Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

An inside look at how Figma builds product | Yuhki Yamashita (CPO of Figma)

Jan 8, 2023

Yuhki Yamashita, Chief Product Officer at Figma, previously held key positions at Uber, Google, and Microsoft. He discusses the significance of storytelling in product management and the potential impact of Adobe's acquisition of Figma. Yuhki also critiques the use of OKRs, emphasizing meaningful metrics that resonate with team values. He highlights Figma's commitment to community-building and collaborative tools, showcasing its innovative approach to user experience and software quality. It's an insightful look into product development and the future of design.

01:08:35

Creator website

Episode guests

Yuhki Yamashita

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Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Effective storytelling is crucial for product leaders and managers to convey the 'why' behind a product or idea and inspire action.

Figma prioritizes maintaining a strong connection with customers by actively seeking feedback, engaging with users, and shaping the product based on real user needs.

Figma empowers internal advocates within customer organizations, working closely with sales teams to drive wider adoption by equipping designers with tools, data, and narratives.

Deep dives

Importance of storytelling

One of the key attributes that Figma looks for in product leaders and managers is the ability to tell compelling stories. Effective storytelling helps in conveying the why behind a product or idea and inspires action. It involves the skill of synthesis, distilling complex information into a coherent narrative, as well as creating memorability through powerful and impactful communication. Figma believes that storytelling is crucial for building strong teams and rallying support behind a shared vision.

Figma Product Manager Interview Process

02:10

The Importance of the 'Why' in Product Management

01:23

The Power of Bottoms-Up Energy in Startups

01:26

The Power of Storytelling as a Product Manager

03:48

Intro

5min

Navigating the Product Landscape

26min

Navigating User Experience and Product Evolution at Figma

4min

Building High-Quality Software at Figma

13min

Innovation and Community at Figma

14min

Embracing the Journey of Continuous Improvement

3min

Podcast Preferences and Team Tools

4min

Yuhki Yamashita is Chief Product Officer at Figma. Prior to Figma, he was Head of Design of Uber’s New Mobility efforts, and before that a product manager at Google and Microsoft. Adding to his impressive resume, Yuhki also taught introductory computer science at Harvard. In today's episode, we talk about operationalizing quality, the case against OKRs, and how Figma isn't just known for product-led growth, but also for building a community of empowered users. Yuhki also shares why he thinks storytelling is key to being a great product manager, owning the "why," and the potential impact of Adobe's acquisition of Figma.

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Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-inside-look-at-how-figma-builds

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Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for supporting this podcast:

• Notion—One workspace. Every team: https://www.notion.com/lennyspod

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Where to find Yuhki Yamashita:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/yuhkiyam

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuhki/

• Website: https://www.figma.com/@yuhki

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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Referenced:

• Yuhki’s guest post on Lenny’s Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-figma-builds-product

• Shishir Mehrotra on Lenny’s Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rituals-of-great-teams-shishir-mehrotra-of/id1627920305?i=1000576021672

• Five Why’s template: https://www.figma.com/templates/5-whys-template/

• Dylan Field on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zoink

• Jeff Holden on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeffholden

• Figma: https://www.figma.com/

• Friends of Figma: https://friends.figma.com/

• Camille Ricketts on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-notion-leveraged-community-to-build-a-10b-business-camille-ricketts-notion-first-round-capital/

• Adobe Illustrator: https://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/campaign/pricing.html

• Adobe Photoshop: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/

• Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard: https://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-Hard/dp/0385528752/

• The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber: https://www.amazon.com/Story-Stone-Dream-Chamber-Vol/dp/0140442936

• Serial podcast: https://serialpodcast.org/

• The Good Nurse on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81260083

• FigJam: https://www.figma.com/figjam/

• Asana: https://asana.com/

• Slack: https://slack.com/

• Notion: https://www.notion.so/

• Dropbox Paper: https://www.dropbox.com/paper/start

• Figma’s Alignment Scale: https://www.figma.com/community/widget/1030848035996871692

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Yuhki’s background

(09:05) What Yuhki learned from being on a design team

(10:29) Why managing designers is more difficult than managing product teams

(12:20) Why storytelling is important for product managers

(16:35) How to improve your storytelling skills

(18:51) Why PMs need to know the “why” of the product they are managing

(22:34) The importance of developing a community and strong customer relationships

(26:13) How to use different types of feedback

(28:11) Working with Dylan Field

(32:44) Testing at Figma and the branching emerging feature

(34:54) Why your entire company should be using your product

(36:50) The importance of having personal accountability

(38:48) Why Yuhki likes to stay out of the way of engineers fixing their own bugs

(40:50) Yuhki’s thoughts on OKRs and how they are used at Figma

(48:40) Figma’s interview process

(51:45) How Figma’s sales team works by creating human connections and empowering designers

(54:57) How Figma built community and created organic growth

(56:36) Advice for founders

(58:57) The potential acquisition by Adobe and the future possibilities for Figma

(1:01:42) Closing thoughts

(1:03:44) Lightning round

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

An inside look at how Figma builds product | Yuhki Yamashita (CPO of Figma)

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Importance of storytelling

Proximity to customers

Empowering internal champions

The Importance of Customer Obsession

Challenges and Growth in Building a High-Quality Software

Figma Product Manager Interview Process

The Importance of the 'Why' in Product Management

The Power of Bottoms-Up Energy in Startups

The Power of Storytelling as a Product Manager

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts