与 Stripe 设计负责人一起构建精美产品 | Katie Dill(Stripe、Airbnb、Lyft)
Building beautiful products with Stripe’s Head of Design | Katie Dill (Stripe, Airbnb, Lyft)
The Airbnb Design “Intervention”
Katie Dill: The use of the word beauty in books that have been digitized by Google has decreased, like pretty dramatically. And it’s aligned with this idea of, “Well, functionality is king. Functionality is what matters.” As if people think about functionality and beauty as like two opposite things. No, they’re not two opposite things. Functionality is important. And actually beauty enhances functionality because it does make things easier to use, more approachable, more compelling to use.
And the other piece of it that is not talked about in business as often is just the importance of how people feel. Things that are more beautiful, increase trust. You see that we’ve put painstaking detail into this, and we care about the details of how something works, and that gives you assurance that we care about other details that you can’t see too.
Design Team Seating Arrangements
Lenny: Today my guest is Katie Dill. Katie is Head of Design at Stripe, where she oversees product design, brand and marketing creative, web presence, user research, content strategy, and design ops. Katie was previously Head of Design at Lyft, and Head of Experience Design at Airbnb. She’s built and led design teams at three different hypergrowth companies, seen the teams scale at least 10x, and two of which, Airbnb and Stripe, are some of the biggest and fastest growing companies in the world and also the best designed products.
In our conversation Katie shares stories of trials and tribulations of leading large design teams, processes she’s put in place for operationalizing quality, how she thinks about quality and beauty very practically, how design can directly lead to growth, and examples of this that led to a big lift in conversion at Stripe, plus a math formula she uses to increase team performance, how she suggests organizing your design and product teams, what to look for in design hires, and so much more. I was really lucky to get to work with Katie while at Airbnb, and I am so excited to have her on this podcast. With that, I bring you Katie Dill after a short word from our sponsors.
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Katie Dill: Thanks for having me. Good to be here.
The Case for Design ROI
Lenny: It’s absolutely my pleasure. So as we were preparing for this podcast, you hinted at a story that you had from your time at Airbnb where the design team staged an intervention with you which I had no idea about. Because I was there during this time and I did not know this was happening. I am so curious to hear the story. Can you share what happened?
Quality Drives Growth
Katie Dill: Ah, starting with the easy questions I see. All right.
Elevating the Checkout Experience
Lenny: Right into it.
A Designer’s Perspective
Katie Dill: Yeah. No, I’m happy to talk about it because, frankly, it was the biggest learning experience of my leadership career, or at least that happened in one moment. It happened in my early days at Airbnb. I was hired to take on the Design Organization, or the Experience Design Organization. That’s basically the Product Design team, which was 10 people at the time. They had been reporting directly to one of the founders and they were going to start reporting to me.
During my interview process I learned a lot about what was working, and what wasn’t working, and some of the trials and tribulations with the Design Organization and its collaboration with others. So it seemed like there was room for improvement in how Engineering, and Product Management, and Design all worked together. There was also really low engagement scores in the Design team.
So I kind of came in ready to go and excited to try to help make some change based on all the things that I had learned from various leaders and people across the company. I came in swinging, ready to go. And then about a month into my time there, I got a meeting on my calendar, Thursday 8:30 AM, it was an hour and a half with half of the Design team, so that was five people, and our HR partner.
What Is Good Design and Beauty?
Lenny: Oh, no.
Katie Dill: Usually not a good sign.
Stripe’s Website Redesign
Lenny: That’s never a good sign.
Learning from Design Leaders
Katie Dill: Yeah. And I remember this so vividly. I remember walking into the office, and all the rooms in Airbnb’s office are very unique spaces that look like Airbnb’s. But of course this was the one room with all white walls and just a gray flat rectangle table. I walked into the room and there were five of them seated around the table. They had a pack of papers in front of them and they went on taking turns quietly reading from the papers all the things that they saw that I was doing wrong and all the things that they didn’t like about me.
It was a really hard moment there. I went through all the usual kind of like stages of grief when one hears feedback, which is just like an immediate want to respond to be like, “Yeah.” Like, “Well there was a good reason for that.” And like, “That’s not how it actually was.” And, “This is why I did that.” But luckily, thank goodness I had the sense to just listen and not respond in that way. I mean, clearly what they were telling me is that that was one of the things that was missing.
