Navigating Tech and Creativity: Lessons from Shopify and Atlassian

Jean-Michel Lemieux is one of the OGs of engineering and product having been the CTO at Shopify and the VP Engineering at Atlassian. Jean-Michel helped grow both Shopify and Atlassian from single-product to multi-product companies and led the building of their platforms. 

In Today’s Episode with Jean-Michel Lemieux We Discuss:

1. From band class to Shopify CTO

• How did Jean-Michel make his way into the world of product?

• What were Jean-Michel’s biggest lessons from his time at Atlassian & Shopify?

• How are Shopify & Atlassian the same? How are they different?

• Why does Jean-Michel think Shopify could have been 10x bigger?

2. Building the Perfect Product

• How does Atlassian & Shopify build movements instead of product?

• What does Jean-Michel know now that he wishes he had known before he joined Atlassian & Shopify?

• How does Jean-Michel balance between shipping speed vs. quality?

• Why does JM think scrums and TDDs are BS? How did his last year at Shopify change his approach in product development?

• What is a time horizon friction? And how does it impact teams?

3. How to Lead a Product Team:

• What is micro alignment, and why does Jean-Michel think it is so important?

• What 3 types of decisions every team makes?

• What does Jean-Michel think are the most common reasons teams become average? How does he prevent it?

• What do Jean-Michel think are the most common mistakes CEOs make today?

4. Hiring the Best Product Team:

• How does Jean-Michel structure the interview process for new product hires?

• What signals does Jean-Michel look out for when hiring? Why does he believe experience does not matter?

• What are Jean-Michel’s biggest hiring mistakes? What were his lessons?

• What are 2 of the most common mistakes founders make when hiring a product team?