Story Bank Matrix Template for Amazon L6/L7

📊 Strategic Story Portfolio Overview

The Story Bank Matrix ensures comprehensive Leadership Principle coverage with strategic story distribution. For L6/L7 interviews, you need 20-30 well-crafted stories that demonstrate increasing levels of responsibility and impact.

🎯 Story Coverage Strategy

L6 Story Distribution (20-25 stories)

Core Management Stories (8-10):
- Team building/turnaround: 2-3 stories
- Performance management: 2 stories  
- Cross-team collaboration: 2 stories
- Technical leadership: 2-3 stories

Strategic Stories (6-8):
- Project/product delivery: 3-4 stories
- Process improvement: 2-3 stories
- Innovation/invention: 1-2 stories

Leadership Stories (6-7):
- Difficult decisions: 2 stories
- Conflict resolution: 2 stories
- Stakeholder management: 2-3 stories

L7 Story Distribution (25-30 stories)

Organizational Leadership (10-12):
- Culture transformation: 3-4 stories
- Multi-team coordination: 3-4 stories
- Executive influence: 2-3 stories
- Organizational design: 2-3 stories

Strategic Vision (8-10):
- Long-term planning: 3-4 stories
- Platform/framework creation: 2-3 stories
- Industry leadership: 2-3 stories

Business Impact (7-8):
- P&L responsibility: 2-3 stories
- Market/competitive strategy: 2-3 stories
- Customer transformation: 2-3 stories

📋 Complete Story Bank Matrix Template

Story Matrix Spreadsheet

Story ID	Story Title	Primary LP	Secondary LPs	L6/L7 Level	Business Impact	Team Size	Timeline	Status
S001	Team Turnaround at [Company]	Hire/Develop	Ownership, Deliver Results	L6	$2M revenue saved	12 people	6 months	Complete
S002	Platform Migration Initiative	Think Big	Invent/Simplify, Ownership	L7	$10M cost reduction	80 people	18 months	Complete
S003	Crisis Response During Outage	Ownership	Bias for Action, Dive Deep	L6	99.9% to 99.99% uptime	5 teams	72 hours	Complete
S004	[Your Story]	[Primary LP]	[2-3 Secondary LPs]	[L6/L7]	[Quantified impact]	[Scope]	[Duration]	[Draft/Complete]

Leadership Principle Coverage Tracker

Leadership Principle	Required Stories	L6 Stories	L7 Stories	Primary LP	Secondary LP	Total Coverage
Customer Obsession	3-4	S001, S004	S002, S008	2	2	✅ Complete
Ownership	4-5	S001, S003, S005	S002, S006, S009	3	3	✅ Complete
Invent and Simplify	3-4	S007, S010	S002, S011	2	2	✅ Complete
Are Right, A Lot	2-3	S012	S013, S014	1	2	⚠️ Needs 1 more
Learn and Be Curious	2-3	S015, S016	S017	2	1	✅ Complete
Hire and Develop	3-4	S001, S018	S019, S020	2	2	✅ Complete
Insist on Highest Standards	2-3	S021	S022, S023	1	2	✅ Complete
Think Big	3-4	S024	S002, S025, S026	1	3	✅ Complete
Bias for Action	2-3	S003, S027	S028	2	1	✅ Complete
Frugality	2-3	S029	S002, S030	1	2	✅ Complete
Earn Trust	3-4	S031, S032	S033, S034	2	2	✅ Complete
Dive Deep	2-3	S003, S035	S036	2	1	✅ Complete
Have Backbone	2-3	S037	S038, S039	1	2	✅ Complete
Deliver Results	4-5	S001, S040, S041	S002, S042	3	2	✅ Complete
Strive to be Earth's Best Employer	2-3	S043	S044, S045	1	2	✅ Complete
Success and Scale Bring Responsibility	2-3	S046	S047, S048	1	2	✅ Complete

🎨 Story Development Prioritization

Tier 1: Must-Have Stories (Develop First)

1. Team Turnaround/Building (Hire & Develop)
   - Target: Major team improvement
   - Metrics: Productivity, retention, satisfaction
   - Timeline: 3-12 months
   - Level: L6 primary, L7 secondary

2. Major Technical Decision (Are Right, A Lot)
   - Target: Architecture/technology choice
   - Metrics: Performance, cost, adoption
   - Timeline: 1-6 months evaluation + implementation
   - Level: Both L6 and L7

