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Farhan Thawar: Why Shopify always picks the harder path

By favoring pair programming, code deletion, and the harder option; Shopify compresses more craft per minute, not more hours from each engineer.

Farhan ThawarguestLenny Rachitskyhost
Dec 19, 20241h 40mWatch on YouTube ↗

CHAPTERS

  1. 0:00 – 5:38

    Farhan’s background

  2. 5:38 – 9:37

    Choosing the hard path

  3. 9:37 – 13:20

    Getting comfortable with looking dumb

  4. 13:20 – 19:19

    Lessons from working with visionaries

  5. 19:19 – 22:06

    Creating intensity in organizations

  6. 22:06 – 29:18

    The power of pair programming

  7. 29:18 – 37:18

    Shopify’s culture of intensity

  8. 37:18 – 39:46

    Meeting Armageddon: revolutionizing company meetings

  9. 39:46 – 41:10

    Reducing distractions

  10. 41:10 – 49:05

    Deleting 1M+ lines of code

  11. 49:05 – 57:45

    Three buckets of building

  12. 57:45 – 1:00:29

    Remote work and trust battery

  13. 1:00:29 – 1:03:14

    Finding stability in uncomfortable times

  14. 1:03:14 – 1:11:41

    Hiring philosophy

  15. 1:11:41 – 1:15:32

    Internship programs and co-op systems

  16. 1:15:32 – 1:20:40

    Lessons from managing 120 direct reports

  17. 1:20:40 – 1:27:46

    Failure corner

  18. 1:27:46 – 1:40:02

    Lightning round and closing thoughts

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