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

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 — Brought to you by: • DX—A platform for measuring and improving developer productivity • Persona—A global leader in digital identity verification • Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-shopify-builds-a-high-intensity-culture-farhan-thawer — 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 • 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 — 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 — 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. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe