumping straight to solutions.

The advertising industry often operates on hunches rather than strict scientific methods, allowing for creative problem-solving.

In advertising, the most effective ideas often come from unexpected places, highlighting the importance of open-mindedness in problem-solving.

The advertising industry can be forgiving of unconventional ideas, as long as they lead to effective solutions, regardless of how they were conceived.

A common mistake teams make when trying to implement the working backwards process is that they start with a solution instead of a customer problem, which leads to retrofitting the problem to fit the solution.

The working backwards review is a meeting with leadership to review the concept, press release, and fact, which can serve as a gate to approving a project.

The advertising industry uniquely blends psychology and creativity, revealing insights about human behavior.

The outcome is better if you structure the reasoning and help iterate with the model on how it should do reasoning.