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- 74. 🎨 Developing a Unique Product Management Style: Insights from Figma's VP of Strategic Products
🎨 Developing a Unique Product Management Style: Insights from Figma's VP of Strategic Products
Today’s Pod Shot dives into the recent first round review Podcast episode featuring Yuki Yamashita, VP of Strategic Products at Figma. Having joined Figma at around 90 employees, he’s got lots of interesting perspectives to share.
He digs into his philosophy of focusing on building products you personally believe in, rather than just chasing business metrics, how great products often emerge from seeing potential in tools users already love and how success comes from understanding both user needs and team capabilities.
1st Round Review - In Depth
📆 Published: December 5th, 2024
🕒 Estimated Reading Time: 4 mins. Time saved: 65 mins🔥
🎯 The Power of Product Intuition
When Yuki Yamashita joined Figma around the 90-employee mark, he wasn't convinced it would become the industry juggernaut it is today. What drew him wasn't the business potential, but rather his firsthand experience seeing how magical the tool was while at Uber, one of Figma's first large customers. This intuition-led approach to product decisions – choosing to work on something because you genuinely believe in its transformative potential rather than its immediate business metrics – has shaped his product philosophy throughout his career.
Key Takeaways:
Build products you deeply believe in: At Uber, Yamashita saw Figma transform how teams worked together, even before it was obvious the tool would succeed. This personal connection to the product drove his decision to join.
Trust your product instincts: Sometimes the best product decisions come from genuine excitement about solving a problem, not just market analysis.
Focus on user transformation: Look for products that fundamentally change how users work, not just incremental improvements. For Yamashita, Figma’s ability to blur the lines between design and product management was revolutionary.
Balance vision with practicality: While believing in the product is crucial, ensure you're solving real user problems. Figma’s early success came from addressing collaboration pain points, not just adding features.
🔄 Evolution of Product Development
Yamashita's journey through tech giants reveals how different company cultures approach product development. At Microsoft, he experienced the era of detailed specs where a PM might focus entirely on Excel's undo feature, documenting every edge case through formal "design change requests." This contrasted sharply with YouTube's emphasis on storytelling to align large teams, and Uber's revelation that sometimes a simple operational email could outperform sophisticated product features.
At Figma, Yamashita has embraced a more fluid, iterative approach. The tool itself enables this, allowing teams to collaborate in real-time and constantly refine their work. He notes that product development is rarely linear, and the best teams adapt to the messiness of the process.
Key Takeaways:
Microsoft taught precision: Writing detailed specs for even small features like Undo taught the value of thinking through every edge case. This level of rigour has stayed with Yamashita throughout his career.
YouTube emphasised alignment: When teams grew large, success came from getting everyone to deeply understand the problem, not just the solution. Storytelling became a critical tool for rallying teams.
Uber showed pragmatism: Sometimes the best solution isn’t a product feature. For example, an operational email encouraging users to walk to pickup points had a bigger impact on Uber Pool efficiency than app changes.
Figma enables fluidity: The tool itself shapes the development process, allowing for constant iteration and collaboration. Yamashita describes Figma as a "work in progress," much like the products it helps teams build.
🎨 The Art of Product Simplicity
One of the most challenging aspects of product development is maintaining simplicity while adding power. Yamashita emphasises the importance of keeping products intuitive even as they grow more sophisticated. He uses the "screenshot test" as a guiding principle: if a single screenshot of your product doesn’t immediately communicate its value, it’s likely too complex.
For example, when Figma launched DevMode, a feature designed for developers, the team focused on creating a single, compelling visual: a diff view that showed design changes alongside code. This instantly resonated with developers, who were used to seeing similar views in their coding tools.
Key Takeaways:
Simplicity is key: Products naturally become more complex over time, but great PMs ensure they remain intuitive. Yamashita believes simplicity is about mental models, not just fewer features.
The screenshot test: Can a single screenshot or GIF communicate your product’s value? If not, perhaps it’s time to simplify.
Balance power and usability: Adding features is easy, but maintaining clarity and focus is what sets great products apart.
Brand and emotion matter: The best products make users feel something. For FigJam, Figma leaned into fun and quirkiness to differentiate it from other workplace tools.
🚀 Multi-Product Strategy
Figma’s transition to a multi-product company, with launches like FigJam and DevMode, offers valuable lessons for product leaders. Yamashita admits the team didn’t have a perfect plan when they started. FigJam, for example, emerged during the pandemic when users began hacking Figma as a whiteboarding tool. Recognising this organic behaviour, the team quickly built a dedicated product.
