Julie Zhuo

@joulee

@jupelletier in order to keep the design team connected and collaborating, we typically have designers on the same team sit together in a pod, which makes it easy for people to share work and ideas. We've also started doing things like design sprints, where a team of designers will all jam on the same problem together and explore a wide range of different solutions. Sometimes this happens for a few hours, and sometimes we'll do one for a full week. Finally, we invest a lot in our onboarding--we have a program called "Design Camp" which is a 2-week introduction to design at Facebook--as well as in our tooling for designers to share work.

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AKASH PATHAK

@akashpathak06

Thanks for being here. Was wondering how development cycle works in fb. I mean how designers, developers, project manager etc works together to make anything live for users.

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@joulee

@akashpathak06 I really like how at Facebook, the teams work together so cross-functionally. I'm a big believer that a diversity of opinions and feedback makes for a better product. At Facebook, designers, engineers and product managers collaborate really closely on defining goals and roadmaps. Designers also get a variety of feedback from everyone on their team, as well as the broader company (we typically have the whole company living on new features and products for a while before we launch them publicly.)

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Mikkel I. Karlsen

@thekarlsen · Junior Consultant

@joulee @akashpathak06 Hey Julie. Could you elaborate on your roadmapping-methodology? Is it just a loose term for all strategic activities or is it actually a formal method?

@joulee

@thekarlsen @akashpathak06 It's not a formal method; the goal is to make sure the team is aligned and knows what they're going to do for the next few months.

Emily Hodgins

@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt

@joulee Thanks for being here today. 🙌During your career to date, what has been your a) most challenging moment and how did you overcome it? b) proudest moment and why? c) most surprising moment?

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@joulee

@ems_hodge a) most challenging was learning to design for scale. When I first started at Facebook, we were a site for college/high school users, and people tended to be really excited when we launched new features or changed the site. It was also easier to intuit what people wanted because it was a much smaller demographic (and we who worked on Facebook were part of that demographic.) As we grew however, a big learning was that "we" were no longer the "average Facebook user." And we learned a lot of lessons about how to determine and introduce changes to the product. This is still a huge area of focus for us, particularly as more and more people are coming online in emerging markets. b) my proudest moment is actually quite recent. A few weeks, I did an offsite with my team, and we talked about the future and what we were excited to tackle in 2016 and beyond. Looking at the group of talented designers sitting in the room, I was just so proud and honored to get to wake up and work with these people. c) this also goes back to a, because there have been a few moments when we internally were super excited about something we were going to launch, and then we realized actually, people weren't looking at it the same way.

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Samantha Zhang

@moyicat · Maker @ Graphiq.com, Inc.

@joulee @ems_hodge Great answer Julie. Design for scale is an interesting topic. At Facebook, do you guys currently focus on the broader / general features or tackle the users niche by niche? How do you breakdown your user base?

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Florent Gosselin ✌

@fgosselin · VP Product @ iAdvize

@joulee Hi Julie! How do you manage to attract new talents as a team manager? Facebook has a great reputation as a company, but the competition is also very strong in the Valley and in a global talents market. What is your method to detect and convince new talents to join your team and retain them? Thx a lot for your time :)

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@joulee

@fgosselin I'm a big believer in being as transparent as possible about what it would be like to work at Facebook. I find the best candidates appreciate that, because at the end of the day what we both want is for the job to be a great fit for someone's skills, values, and interests.

⭐️

Antoine Plu

@antoineplu · Designer @Algolia

Hey @joulee Thanks a lot for this AMA ! I've few questions for you: - Why did you become designer? - We all heard it's important to have a diversity inside your team, why is this so important? - And how to change this hiring process to encourage that?

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@joulee

@antoineplu 1) I was always fascinated by the part of building things that affected the people using it, and how they would feel or incorporate that thing into their lives. 2) I think it's hard to build something for the whole world (which is Facebook's mission) without having the builders be representative of that world. 3) This is important to us and we're doing a variety of things, from having folks at the company take "managing bias" training, to starting a Facebook University training program where we invite college freshmen from underrepresented groups, to making sure we're sourcing and connecting with candidates from all backgrounds.

Rohan Vijay

@vijay_rohan · UX Designer and Author of Paperr.In

Hi Julie! Thanks for inspiring us with your work at fb. Some people claim to be genius designers? Is there such a thing or process is the king? Would love to hear your views on it :)

@joulee

@vijay_rohan In my experience, every designer has strengths, and the best products tend to be the ones where a team of people can utilize their strengths to make the whole greater than what each could have individually done. So from that perspective, I'm a big believer of good process and collaboration being the critical element. It's like a basketball team--the best teams tend to have good chemistry and a wide utilization of each player's skills, not just one superstar.

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Tommy Kuntze

@tmyknze · UX Designer

Hi Julie! I love reading your articles because they're so mindful – what's your process like for telling your stories and communicating the lessons you've learned to your team at fb?

@joulee

@tmyknze lots of internal writing, as well! Every week I share out the great work my team is doing in a digest. We also have a bi-weekly designers all-hands where different people across the company share what they're working on and the lessons they've learned, which I find inspiring and helpful.

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Teresa Hammerl

@colazionearoma · Socialmediapreneur

Hi Julie, I really love reading all of your articles! My question is: What's your favorite thing about Facebook?

@joulee

@colazionearoma Hi Teresa! My favorite thing is definitely the people. I feel really lucky to work with some of the best in the world at what they do. I learn so much from them, and it's a privilege to get to build things for the world with this group.

Amir Pakzadian

@amirp · Founder & CEO, Bia2.com

Hi Joulee, if you were to give one advice to Product Managers what would it be?

@joulee

@amirp Always keep the person you are building for in mind. What is the problem you are solving for him/her? Is it a real problem? What is the best way to solve that problem?