Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

How Shopify builds a high-intensity culture | Farhan Thawar (VP and Head of Eng)

Dec 19, 2024

Farhan Thawar, VP and Head of Engineering at Shopify, shares insights from his extensive tech leadership experience. He discusses the importance of choosing challenging paths for growth and how pair programming can enhance productivity and job satisfaction. Thawar reveals his innovative hiring strategies that focus on cultural fit instead of traditional interviews and highlights his mission to create a thriving environment for engineers. With a focus on cultivating a high-intensity work culture, he provides lessons on resilience and effective collaboration.

01:40:03

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Farhan Thawar

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Quick takeaways

Choosing the harder path fosters personal growth and resilience, ultimately making future challenges feel more manageable in the tech industry.

Creating a high-intensity culture within an organization enhances productivity by focusing on the work accomplished rather than just hours worked.

Pair programming promotes collaboration and knowledge sharing among team members while leading to faster project completion and improved communication.

Hiring for potential rather than credentials allows organizations to benefit from diverse skill sets and unique perspectives, fostering innovation.

Deep dives

The Value of Choosing the Hard Path

Choosing the hard path can lead to personal growth and new skills, even if the outcome is not successful. Engaging in challenging projects, such as building applications rather than sending out resumes, can provide valuable learning experiences and connections with intelligent peers. This approach encourages individuals to step out of their comfort zones and tackle difficult tasks, which ultimately makes future challenges feel easier. Embracing the hard path fosters resilience and adaptability, essential traits in the fast-paced tech industry.

Intro

4min

Choosing the Hard Path for Growth and Opportunity

4min

Embracing Challenges for Growth

11min

Maximizing Intensity: The Power of Pair Programming

10min

Building a High-Intensity Work Culture

16min

Revolutionizing Code: Simplifying Platforms for Robust Performance

4min

Coding Culture: Building a Strong Foundation

13min

Embracing Chaos: Innovative Hiring at Shopify

14min

Innovative Management and Reflection

18min

10.

Questioning Norms and Embracing Opportunities

6min

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-thawer

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Where to find Farhan Thawar:

• X: https://x.com/fnthawar

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fnthawar

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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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

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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

• The Secret to a Great Planning Process—Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite: https://review.firstround.com/the-secret-to-a-great-planning-process-lessons-from-airbnb-and-eventbrite

• How to do great work: https://www.paulgraham.com/greatwork.html

• Challengers on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Challengers-Luca-Guadagnino/dp/B0CX5MZ9M4

• Halt and Catch Fire on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Halt-Catch-Fire-Season-1/dp/B0CKXZNT96

• Meta Ray-Bans: https://www.meta.com/smart-glasses/shop-all

• Making Meta | Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth (CTO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/making-meta-andrew-boz-bosworth-cto

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Recommended books:

• The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds: https://www.amazon.com/Undoing-Project-Friendship-Changed-Minds/dp/0393254593

• Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World: https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484

• Manna: Two Visions of Humanity’s Future: https://www.amazon.com/Manna-Two-Visions-Humanitys-Future-ebook/dp/B007HQH67U

• Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street: https://www.amazon.com/Business-Adventures-Twelve-Classic-Street/dp/1504000021