Farhan Thawar is the head of engineering at Shopify, where he oversees more than 1,000 engineers and a platform that powers over 10% of all U.S. e-commerce. Before Shopify, he was VP of engineering at Pivotal Labs and Xtreme Labs, and co-founder of Helpful.com. In our conversation, Farhan shares:
• Why choosing the harder path leads to better outcomes
• How to create intensity within your org (without burnout)
• Why every company should be embracing pair programming
• How he hires without interviewing
• How he built the world’s largest internship program
• His mission to create a “crafter’s paradise” for engineers
• Much more
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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-shopify-builds-a-high-intensity-culture-farhan-thawar
Where to find Farhan Thawar:
• X: https://x.com/fnthawar
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fnthawar
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Farhan’s background
(05:38) Choosing the hard path
(09:37) Getting comfortable with looking dumb
(13:20) Lessons from working with visionaries
(19:19) Creating intensity in organizations
(22:06) The power of pair programming
(29:18) Shopify’s culture of intensity
(37:18) Meeting Armageddon: revolutionizing company meetings
(39:46) Reducing distractions
(41:10) Deleting 1M+ lines of code
(49:05) Three buckets of building
(57:45) Remote work and trust battery
(01:00:29) Finding stability in uncomfortable times
(01:03:14) Hiring philosophy
(01:11:41) Internship programs and co-op systems
(01:15:32) Lessons from managing 120 direct reports
(01:20:40) Failure corner
(01:27:46) Lightning round and closing thoughts
Referenced:
• The Steve Jobs quote about connecting dots: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/463176-you-can-t-connect-the-dots-looking-forward-you-can-only
• Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/
• GitHub: https://github.com/
• Farhan’s “questions to ask” framework: https://x.com/fnthawar/status/1514193402828574721
• Palantir: https://www.palantir.com/
• Joe Liemandt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liemandt
• Chamath Palihapitya: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamath_Palihapitiya
• Xtreme Labs: https://www.xtremelabs.io
• Parkinson’s law: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-parkinsons-law-6674423
• Pair programming: https://dev.to/documatic/pair-programming-best-practices-and-tools-154j
• Cody Fauser on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/codyfauser
• How Shopify builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-shopify-builds-product
• Chaos Monkey: We look at Shopify’s new ‘culture of focus’: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/careers/shopify-chaos-monkey-meetings-culture-deann-evans
• Empowering devs with AI: How Shopify made GitHub Copilot core to its culture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVKBwcm5dbw&t=2318s
• Tobi Lütke of Shopify: Powering a Team with a ‘Trust Battery’: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/business/tobi-lutke-of-shopify-powering-a-team-with-a-trust-battery.html
• Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach
• Stop Being Deceived by Interviews When You’re Hiring: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/02/07/stop-being-deceived-by-interviews-when-youre-hiring/
• Shopify’s made the Life Story a major part of their interview: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39294140
• Internships at Shopify: https://internships.shopify.com
• Nick Adams on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-adams-32b28139
• React Native: https://reactnative.dev
• Swift: https://www.swift.org
• Acquired podcast: The Mark Zuckerberg interview: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/the-mark-zuckerberg-interview
• The Power of Performance Reviews: Use This System to Become a Better Manager: https://review.firstround.com/the-power-of-performance-reviews-use-this-system-to-become-a-better-manager
• Airbnb’s Vlad Loktev on embracing chaos, inquiry over advocacy, poking the bear, and “impact, impact, impact” (Partner at Index Ventures, Airbnb GM/VP Product): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/impact-impact-impact-vlad-loktev
…References continued at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-shopify-builds-a-high-intensity-culture-farhan-thawar
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