Farhan Thawar: Why Shopify always picks the harder path

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

December 19, 2024

Duration

1h 40m

Channel

Lenny's Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

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-thawar Where to find Farhan Thawar:

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

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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 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

...References continued at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-shopify-builds-a-high-intensity-culture-farhan-thawar Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Farhan Thawar

  guest

• Lenny Rachitsky

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring Farhan Thawar and Lenny Rachitsky, Farhan Thawar: Why Shopify always picks the harder path explores inside Shopify’s relentless engineering culture of intensity and hard choices Farhan Thawar, VP and Head of Engineering at Shopify, explains how the company sustains high intensity, urgency, and craftsmanship despite being a 10,000+ person, fully remote, 20‑year‑old business.

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