Sightlines Issue no.1: Insights from Config | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Figma’s first Sightlines issue distills lessons from Config’s Leadership Collective about leading design, product, and engineering teams in the AI era. Although organizations are still experimenting with AI, core leadership principles remain unchanged: build curious teams, preserve quality, collaborate openly, and rely on human judgment. As AI accelerates production, taste and thoughtful editing become increasingly important differentiators.

Navigating Leadership in the AI Era

• Leaders are still determining how to integrate AI into products, teams, and workflows.
• The central challenge is gaining AI’s speed without sacrificing quality.
• Many leaders are learning alongside their teams rather than presenting themselves as having all the answers.

Fundamentals That Still Matter

• Strong leadership continues to depend on:
  • Curious, critical-thinking teams
  • High standards for craft
  • Clear judgment about what makes work effective
• Leaders are encouraging a beginner’s mindset by:
  • Starting from first principles
  • Experimenting with new tools and processes
  • Prototyping directly with their teams

Collaboration and Human Judgment

• AI tools can encourage isolated, individual workflows, so leaders are emphasizing collaboration more strongly.
• Effective practices include:
  • Open critiques and feedback
  • Showing work early
  • Debating outcomes collectively
• As AI automates more creation, human “taste”—the ability to judge, refine, and select high-quality work—becomes the key differentiator.

Lessons from Industry Leaders

• Teo Connor of Airbnb argues that an increase in mediocre AI-generated work will make strong editing and creative judgment more valuable.
• Jen Dunnam emphasizes designing for people rather than chasing tools, noting that human needs remain constant.
• Ian Silber of OpenAI recommends trusting capable teams and accepting that leaders cannot oversee every detail.
• Jeetu Patel of Cisco describes meticulous design as a way to demonstrate care and create an emotional connection with customers.

The practical recommendation is to adopt AI with experimentation and openness while preserving the human practices that sustain quality: collaboration, critical thinking, empathy, strong standards, and continual cultivation of taste.