AMA: Figma Head of Collaboration Product, Avantika Gomes on Building a Product Management Team

There's a lot written about basic PM competencies (https://a16z.com/2012/06/15/good-product-managerbad-product-manager/), and for any PM on my team, they should be able to do all these things you'd expect from a PM (write specs, understand the customer, communicate upwards and outwards, GSD). I'll focus my answer on a few attributes that I think are really "make-or-break" for me: Good communication skills, both written and verbal, are an absolute must-have for any PM on my team. Whether it's thr ...Read More

Congratulations! Being the first PM at a company can be a really exciting and formative experience, in shaping the product vision and the product organization. Here's a few things I'd suggest: It's all about the user - user needs, user problems, user stories! Spend a lot of time learning about your customers, their needs and what they're looking for from your product.  Make sure you socialize what product management is, what your key responsibilities are, and how cross-functional partners should ...Read More

There are a few that I consider important to set up (and refine) as you grow your team: Processes for top-down sharing: As your team grows, knowledge sharing becomes harder but also more critical. PMs can only do their best work when they have context about conversations and updates from across the organization. For instance, "context" could include new product updates, changes in company strategy, takeaways from executive conversations and board meetings. I'd explore ways that you can provide t ...Read More

Contrary to popular belief, it's not about writing a job description as fast as possible and starting to hire! It's important to spend some time upfront thinking about the team you are trying to build: Define your team structure: Think about how you want to set up your product team - what are the main product areas to be supported? What areas might grow down the line? What areas need specific skill sets? It's helpful to give each PM a clear focus, in terms of user they're focused on and problem ...Read More