Creating Memorable Experiences and Optimizing Team Productivity

Farhan Thawar, VP & Head of Engineering @ Shopify, was our first-ever ELC pod guest, so it’s fitting that he’s here to join us for this culmination of our series tackling the Top 10 challenges that engineering leaders face in a rapid-fire, high-energy format! Farhan shares insights into individual challenges, including motivating others after a reorg or period of uncertainty, why always being willing to learn & help is key for managing in any direction, strategies for creating buy-in, and best practices for coaching / mentoring. We cover team challenges, such as working cross-functionally to identify a shared truth and vision, using demos to measure dev productivity, and maintaining high velocity without losing quality. Farhan also dives into org-wide challenges, like understanding team topologies & building out your org’s resources.

ABOUT FARHAN THAWAR

Farhan Thawar (@fnthawar) is VP, and Head Engineering at Shopify via the acquisition of Helpful.com where he was co-founder and CTO. Previously he was the CTO, Mobile at Pivotal and VP, Engineering at Pivotal Labs via the acquisition of Xtreme Labs. Farhan is an avid investor and advisor to startups in Toronto and San Francisco, including being a mentor at yCombinator and First Round Capital. Previously, Farhan held senior technical positions at Achievers, Microsoft, and Trilogy. Farhan completed his MBA in Financial Engineering at Rotman and Computer Science/EE at Waterloo.

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SHOW NOTES:

• Strategies for motivating your team after reorgs, rifts, or other uncertain times (2:37)
• Farhan’s favorite quick wins & ways to re-engage with your team (4:48)
• Managing up & sideways by being transparent and always looking to help (7:31)
• Be dedicated to learning / bouncing ideas around with others (9:59)
• Frameworks for identifying the long-term, winning opportunities to pursue (12:13)
• How to influence & create buy-in around ideas (15:26)
• Navigating situations where your idea / perspective is facing resistance (18:18)
• Best practices for messaging a pitch when working cross-functionally (21:03)
• Utilizing individual frameworks when mentoring & coaching (23:10)
• Questions to ask when developing a personal career development framework (27:30)
• Approaching performance-related conversations (29:11)
• How to use demos to measure developer productivity (32:09)
• Methods for maintaining high velocity without losing quality (35:21)
• Insights on team topologies & identifying / building the needs of your org (37:14)

This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:

Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host

Jerry Li - Co-Host

Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/

Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/

Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/