20Product: Why Process is Killing Your Product Team and How to Remove it | Three Product Decisions Every Team Needs to Make | Why the Best Companies Build Movements and Lessons from Shopify and Atlassian on How to Do It Right with Jean-Michel Lemieux - podcast episode cover

20Product: Why Process is Killing Your Product Team and How to Remove it | Three Product Decisions Every Team Needs to Make | Why the Best Companies Build Movements and Lessons from Shopify and Atlassian on How to Do It Right with Jean-Michel Lemieux

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Mar 20, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast
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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. 

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?