Insights from Figma's Chief Product Officer

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Hey, it's Kushagra! Started the year vibing, watching a ton of design and product interviews, and found one with the CPO of Figma.

Got me thinking—how do top design companies make it? The interview was all about how the best product teams make products and set up their process. What better way to learn than from the top?

Here’s what I learned:

Ok, so the big Q was:

1. How far ahead do you plan, and how’s that changed?

The leads set big vibes for the company—like the main moves we’re gonna make. Then the product squads figure out the how.

Twice a year, there’s a bigger planning sesh where teams tweak their goals and roadmaps. Midway through each half (like every other quarter), teams get to flex and shift plans based on what’s new or what’s working.

Tbh, planning hasn’t switched up much. It started as a quarterly thing but got a bit more legit over time—now there’s a flow: yearly goals, half-year plans, and quarterly refreshes.

Make the plan and keep it running and clear for everyone.

2. Do y’all use OKRs or what?

So, we’ve had a weird thing with OKRs.

When I first joined Figma, I straight-up ditched them. Back then, we had these boring OKR meetings with endless spreadsheets full of tasks slapped onto people. Sure, it kept folks sorta accountable, but it was like... why does this even matter?

Instead, I told teams to write headlines. Like, bold claims they’d wanna make by the end of a period. Example: “Figma is the fastest way to design.” Then, they’d back it up with numbers or stories that prove it.

This made it easier to vibe with what a team was aiming for. It sparked the right convos and let teams get creative with how they tracked progress—mixing metrics and feedback instead of chasing one dumb number that didn’t even matter.

Later, we got a data science boss and brought OKRs back, but we leveled them up. Some areas got tight with metrics; others stayed a bit chill and focused on vibes. We kept a way to check if the team’s goals matched the big picture.

Oh, and we gave OKRs a glow-up, calling them “commitments” so teams cared about hitting them, not just tracking stats.

The whole thing’s run on FigJam. Teams drop their “commitments” into these cute widgets Lawrence made.

3. How do y’all do product/design reviews?

We’ve got design crits and product reviews.

Design crits? Chill and creative. No decisions here. Designers share files (usually on FigJam), we vibe for 10 mins leaving comments and stickies, then discuss live.

Product reviews? More serious—about making calls and picking paths. We’ve got two vibes: one for aligning on the problem and one for the solution. I tell teams to show the “option space” first—a map of all the possible moves. It’s fire for sparking debates and seeing tradeoffs.

When I joined, people were projecting docs—straight memo culture. I switched it to decks to push storytelling vibes (and so PMs use Figma more!). Now, we’re vibing with FigJam—it’s more two-way, and I can see reactions live.

My fave? The alignment widget. It lets people vote/share feelings on decisions. Way better than letting the loudest voice in the room!

4. How do y’all run design crits?

Crits are big for us at Figma—they’re like the heart of our design vibes. We’ve got 5 slots every week, and they get bigger as the week goes on.

• Tues: For tech crews

• Thurs: Editor + Non-Editor squads

• Fri: All design peeps

Designers book the slots, invite extra folks if they want, and Slack sends auto-reminders for sign-ups.

The big Friday crits? Open to guests from across the company. We want everyone to see how we share ideas and drop feedback. We even tell all employees (no matter their role) to hit at least one crit a year.

The setup’s structured but chill. The presenting designer runs it, and we usually cover 2 topics per sesh. Agenda’s like this:

• 10-15 mins: Presenting (using Spotlight on FigJam, and people can drop comments during)

• 5 mins: Qs

• 5 mins: Silent comments + feedback

5. How do y’all run product reviews?

These are stacked with the big guns—product leads, Dylan (our CEO), project heads, and key deciders. They’re kinda ad hoc but pop up at big moments in a product’s life.

The PM in charge of the work runs the sesh and keeps it on track.

6. How do you set up your product teams?

This one’s always a spicy debate.

Right now, we roll with a product + platform vibe:

• Two main teams for our products: Figma Design + FigJam.

• “Horizontal” platform teams work across both, like:

  • Enterprise: Makes both tools fire for big companies.

  • Infra: Keeps everything fast and smooth.

Back when we only had one product, we grouped teams around specific features (tied to use cases).

Tbh, team structure is more art than science. We tweak it as we grow, and that’s just part of the game.

What I found amazing this week

Asus just dropped the first mini PC with AI features—tiny tech, massive potential.👀

This track gave me a serious boost—check out ‘Ghostwriter’ by RJD2🎵

Vertical AI agents: 10X bigger than SaaS. The future is specialized.✨