3. Cross-Organization Initiative (Think Big)
   - Target: Multi-team collaboration
   - Metrics: Efficiency, standardization, cost savings
   - Timeline: 6-18 months
   - Level: L6 collaboration, L7 ownership

4. Crisis Management (Ownership + Bias for Action)
   - Target: Critical issue resolution
   - Metrics: Downtime reduction, customer impact
   - Timeline: Hours to weeks
   - Level: Both L6 and L7

5. Innovation/Invention (Invent and Simplify)
   - Target: New solution/process/tool
   - Metrics: Adoption, efficiency, cost reduction
   - Timeline: 3-12 months
   - Level: L6 team, L7 organization

Tier 2: Strong Supporting Stories (Develop Second)

6. Difficult Stakeholder Management (Earn Trust)
7. Performance Management Challenge (Highest Standards)
8. Resource Constraint Solution (Frugality)
9. Learning from Failure (Learn and Be Curious)
10. Controversial Decision Defense (Have Backbone)

Tier 3: Coverage Completion (Develop Last)

11. Customer-Driven Change (Customer Obsession)
12. Scaling Challenge (Success and Scale)
13. Culture/Process Improvement (Best Employer)
14. Technical Deep Dive (Dive Deep)
15. Delivery Under Pressure (Deliver Results)

📏 Story Quality Metrics

Impact Scoring (1-5 scale)

story_impact_calculator = {
    "business_impact": {
        1: "Team productivity improvement",
        2: "Department efficiency gain", 
        3: "Division cost savings",
        4: "Company-wide transformation",
        5: "Industry-changing innovation"
    },
    "people_impact": {
        1: "Individual development",
        2: "Team improvement",
        3: "Multi-team collaboration", 
        4: "Organizational culture change",
        5: "Industry talent development"
    },
    "technical_impact": {
        1: "Component optimization",
        2: "System improvement",
        3: "Platform development",
        4: "Architecture transformation", 
        5: "Technology paradigm shift"
    }
}

L6 vs L7 Story Characteristics

L6 Story Markers

Scope Indicators:
- Team size: 5-25 people
- Budget: $100K - $10M
- Timeline: 1-12 months
- Geographic: Single location/region
- Organizational: 1-3 teams

Impact Indicators:
- Performance: 20-100% improvement
- Cost: $10K - $1M savings
- Quality: Defect reduction, uptime improvement
- Delivery: Feature/product launches
- Team: Productivity, satisfaction gains

L7 Story Markers

Scope Indicators:
- Team size: 25-200+ people
- Budget: $1M - $100M+
- Timeline: 6 months - 3+ years
- Geographic: Multi-region/global
- Organizational: Multiple divisions

Impact Indicators:
- Performance: System transformation
- Cost: $1M+ savings or revenue
- Quality: Industry-leading standards
- Delivery: Platform/framework adoption
- Culture: Organizational transformation

🎯 Strategic Story Pairing

Question Prediction & Story Mapping

High-Probability Questions -> Primary Stories:

"Tell me about turning around an underperforming team"
-> S001: Team Turnaround (Hire & Develop + Ownership)

"Describe a time you made a difficult decision"
-> S002: Platform Migration (Think Big + Have Backbone)

"How did you handle a crisis situation?"
-> S003: Crisis Response (Ownership + Bias for Action)

"Tell me about a time you influenced without authority"
-> S004: Cross-Team Initiative (Earn Trust + Think Big)

"Describe an innovation you drove"
-> S005: Process/Tool Innovation (Invent & Simplify)

Follow-up Story Preparation

Primary Story -> Follow-up Stories:

If they ask about Team Turnaround (S001):
- Backup: Performance Management story (S018)
- Variation: Team Building story (S043)
- Contrast: Team Success story (S044)

If they ask about Technical Decision (S012):
- Backup: Architecture Choice story (S013) 
- Variation: Technology Migration story (S014)
- Contrast: Simple Solution story (S007)

📝 Story Development Worksheet

Step 1: Story Identification

Experience: [Brief description]
When: [Date range]
Role: [Your position/responsibility]
Scope: [Team size, budget, timeline]
Challenge: [Core problem/opportunity]
Outcome: [Result achieved]

Step 2: Leadership Principles Alignment Analysis

Primary LP (strongest demonstration):
- LP: [Leadership Principle]
- Evidence: [3+ specific examples]
- Depth: [How story proves this LP]

