Why Roles Are Not Rules | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Figma CTO Kris Rasmussen argues that engineering roles should guide collaboration, not restrict who participates in product decisions. As products become more collaborative and nonlinear, engineers must contribute not only to implementation but also to deciding what to build. However, collaboration works best when teams balance broad input with clear ownership, milestones, and momentum.

Collaboration Beyond Traditional Roles

• Modern product development is increasingly multiplayer, shaped by:
  • Web technologies such as WebGL and WebAssembly
  • Collaboration tools like Google Docs
  • Hybrid and remote work
• Engineers are no longer simply responsible for executing plans created by product managers and designers.
• At Figma, engineers help determine both:
  • How to build products
  • What to build
• Cross-functional collaboration includes working closely with product peers and incorporating customer feedback.

Early, Open Design Work

• Teams are encouraged to gather diverse perspectives at the beginning of a project.
• Engineers write down early ideas in concept documents rather than waiting until proposals are polished.
• Feedback is collected during the drafting process, allowing designs to evolve collaboratively.
• This approach helps expose problems earlier, though it can be difficult to obtain timely feedback from teams focused on their own work.

Engineering Crits as Feedback Forums

• Figma holds regular engineering “crits” across design and engineering organizations.
• Crits provide:
  • Early and frequent feedback
  • Expert input on technical designs
  • A dedicated forum for cross-team participation
• They are explicitly not approval meetings:
  • No decisions need to be finalized during the session.
  • Participants identify problems and improve designs without immediately choosing a solution.
• Figma uses FigJam so participants can collaborate in real time.
• The goal is to improve a proposal until it no longer requires formal approval.

Balancing Input with Direction

• Collaboration can become counterproductive when teams receive too many conflicting ideas.
• Excessive feedback may cause projects to:
  • Lose focus
  • Get stuck in endless exploration
  • Struggle with ambiguous tradeoffs, such as defining an initial pricing model
• Teams need a balance between:
  • Diverging to explore possibilities
  • Converging to make progress
• The right balance depends on the organization, culture, product, and desired outcomes.

Milestones and Momentum

• Figma breaks projects into clearly defined milestones.
• Milestones help:
  • Set expectations with stakeholders
  • Signal when exploration should give way to decisions
  • Preserve forward momentum
• Momentum makes goals feel attainable, while losing momentum can cause teams to question their direction and spin in circles.

The practical lesson is to treat roles as areas of responsibility rather than rigid boundaries. Invite collaboration early, use structured forums for feedback, and establish milestones that make it clear when the team must stop exploring and move forward.