Bob Larsen

Amazon taught me that scale amplifies interpretation before it amplifies code. Two teams can read the same requirement and build two different systems, both in good faith. One optimizes for freshness. The other optimizes for consistency. Both think they are serving the same goal. The technical issue only appears later, when the outputs meet and the assumptions collide. That is why I became much more disciplined about forcing clarity early. A shared definition often saves more engineering effort than a shared library.

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Some exciting updates are coming to POS UI extensions 🚀 This summer, we introduced new capabilities: Direct API access, Storage API and new targets on the cart line item details screen. I'm excited to preview even more exciting things coming in 2025-10 and beyond. 🎨 Polaris We're lowering the barrier to making great POS UI extensions by bringing Shopify's single UI framework, Polaris, to POS. Write highly-performant, HTML-like code that works with any framework for any app and any extension surface, including Shopify POS. Preview components and examples in the release candidate documentation: https://lnkd.in/gwciA7CT We understand this is a big change if you've previously been writing your UI code with React. Get ready with our upgrade guide: https://lnkd.in/gjQAY-pf 🗺️ Navigation Extensions can present native detail screens. Present product details, product variant details, customer details, order details, and staff details without retail staff leaving your extension and workflow. Documentation: https://lnkd.in/gvmd6etq 🛒 Cart API We're adding support for subscriptions and making tweaks to how we provide your extension with updates from the cart. Documentation: https://lnkd.in/g3FCe-kX 📚 Documentation improvements We have added a new targets overview page that provides a great overview of available targets with improved descriptions and visuals: https://lnkd.in/g6nDZmu8 🛠️ Developer Experience We're making improvements to the developer experience with better in-app extension development tools, better debugging tools, and hot reloading. Keep an eye on upcoming versions of Shopify POS as we'll be rolling out these improvements into January. 🔮 Next-gen developer platform Shopify has launched a new Dev Dashboard, and we've transitioned apps and dev stores from the Partner Dashboard. Make sure to update to the latest version of Shopify's CLI and check out the latest news: https://lnkd.in/gkGvn7Tz

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As we move through this season of performance reviews and reflection, I’ve been looking back at what this year truly meant for us at Avalara. As a company on a mission to be part of every transaction in the world, we’ve embraced an AI-first mindset—and that has reshaped how we think, build, and collaborate.   The real transformation wasn’t just about adopting new AI capabilities. It was about how we, as a team, adapted emotionally and behaviorally to a completely new way of working.   AI adoption isn’t “just another change-management cycle.” It challenges how we think, solve problems, and even define our roles. And it impacts everyone: Senior leaders, who had to steer through ambiguity, recalibrate strategy, and build confidence in uncharted territory. Technical leads and individual contributors, who embraced new tools, re-learned patterns, and balanced delivery pressures with rapid learning.   This year also reaffirmed that successful organizations are fast on their feet; capable of developing new products rapidly and getting them to market quickly. In other words, they are flexible and require an equally flexible and responsive workforce. AI simply amplified the importance of that adaptability.   Across our teams, I saw the entire spectrum of emotions—curiosity, apprehension, excitement, skepticism. These emotions weren’t obstacles; they were signals that helped us guide, clarify, and support each other.   I’m proud of how our teams responded. We didn’t just adopt AI tools—we adopted an AI mindset. We navigated uncertainty with resilience, learned faster than ever, and kept moving forward as a team.   AI transformation is more than a technology shift. It’s a mindset shift. A capability shift. A people shift. This reflection is a reminder that when we recognize the human side of change, we accelerate not just adoption—but impact. #AITransformation #ChangeManagement #AIFirstMindset #AIAdoption

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🤝 We’re fueling success—one deal at a time. Securonix is proud to introduce Partner Rewards, a high-impact program built to recognize and reward Partner Account Managers powering our growth. Forget the swag. This is real money, delivered through the Onix Card, a reloadable Visa/Mastercard you can spend your way. It’s a thank-you, a growth engine, and a reminder that your wins drive ours. Why partner with Securonix? ✔ 5x Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for SIEM ✔ Cloud-native, AI-reinforced, and built for scale ✔ 365-day searchable data, by default ✔ Trusted by global MSSPs and global enterprises 👉 Start earning: https://lnkd.in/dUmUnSiW With Securonix, Your Success. Your Reward. #Securonix #PartnerRewards #ChannelIncentives #Cybersecurity #SIEM #PartnerProgram #MSSP #ChannelGrowth #AIinSecurity #OnixCard

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Spoke with an engineer in a 1:1 today. He shared an idea to improve our team's velocity. He proposed that since we had multiple services we should split the team for each microservice to make people more productive. I explained to him we don't have microservices but we do have a micromanager so there is no need to split the team. #leadership 🤗

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For understanding the virtual thread state transitions... Specifically, thread pinning on Java 21 vs. Java 24 and when the thread waits on IO how the platform thread views the state compared against the virtual thread enabling interruption

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Alert backtesting is a game changer! Excited that Airbnb Reliability Engineering is sharing our new OaC (observability as code) developer workflow for crafting and validating alerts before they go live. https://lnkd.in/gkknChcT

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Several folks in my group are celebrating their anniversaries this week — many with 7+ years at Airbnb — and multiple are entering or able to enter the Decade Club (10 years!). That’s an incredible milestone. It got me thinking: how do people stay at one place for so long and still feel like they’re growing? Especially in Silicon Valley, where it’s common for people to switch jobs every 3–4 years (or even sooner). I’m personally also staying at Airbnb for many years. Staying doesn’t have to mean standing still. In fact, some of the most meaningful growth comes from evolving inside a familiar environment. I’ve been reflecting on this lately a lot and summarized four ideas that I hope will inspire you: ☀️ Iteration, not repetition Repetition keeps you steady, but iteration keeps you moving forward. Growth comes from improving what you already know — whether that’s experimenting with a new approach, improving existing system, or setting stretch goals with your manager that push you just beyond your comfort zone. Iteration is what turns experience into momentum. ("Iteration, not repetition" is from Naval Ravikant, https://amzn.to/3JtJQhU) ☀️ Build systems, not emotions Motivation alone can feel like a rollercoaster. Some days you’re inspired, other days you’re not. Instead, create systems that compound over time: operating procedures, checklists, or workflows that make progress repeatable. When challenges come up (and they always do), use them as signals to strengthen your system instead of letting them drain you. The system evolves - and you grow with it. ☀️ Embrace AI One of the best ways to keep growing is to stay curious about how new tools can reshape your industry. For example, AI is opening up opportunities to solve problems in entirely new ways — from tackling hard security challenges to rethinking old workflows. Learning how AI (and other emerging technologies) can apply to your work keeps you not only relevant, but ahead of the curve. ☀️ Practice gratitude — and make your work visible Taking the time to express gratitude to teamates, peers, managers, builds stronger connections and creates a culture where everyone can thrive. At the same time, don’t let your own work go unseen. Share your impact, collaborate openly, and invite feedback. Recognition isn’t about ego — it’s about making sure your contributions set you up for the next cycle of growth. This week, seeing colleagues approach the 10-year milestone reminded me: growth doesn’t always come from changing companies. Sometimes, it comes from changing how you show up. 👉 If you liked this post, please follow me, hit “like,” and leave a comment — I’d love to hear how you stay in growth mode while staying at the same company. More importantly, stay connected as Airbnb is hiring!!! #GrowthMindset #CareerDevelopment #Leadership #ProfessionalGrowth #IterationNotRepetition #SystemsThinking #AI #WorkplaceCulture #GratitudeAtWork #DecadeClub #SiliconValley #Airbnb

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