In June, I was very lucky to have the opportunity to fly out to Figma's annual conference in San Francisco, California. It was a very intense few days (in a positive way) with a lot of social interactions, introductions and a lot of information from New Figma features like Dev-Mode, Variables and the Future of AI x Figma, to discussions about how modern product development teams look like and the general processes and rituals which are in the back pocket of the teams.
The singular biggest impactful moment that I will take away from the event, is the 30 minute presentation by Haraldur Thorleifsson on Navigating Uncertainty, this was one of the most emotional, empathetic, inspiring and self reflective talks I have ever witnessed! This really touched home to me and really made me reflect a lot. This is why storytelling is so powerful and less is more in terms of the actual presentation deck but more in the vocal track. It also reaffirms my life motto, which is “Anything is Possible” and what this person has achieved really empowers me to believe that.
Another cool discussion was from the CPO of Figma and the CEO of Coda, where they talk about rituals of Modern Product Teams, they distil the rituals into three groups:
It provided interesting insights which the CEO of Coda has been collecting from a number of key people in the industry and is writing a book on it, which will be released in 2024.
One of the other ideas from this presentation which I liked, is the idea of creating buy-in by introducing a slide (like in the picture) to enable the people who are participating in the round to really gauge their thoughts on the specific topic. This could easily be built in Miro and something I would like to prototype.
Another key aspect about decision making, is elevating the various decisions and questions to a new viewpoint which can help make key strategy.
YouTube had a problem in the past, one of the most searched for videos was “Modern Family” and they needed to decide what to do with this, should they link to the third party source or what else should they do. They solved this with asking the questions “Will the online video marker value consistency or comprehensiveness?” they decided with consistency, which you can see is actually how the market reacted as you don’t have one video service which has all the shows, but its more on consistency. This inherently answered the question “What to do with Modern Family searches” this is something which can be applied to my work and something I need to focus on the “eigenquestion”
The other major aspect was, how open and friendly people in the Product Design space are, how awesome the Figma community is and that there are a lot of modern challenges when it comes to Product Development which is shared across many organisations. This is factors like slow decision making by bloated hierarchical structures, fast passed changing environment and being bombarded by many data sources. The general sentiment is that we all should become more T-Shaped in our roles to support each other and with the advancement of AI, it will foster a more inclusive working environment for all involved.
The new Dev-Mode feature might be something to experiment with and see if this is a nice way in which to facilitate the hand-off from Product Design to Product Engineering and to help facilitate the understanding from Product Management on the various deliverables and key points within the Product Development Cycle.
Besides that, the buzz, atmosphere and the spirit in San Francisco in the tech scene is felt everywhere and its a very inclusive and supportive community. AI is the talk in the coffee shops and a lot of cool start-ups which ambitions to really shake up various aspects of life and work which we currently know. Apple Park is amazing and you feel like you really are in a religious space, there are no there really are no other words to describe it, the security makes Area 51 look like a joke.
At the second day Keynote, the CEO of Figma came out and read a poem, which was generated from ChatGPT which summarised some of the key takeaways from the AI focus of the sessions.
The explanation of AI from Figma was really inclusive and really highlighted how AI will partner with us and open up new possibilities. Figma explained that at the moment the creative elements of Product Building has a narrow ceiling and floor which limits the participants possible within the realm, AI will enable more people to participate in the creative elements and raise the ceiling for Product Design to go to the next level.
Another common theme can be summed up by the image below, there was a common feeling that Engineering is not so open to new ideas and tends to limit innovation and its something that should be at the back of our minds and a topic we raise and challenge. It was highlight specifically from the VP of Design from Netflix.
Closing Thoughts
The people who I have met and spoke to the last few days are really incredible open minded people that have similar struggles to what I am seeing and feeling and its really refreshing to get another peerspective (new word I invented) of reality and get humbled with the reality that we have all achieved so much!
Everyone is a Product Designer! some skilled and experts, others have a crazy idea and want to get their thoughts and opinions down. Product Design is the essence which is so fundamental to having a successful product which the user wants to come back to time and time again. The energy, time and investment in the area is a crucial factor to the whole process.
Recommended Sessions Here are some of the sessions which I can recommend to watch.
“I‘m a passionate product person who believes that communication and trust are the key elements to empowering people to be their very best. I’ve been a part of developing and delivering great software for over 15 years now and have worked in many different environments such as boxed products with tight shipping dates to SaaS approach which requires more agility and crucial thinking”
