Ian McAllister
Ian McAllister is a product leader and writer. Spent 12 years at Amazon across retail, gifting, Amazon Smile, Alexa International, and delivery experience. Also worked at Airbnb on customer support technology. Currently Senior Director of Product and Tech at Uber for the vehicles platform (fleet electrification, EV/autonomous vehicle integration). Author of the widely-cited Quora post “What Separates a Top 1% PM from a Top 10% PM” and the Operator’s Manual guide to PM communication.
Key ideas
- Three skills for new PMs: communicate, prioritise, execute — in that order.
- Trust as currency: built by repeatedly setting and meeting expectations; destroyed by evasion, missed commitments, repeated mistakes.
- Working backwards = problem first: the Amazon press release + FAQ is a mechanism to enforce problem-first discipline, not the goal itself.
- Bezos’ three-test filter: big idea? Should we do it? Legitimate plan to succeed?
- Driven by impact: career growth follows impact, not political manoeuvring.
Appearances
| Source | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ian McAllister on Top 1% PM Skills | ~2022 | Top 1% PM attributes; working backwards process; Amazon leadership lessons; trust and impact |