Writing · August 2026 · 2 min read

2,557 Day Ones at AWS

Seven years in, marked with a day of “How might we…” alongside Air New Zealand in Auckland.

Workshop room at Air New Zealand with a large illuminated number 7

This week, whilst in Auckland, I ticked over seven years at Amazon Web Services (AWS). There are tens of thousands of people at Amazon with longer tenure than me, but this is the longest role I’ve ever had, and it still feels as exciting a moment in technology at Amazon as ever.

I was lucky to spend the day itself with our fantastic customers at Air New Zealand, where teams drafted both dozens of small improvements and papercuts to address, and broader, more transformative ideas to reimagine how they operate their business. As always, our NZ cousins punch above their weight and continue to surprise me with their pragmatic but bold ambitions. Thanks to the legends Le Ngo, Mike Jager and Giovanni Vigorelli for making it possible.

This workshop was one of hundreds we’ve run with customers at AWS over the years, always with interesting challenges or opportunities that, yes, start with “How might we…”. The chance to create something new each week with a different customer is the best part of this role.

“After 2,557 Day Ones here at Amazon, the future is still shiny and bright (orange).”

Thanks to Jonathan (Jon) Kaehne, Nick Blamey and Priyanka Sudhir for guiding me through it so far.

About the author

I work with CEOs, boards and leadership teams on the decisions that shape what their organisations become, then help design and build what comes next. Email me, or find me on LinkedIn or X.