How Shopify Rages Against Meetings | Kaz Nejatian (COO Shopify)

TL;DR

Shopify Chief Operating Officer K. Nan discusses the importance of prioritizing craft and uninterrupted focus time, the flaws in traditional career ladders, and the company's decision to cancel recurring meetings.

Transcript

no one literally no one said I want to grow up and sit in meetings all day long and no one came to Shopify to sit in meetings people came here to and help entrepreneurs succeed help Founders and it just so happens to like do really good work as a builder you need Focus time and focus time and meeting time are opposite things from each other if you ... Read More

Key Insights

• 🥺 Traditional career ladders are often designed for managers rather than builders, leading to a disconnect between what employees want to do (building) and what the company rewards (managing).
• 🥺 Companies often adopt industry best practices without questioning their relevance, leading to a lack of innovation and slow decision-making processes.
• 🤘 Meetings can be a sign of inefficiencies in other processes. It is essential to evaluate why a meeting is necessary and address any underlying issues in communication or decision-making.
• 🏛️ Shopify focuses on product building, not career ladders, and aims to be a company of Crafters rather than managers.
• 👋 The value of a product is often misunderstood, and good products are built through tinkering and perpetual feedback, not by following a strict strategy document.
• ✍️ Shopify emphasizes a strong writing and sharing culture, with weekly written updates replacing unnecessary meetings.
• 🏛️ Prioritizing uninterrupted focus time and creating a culture that values craft and building is essential for productivity and innovation.
• 👾 Shopify's goal is to be the ideal software for individuals looking to sell something, rather than attempting to solve every problem. The company remains focused on empowering creators within the e-commerce space.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the main difference between crafters and managers at Shopify?

Crafters are individuals who spend most of their job building things, while managers are focused on managing people. Shopify strives to create a company that prioritizes craft and removes obstacles for crafters to do their best work.

Q: How does Shopify celebrate crafters and individual contributors (ICs) compared to managers?

The company has restructured its job levels to have both a manager track and a crafter track, allowing ICs to advance and take on more responsibility without the need to manage more people. Shopify focuses on the work being shipped, rather than on career ladders and strategy memos.

Q: How does Shopify prevent the excessive focus on meetings and internal optics that often happen as companies scale?

Shopify encourages a flat company culture and fights against becoming a big company. They limit the tools used for presentations to avoid obsessing over pixel-perfect aesthetics. Additionally, product reviews at Shopify often involve jumping directly into code and focusing on the product being built rather than strategy.

Q: How does Shopify ensure that it stays in touch with customers?

Shopify encourages its employees, including product managers, to talk to customers and be customers themselves. Many product managers at Shopify have their own stores and the company emphasizes talking to customers as part of the job. Shopify also allows employees to become customer service reps to better understand the pain points of their customers.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Traditional career ladders are designed for managers, not builders. Shopify aims to create a craft-centric company where individuals can focus on their craft and be rewarded for their work.

• Shopify has done away with job levels and instead offers a manager track and a crafter track, allowing individuals to advance and take on more responsibility without the need to manage more people.

• The company has changed its meeting culture by canceling recurring meetings and changing the default answer to meeting invites to "no", providing uninterrupted focus time for employees to do their best work.