Yuhki Yamashata
Yuhki Yamashita is Chief Product Officer at Figma. Prior to Figma, he was Head of Design of Uber’s New Mobility efforts, and before that a product manager at Google and Microsoft. Adding to his impressive resume, Yuhki also taught introductory computer science at Harvard. Yuhki also shares why he thinks storytelling is key to being a great product manager, owning the "why," and the potential impact of Adobe's acquisition of Figma.
Career (separate track) Skills
Use the product management role as a horizontal vantage point early in your career to gain exposure to multiple disciplines before specializing.
"My first job out of college is actually at Microsoft, and I was the Product Manager on Hotmail. If anyone, any listener remembers Hotmail, and I didn't really know what product management was at the t..."
Mastering product storytelling requires the ability to synthesize disparate opinions and complex data into a singular, cohesive thesis that drives team action.
"And I think that's what a good PM can do. All these different ideas, and opinions, and problems, and how do you distill it down? And so I think that's one aspect of storytelling that's really importan..."
Overlay: Enterprise/PLG Skills
Sustainable product-led growth is achieved by equipping users to advocate for a new philosophy or way of working, rather than just a software solution.
"So it's not just that they're championing for a tool, they're also championing for a new way of working. Obviously, that's a tall order or don't want to come up with that, but hopefully, if you're a f..."