Jean-Michel Lemieux: Three Product Decisions Every Team Needs to Make | E1129

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

March 20, 2024

Duration

1h 10m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

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. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:39) Falling in Love with Product & Tech (03:01) Advice for Graduates & New Entrants (03:38) Impact of Shopify & Atlassian (06:18) Overlap & Differences Between Shopify & Atlassian (10:49) Importance of Shipping & Velocity (11:45) Speed vs. Quality in Building (17:15) Retiring from Software Process (21:06) Creating Structure without Process (21:51) Approach at Different Company Sizes (24:53) Understanding New Team Member Quality (26:42) Flaw of Hiring Great People & Stepping Aside (28:26) Power of Alignment & Pair Programming in Leadership (30:42) Micro Alignments & Regular Communication with CEOs (35:51) Three-Step Hiring Process (42:54) Common Hiring Mistakes (44:41) Avoiding Rushed Hiring Decisions (50:24) Future of Code & Product with AI (52:21) Game-Changing Power of AI (53:03) Future of Teams & Structure (54:56) Opportunities to Build New Things (57:12) Commoditization of Foundational Models (01:02:44) Exploring New Products & Innovations (01:04:07) Messy Product Marketing Challenge (01:05:49) Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- 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?

1. 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?

1. 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?

1. 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? ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Jean-Michel Lemieux on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jmwind Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #venturecapital #founder #jeanmichellemieux #buildrightside #hiring #startup #investmentstrategy #shopify #growth #investing #atlassian #leadership

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Jean-Michel Lemieux

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Jean-Michel Lemieux and Harry Stebbings, Jean-Michel Lemieux: Three Product Decisions Every Team Needs to Make | E1129 explores jean-Michel Lemieux: Build Movements, Ship Relentlessly, Kill Planning Theater Jean-Michel Lemieux, former CTO at Shopify and Atlassian, explains how great product and engineering orgs win by building movements around their products, obsessing over what they ship, and stripping away wasteful process. He contrasts Shopify’s bias toward quality with Atlassian’s bias toward speed, and argues founders must deliberately choose which things to polish and which to rush every month. Lemieux lays out his philosophy of minimizing planning ‘time-horizon friction,’ measuring teams by output rather than ceremonies, and using tight, frequent alignment instead of heavy process. He also covers hiring frameworks, the impact of AI on software teams, and why “hire great people and get out of the way” is dangerously incomplete advice.

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