Bringing Product Management Rituals Into FigJam

When Figma announced FigJam at Config 2021, it was positioned as a whiteboarding space for designers. Internally, though, the product management team had already adopted it well before the beta launch. According to Product Manager Emily Lin, the team now leans on FigJam across the entire development cycle, from early idea exploration to post-launch retrospectives. The shared canvas gives the team a flexible format for structured planning and informal check-ins alike.

From Vision to Roadmap

For upcoming planning cycles, the team uses a product vision board to align short- and long-term priorities. The template helps validate product strategy by placing user needs, features, and business goals side by side. Because FigJam entries can be rough and unpolished, the team can move quickly without getting stuck on precise wording while still seeing how individual plans fit into a broader strategy, whether for H2 or beyond.

Roadmap work also happens in FigJam. The team even built FigJam's own roadmap using a Gantt chart template inside the tool. That visual format makes it easier to gauge the scope and reach of different projects at a glance, and it clarifies where to allocate resources and staffing. When priorities shift, the chart makes it obvious where reprioritization is needed—something Emily anticipates relying on regularly heading into Q3 planning.

Brainstorming With Constraints

For open-ended idea generation, the PM team employs the Brainstorm Crazy 8's framework. The exercise gives participants eight minutes to sketch out eight ideas for a given problem, prioritizing speed over detail. After the timer ends, the group reviews the ideas together and identifies which ones seem worth pursuing further.

Structured Retros and Recurring Check-Ins

Retrospectives are a staple of the team's workflow, and consistency matters there. Product, engineering, and design teams gather in a retrospective template to evaluate product execution, while marketing, support, and product education teams use a similar format to review go-to-market efforts. This approach not only surfaces what went well and what could improve, but also gives each discipline visibility into the others' work. Beyond launches, the team also retros internal processes to ensure they still suit the team's needs as it scales.

Weekly team syncs have also found a home in FigJam. With everyone working remotely, the standing meeting provides a regular touchpoint where team members share updates on hard problems, admit what they're excited or nervous about, and even talk about life outside work. Interactive elements—cursor chats, stickers, and emotes—help keep the meeting lively. The team has published a template of their own process so other teams can adopt the format.

FigJam is available in beta now and free to use through the end of 2021. Additional templates are available in the Figma Community.