Why I took a Figma class (and why you should, too)

Sometimes the fastest way to clarity is a quick prototype, not another Slack thread.

Photo by Rubaitul Azad on Unsplash

Product management is a role where you “connect the dots” between many other people.

Depending on the size of your company, you’ll likely have many specialists nearby - data analysts, engineers, designers - not to mention insights from users and stakeholders.

But while you could delegate many things to other people, the PM who can self-serve some tasks is the PM who better appreciates the needs of these specialist roles. And if the PM can do some of their own work in these areas, they can see results faster.

Using Figma

This week, I attended a short Figma training course organised by two of our designers.

We designed a simple business card, and linked up some prototypes to make them clickable.

It was fun - and has some immediate benefits for my day to day role.

Benefits of learning Figma

Being able to leave comments on designs is essential - and is quick and easy to do. It’s far better than writing long Slack posts, or calling a meeting for feedback. If you can respond async, it saves everyone time.

Creating a simple prototype can be a super quick way to go from an idea, to having something tangible you can share with engineers.

You can also start getting an idea into a design, before asking a designer to take it further.

Pictures and diagrams are often far better at communicating than words. Prototypes are even better.

Why not start?

So why not try Figma? Ask your designers to give you a tour - and ask if there are small things you can do with designs to save going to them every time. It doesn’t put their jobs at risk - it helps to free up their time, and helps you to become a better PM.

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