Secondary LPs (natural emergence):
- LP 1: [Principle] - [Evidence]
- LP 2: [Principle] - [Evidence]  
- LP 3: [Principle] - [Evidence]

Step 3: Impact Quantification

Business Metrics:
- Revenue: [$ impact]
- Cost: [$ savings]
- Efficiency: [% improvement]
- Quality: [Defect reduction]
- Customer: [Satisfaction/adoption]

Team Metrics:
- Productivity: [% increase]
- Satisfaction: [Survey scores]
- Retention: [Attrition reduction]
- Growth: [Promotions/skills]

Technical Metrics:
- Performance: [Speed/throughput]
- Reliability: [Uptime/availability]
- Scalability: [Capacity increase]
- Innovation: [Patents/adoption]

Step 4: Level Appropriateness Check

L6 Characteristics Present:
- [ ] Direct team management
- [ ] Tactical execution excellence
- [ ] Cross-team collaboration
- [ ] 6-12 month timeline
- [ ] Measurable team results

L7 Characteristics Present:
- [ ] Organizational influence
- [ ] Strategic thinking
- [ ] Multi-team coordination
- [ ] 12+ month timeline
- [ ] Transformational impact

📊 Coverage Gap Analysis

Missing Leadership Principles Coverage Identifier

def identify_gaps(current_stories):
    required_coverage = {
        "Customer_Obsession": 3,
        "Ownership": 4, 
        "Invent_Simplify": 3,
        "Are_Right_A_Lot": 3,
        "Learn_Be_Curious": 2,
        "Hire_Develop": 3,
        "Highest_Standards": 2,
        "Think_Big": 3,
        "Bias_Action": 2,
        "Frugality": 2,
        "Earn_Trust": 3,
        "Dive_Deep": 2,
        "Have_Backbone": 2,
        "Deliver_Results": 4,
        "Best_Employer": 2,
        "Success_Scale": 2
    }

    gaps = []
    for lp, required in required_coverage.items():
        if current_stories.count(lp) < required:
            gaps.append(f"Need {required - current_stories.count(lp)} more {lp} stories")

    return gaps

Gap Filling Strategy

For Missing Customer Obsession Stories:
- Look for: Customer feedback integration
- Look for: User experience improvements  
- Look for: Customer-driven feature development
- Look for: Customer support crisis resolution

For Missing Think Big Stories:
- Look for: Multi-year planning
- Look for: Industry trend anticipation
- Look for: Platform/framework creation
- Look for: Market expansion initiatives

For Missing Have Backbone Stories:
- Look for: Unpopular but right decisions
- Look for: Pushing back on senior leadership
- Look for: Standing up for team/principles
- Look for: Disagreeing with consensus

🎭 Mock Interview Story Selection

Story Rotation Strategy

Mock Interview #1 (Baseline):
- Primary: Team Turnaround (S001)
- Backup: Technical Decision (S012)
- Variation: Crisis Response (S003)

Mock Interview #2 (Skill Building):
- Primary: Cross-Team Initiative (S004)
- Backup: Innovation Story (S005)
- Variation: Stakeholder Management (S031)

Mock Interview #3 (Advanced):
- Primary: Organizational Change (S002)
- Backup: Difficult Decision (S037)
- Variation: Learning from Failure (S015)

Interview Round Mapping

Round 1 (Hiring Manager):
- Best management story
- Best technical leadership story
- Best delivery story

Round 2 (Peer/Tech Lead):
- Best collaboration story
- Best innovation story
- Best problem-solving story

Round 3 (Bar Raiser):
- Best culture/principle story
- Best growth/learning story
- Best customer impact story

Round 4 (Senior Leadership):
- Best strategic thinking story
- Best organizational impact story
- Best vision/transformation story

🚀 Implementation Timeline

Week 1-2: Foundation

• Complete story inventory (all experiences)
• Map initial LP coverage
• Identify top 10 story candidates
• Draft Tier 1 stories in STAR format

Week 3-4: Development

• Complete Tier 1 story development
• Begin Tier 2 story development
• Quantify all impact metrics
• Practice story delivery timing

Week 5-6: Refinement

• Complete all story development
• Address coverage gaps
• Practice story combinations
• Record and review delivery

Week 7-8: Mastery

• Memorize core stories
• Practice under interview conditions
• Refine based on mock feedback
• Prepare story variations

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Remember: Quality over quantity. 20 exceptional, well-practiced stories beat 40 mediocre ones. Focus on authentic experiences with genuine impact and learning.