At Xtreme Labs, Agile is not an engineering process, it's a way of life. Not only do they practice agile engineering - an iterative process that uses pair programming - they also have a flat management hierarchy and employ a 'Do-ocracy' mantra. Beginning as a start-up and growing to a 200+ employee company in under five years, Xtreme Labs owes its success in part to their ability to move quickly and deliver products in an efficient manner. In his talk, Farhan will address how Xtreme's development processes, company structure and policies have enabled them to grow rapidly and produce quality products in tandem. Farhan has been named one of “Toronto’s Top 25 Most Powerful People In 2010”, and is a well-known and respected figure in Toronto’s tech community. Before joining the Xtreme team, Farhan held the positions of Chief Software Architect at I Love Rewards, Head of Search & MSN Platform for Microsoft Canada and Technical Lead at Trilogy Software. In addition to being a programming and engineering guru, Farhan also uses his wealth of industry and mobile expertise to mentor aspiring mobile and tech startups.

2. Achievers
Farhan Thawar, VP Engineering
January 23rd, 2013
@fnthawar @xtremelabs

3. 300 -> 436 Members
meetup.com/achieverstech
achievers.com/tech

4. The world’s top brands
partner with us to
prototype and develop
outstanding mobile, tablet
and smart TV
experiences@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

5. @fnthawar
@xtremelabs

6. @fnthawar
@xtremelabs

7. @fnthawar
@xtremelabs

9. @fnthawar
@xtremelabs

10. Background
• Waterloo Comp Sci/Elec Eng
• U of T MBA – Financial Engineering
• Trilogy
• Celestica
• Microsoft
• Achievers (!)
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

11. Agenda
• Freedom vs. Frameworks
• How to work
• Career advice
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

12. Disclaimer
Source: The Black Swan
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

13. Freedom vs. Frameworks
• But first, a story…..
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

14. • ROWE
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

15. Multitasking is a fail
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

16. Parkinson’s Law rules
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

17. • Daily standups (company, platform, team)
• Pivotal tracker
• DL
Agile
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

18. Ship every week
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

19. Map
• Mastery
–pairing
• Autonomy
–No micro managing
• Purpose
–Working on stuff being used by millions of people
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

20. Physical Space
• In-office vs. WFH
–Breakfast hacks
• Sit close together vs. offices (Joel and
37Signals)
• Great machines + fast internet
• Location
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

21. 4a) Means as:
Formulation vs. Implementation
Rank & File
•Implement decisions
•Arms and legs
•Work in hierarchy
•Get “bought-in”
•Get controlled
Leaders
•Formulate decisions
•Brain
•Head up hierarchy
•Sell to get “buy-in”
•Create control procedures
Lower-order
Choices
Higher-order
Choices
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

22. Freedom vs. Frameworks
• Flat hierarchy
–Well not that flat now…..but, few approvals
• Responsibility not accountability
–“Accountability is what’s left once responsibility has
been subtracted” – Pasi Sahlberg
–“Tight controls cause blowups” – Nasim Taleb
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

23. Freedom vs. Frameworks
• Approvals
– “You should feel the dangers and stressors” –
Nasim Taleb
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

24. How to work
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

25. At a high level
• “Managers create work for each other” – Tim
Burns
• No Policies (rework)
• 1:1’s
• Faster to talk to someone than
email/phone/IM
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

26. Socials
• Wed social
• 3:3 lunches
• Friday social
• Team events
–Batman!
• Interns
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

27. Pairing (2:1 Ratio)
• Agile everything
• Pairing all the time
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

28. • “Being busy is a form of laziness”
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

29. 1. Consider options and make decision, informing
other party subsequently
2. Provide options to other party along with own
recommendation on choice
3. Generate options for other party and ask other
party to make choice
4. Describe a problem to other party and ask for
specific help in structuring it
5. Ask other party to solve problem, but make it
clear you will watch and learn for next time
6. Drop problem on other party’s desk and signal
helplessness
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs
Responsibility Ladder

30. • Democracy vs. dooacracy or decisions over
deliberation
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

31. How to Work
• Remove processes
–“Let process be implemented by those who
practice it” – Yishan Wong, first Facebook Eng
Manager
• The great decider!
• Fight fires/sales calls/unblock engineers (or
anyone else)
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

32. Career Advice
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

33. Career Imprinting
• “Where you work early in your career shapes
the kind of leader you become later on” -
HBR
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

34. Deep over broad
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

35. Strengths over Weaknesses
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

36. Smart over dumb
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

37. Low-information diet
• Stop reading temporal information (HBR still
relevant)
• Reading hierarchy
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

38. Air traffic control
• I know less than you do
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

39. Does it work?
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Full Time Employees

40. Span of control
• Average is 8
• 150 engineers
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

41. Stats
• Can hire 60+ coops from Waterloo in first
round (get more resumes than FB, MSFT,
Twitter, Apple, Square, Yelp, Foursquare)
• Low attrition
• Always outrun other teams
• Less hero syndrome
• More female engineers (17%)
• Happy people
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

42. Quotes
• “You guys are doing something amazing” –
Fred Wilson
• “I’ve never seen this before in the valley” –
Yogen Dalal
• “Uh… wow?” – Brad Feld
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs

43. Ask me anything:
@fnthwar / farhan@xtremelabs.com
@fnthawar
@xtremelabs
Thank you and we’re hiring 

44. Work at Achievers
achievers.com/careers
tech@achievers.com
@achieverstech