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Deeply researched product, growth, and career advice
This past Thursday, I had the great honor of interviewing Dylan Field (CEO and co-founder of Figma) live on stage at Figma Config. This was the first ever live recording of this podcast, and was so much fun. If you watch the interview on YouTube you can see the epic stage they built for us to recreate my podcast studio 👏🔥 In our conversation, we dig into: 🔸 Building your intuition and product taste 🔸 The importance of keeping things simple 🔸 The future of product management 🔸 Stories from Figma's early days 🔸 Dylan’s journey as a leader 🔸 The future of design tools and AI 🔸 Much more Listen now 👇 - YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gfTw9ckp - Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gmbvNig7 - Apple: https://lnkd.in/gJquvTDx Some key takeaways: 1. Figma took 3.5yrs to launch their initial product, and despite their success, Dylan said this was “Way too long. Don’t do that.” Dylan recommends following common advice to ship and get feedback quickly. He adds that there are three things that you get to pick two of: Quality, features, deadline. 2. Intuition should play a significant role in product development, but it should be viewed as a hypothesis generator rather than the final word. Treat them like ideas. Discuss and test them with data. Then, refine them into solid plans that everyone agrees on. This way, you can make better decisions and move ahead confidently. 3. The best product managers deliver outcomes and “bring everyone along with them”. They put everyone in a shared headspace around what they’re doing, and they create an environment where people are happy after hitting milestones. Product management falls down when it’s too focussed on process, at the expense of focus on the problems a team is solving. 4. Aim for a “minimally awesome product” when launching new features or products. This means balancing feature completeness with a high enough quality to meet user expectations.
Dylan Field live at Figma's Config: Intuition, simplicity, and the future of design
https://www.youtube.com/
What an incredible opportunity to interview Dylan Field live at Figma Config! The insights shared were truly enlightening. Watching the interview on YouTube, I was amazed by the stage setup replicating your podcast studio—so cool! 👏🔥 Key takeaways like the importance of shipping quickly, using intuition as a starting point for ideas, and the value of a “minimally awesome product” really resonated with me. Thank you for sharing such valuable lessons from Figma’s journey and Dylan’s leadership. Looking forward to more episodes!
My 3 key takeaways from the Figma story: 1. Created a category of one: Figma created a new category of design software: A platform for teams to design and not just an app for designers alone. 2. Dogfooding: Everyone at Figma uses Figma. And especially in the early days, everyone spent time in customer support. This meant that everyone at the company built a really solid understanding of their customers and the way the behaved. 3. Tiered GTM strategy: Win designers. Then convert the PMs (think FigJam). And then add Developers (with DevMode).
Intuitions should always be viewed as a hypothesis. I'm always shocked when it's presented as an absolute truth. Be open-minded, curious, and humble because the truth is you don't know. Leverage your customers, implement feedback loops, and go from there.
It was such a fun and insightful episode. The clip of his “child acting” days was a perfect way to end it. Kudos Lenny 🙌
It was lovely hearing you, Lenny Rachitsky, and Figma is undoubtedly the most amazing design tool! 😊 We love how the team consistently launch amazing features that make designing easier while maintaining product quality.
I've worked with founders at over 80 startups since Figma. As I witness the early days over and over I've grown appreciation for what Dylan Field did, even more than I already had. Startups are no joke, and to scale to what Figma is nearly impossible. I miss you all and am cheering for you!
Love the insights on product development and balancing features with quality.
Absolutely thrilled to have tuned into the live recording of your podcast Lenny Rachitsky with Dylan Field at Figma Config! It was incredibly insightful to hear Dylan's perspectives on product management, particularly the emphasis on building intuition and keeping things simple. The concept of aiming for a "minimally awesome product" really resonates as it balances the need for quality and feature completeness.
Deeply researched product, growth, and career advice
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