Amazon’s Return to Office Isn’t About Productivity

Описание: Watch and/or listen to the full episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0UhK...

Everyone says they want innovation.

Almost everyone adds process.

And eventually, middle management shows up anyway.

In this episode, we break down Andy Jassy’s recent comments on remote work, return-to-office (RTO) mandates, and Amazon’s stated goal to “operate like the world’s largest startup.”

On the surface, the message sounds familiar:
collaboration, invention, company culture, speed, and ownership.

But only a few paragraphs in, it snaps back to the reality of big tech:
management layers, approval chains, org charts, internal jargon, and “remote work exceptions.”

We dig into what’s actually driving the return to office movement across major tech companies:
Is remote work really bad for productivity, collaboration, and innovation?

Or is RTO about control, visibility, incentives, power, and reshaping corporate culture?

This conversation covers:
Amazon’s return to office memo and Andy Jassy’s Bloomberg interview
Amazon leadership strategy and executive decision-making
Remote work vs in-office work for software engineers
Productivity, collaboration, and innovation in distributed teams
The meaning and impact of “remote work exceptions”
Startup culture vs enterprise culture at scale
Middle management growth in large tech companies
Organizational hierarchy, management ratios, and bureaucracy
Why Reddit suddenly started defending middle managers

We compare real-world company structures across the tech industry:
Amazon, Netflix, Valve, banks, startups, and remote-first companies —
looking at how engineering organizations change as companies scale from hundreds to tens of thousands of employees.

We also talk about:
Software engineers building tools for themselves instead of customers
How incentives drift away from user value in large organizations
Why decision-making slows down as companies grow
Flattened org charts, IC ownership, and why they rarely last
Corporate real estate conspiracies behind RTO — and why they fall apart
The myth of “culture” as a justification for return to office
And the strange but real lore of early Amazon office culture

If you work in software engineering, big tech, corporate tech, or remote work environments,
this episode will feel uncomfortably familiar.

Topics discussed:
Amazon RTO policy
Remote work vs return to office
Remote work productivity and collaboration
Big tech management and leadership
Startup culture vs corporate reality
Middle management in software companies
Tech industry work culture

Comment below:
Is return to office actually better for innovation and collaboration,
or is this just corporate cope dressed up as culture?

Like, subscribe, and share if you’ve lived through an RTO mandate or are about to.