However, going multi-product also introduced challenges. Figma’s tightly integrated platform meant that new products couldn’t operate in isolation. Changes to one product often impacted others, requiring careful coordination across teams.
Key Takeaways:
Start small: FigJam began as a small experiment, inspired by how users were already hacking Figma. Early prototypes and internal adoption validated its potential.
Balance speed and integration: While moving fast is important, ensure new products align with your broader platform vision. Figma’s integrated approach creates differentiation but also complexity.
Learn from your users: Many of Figma’s new products, like FigJam and Slides, were inspired by observing how users were already stretching the platform.
Evolve your team structure: As Figma expanded its product portfolio, the company had to rethink how teams were organized, creating shared primitives and frameworks to support multiple products.
📖 The Power of Product Storytelling
Storytelling is at the heart of Figma’s product philosophy. In the early days, Figma had to compete with Sketch, which had more features. Instead of focusing on feature parity, Figma sold a vision: a collaborative design tool that put the entire product team – not just designers – at the centre of the process. This narrative resonated with users and helped Figma stand out in a crowded market.
Internally, storytelling also plays a critical role. Yamashita believes that every new product needs a clear, compelling story to rally the team. For him, this often starts with a single, evocative visual – the "screenshot test" – that captures the essence of the product.
Key Takeaways:
Sell the vision, not just features: Early on, Figma focused on its collaborative philosophy rather than competing on features. This helped users see the bigger picture.
Anchor storytelling in user behaviour: Many of Figma’s product stories, like FigJam and Slides, were inspired by how users were already using the platform.
Create a rallying point: Internally, a strong story helps align teams and build momentum. Externally, it helps users understand why your product matters.
Visuals are key: A single screenshot or GIF can often communicate your product’s value better than words. For example, DevMode’s diff view instantly resonated with developers.
🎯 Developing Product Taste
The difference between a good product manager and an extraordinary one often comes down to taste. Yamashita describes taste as the ability to recognise when something isn’t good enough and the conviction to push for better solutions. This requires a combination of exposure to great products, a willingness to slow down, and an "irrational obsession" with details.
For example, Yamashita recalls staying up all night to perfect an internal presentation deck. While it may seem excessive, he believes these small acts of craftsmanship can make a big difference in how ideas are received and remembered.
Key Takeaways:
Taste is about conviction: Great PMs are willing to slow down and push back when something isn’t good enough, even if it means delaying progress.
Exposure shapes taste: The more you study great products, the better your ability to recognise quality. Yamashita compares this to filmmakers who obsessively watch movies to refine their craft.
Craftsmanship matters: Small details, like a perfectly designed deck or a polished feature, can have an outsized impact on how your work is perceived.
Balance logic with imagination: In corporate environments, it’s easy to default to logical decisions. Great PMs combine logic with creativity to imagine better solutions.
💡 Final Thoughts
The art of product management is a delicate balance between multiple factors: simplicity and power, speed and quality, user needs and business goals. Yamashita’s journey offers a masterclass in navigating these trade-offs while staying true to your product vision.
Action Items for Product Leaders:
Develop your product storytelling abilities – focus on creating a clear, compelling narrative for every product.
Practice the "screenshot test" – ensure your product’s value is immediately obvious.
Build conviction about quality standards – don’t settle for "good enough."
Study great products across industries – exposure to excellence sharpens your taste.
Balance user needs with business goals – align your product strategy with your company’s mission.
Maintain simplicity while adding power – focus on mental models, not just features.
Create space for experimentation and learning – let small teams explore new ideas before scaling.
As Yamashita puts it, "The best product managers are able to add more power while maintaining that feeling of simplicity." This balance is the hallmark of truly exceptional product leadership.
📅Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:50) Figma's early days
(09:11) Product culture across companies
(13:42) Knowing when to change things
(17:40) How business goals impact product expansion
(21:00) Advice for going multi-product
(24:30) The skills of a “0 to 1” PM
(27:36) Identifying entrepreneurial talent
(29:06) Why aren't there more designer founders?
(35:22) How Figma launches new products
(41:19) “0 to 1” versus “1 to 10” talent
(46:01) The role of storytelling at Figma
(49:22) How Figma prioritises product
(55:11) Advice for product storytelling
(59:02) “Good” vs “extraordinary” product managers
(61:21) Why product simplicity matters
(63:52) The importance of taste in product and design
(67:56) The biggest influence on Yuhki’s product thinking