So I heard them out and took it all in. And regardless of each individual saying, what was very clear was that the missing piece, the theme that was across all of that, is that I hadn’t earned their trust. So whether how right or how wrong what I was doing was, is the key piece is that I wasn’t bringing the team along with me. They had no idea that they could trust in what I was trying to build, and what I was trying to shape, and that I cared about them, and that I had their best interests and shared goals at heart. And that was absolutely my fault.
In retrospect, as hard as that was, I’m very grateful and very amazed that they could come together and share that with me. It can be hard to bring feedback forward like that. So it was an extremely valuable learning experience. I took from that to then immediately shift how I was operating. And really a key part in building trust was to listen, to hear out what the individuals on the team were setting out to do, what they cared about, what motivated them.
So I started to make pretty fast change and still moving in the direction that was necessary for the org to make the really large impact in how we were operating, but bringing folks along with me. You can inflict change on people, but if you want to do it with them trust is the key element there. And then a couple months later, we had the best engagement scores in the company.
So it did objectively improve the situation, and since then taken that on into next steps in other companies that I’ve joined. And just think about instead of coming in swinging, come in listening, so that you can really set out to make change that actually has true, positive impact on the folks around you and that you bring along with you.
Lenny: Wow, I was there during this. I did not know this was happening. Is this the time when all the designers were all always in one room together in Thayer? Is that that period?
Quality Is a Team Effort
Katie Dill: Before I got there I think there was a little of like, “Design is just going to sit with Design and not necessarily work in close proximity with engineers and product managers, et cetera.” And one of the things that I believe as a necessary part of building a high-functioning organization is that, one, building together is important. So having engineers, and product managers, and designers be together, have shared goals, and align on that and be able to just look over each other’s shoulder and talk about things, is important. So sitting together is important.
However, that Thayer thing that you’re talking about actually was like something that I was very devoted to, which is bringing Design together at key moments multiple times throughout the week to also build a community in Design. Like Joebot at Airbnb once said, “It’s like, well, what T-shirt do you wear? What team are you on?” And I was like, “You have two T-shirts. You have the Design T-shirt and you have the Marketplace T-shirt, or whatever cross-disciplinary team that you work on. Because both are really important communities to build for slightly different reasons.” So yeah, Thayer was a good spot for that.
Lenny: Zooming out a little bit, I think the elephant in the room a lot of times with design is this idea that I’d say most PMs, most founders, intellectually understand the value of design, understand the value of high quality. But day-to-day it’s often not actually prioritized versus new features, new product launches, partly because the ROI is just really unclear.
If we spend another month making this more awesome and making this even more amazing design-wise, experience-wise, what is that going to get us? Clearly, at Airbnb design was highly prioritized. At Stripe, from an outsider’s perspective, it clearly is. I’m just curious what you’ve learned about how to make the case for the ROI of design and just how Stripe, and Airbnb, and Lyft have done that.
Vision and Alignment
Katie Dill: It’s a great question, and I think this is like an age-old question that I don’t know if will ever go away, and probably because the quality bar keeps evolving, keeps rising. But I think first to kind of level set before we dive into that I would say that there are levels of quality. There is the, does the thing work? Does it provide some sort of value proposition? It like executes on its job. That’s baseline quality.
Next is that, does it do it exceedingly well? Is it error-free? Actually, maybe that’s not even exceedingly well but just error-free and it actually works in a well-rounded way. Then beyond that, like level three, level four, level five, does it exceed expectations and it does something that you weren’t even seeking for as a user? And I do think the levels of quality should be based on user expectations. I don’t believe that there are disciplines that just don’t care about quality.
I think it’s more about that prioritization and kind of like what you talked about is just like, is it really worth getting something to that exceedingly well state or is it, what about just like another feature and being seduced by the chase of another feature versus actually taking your features to a level of being great? That is hard. And I get it when you look at your user base and they’re all shouting from the rooftops for this additional feature.
Of course you’re going to want to prioritize that over something they never asked for. Then the other thing would be you end up with like you’ve got three things that you could possibly do to make perhaps the next stage in your product development. Two of them you know you can measure and they’re going to line up to business goals, and one of them you can’t.
Of course that’s going to be enchanting to want to go after the things that you can actually measure, you know that they’re going to have that impact. But the companies that know that quality is non-negotiable, it is a long-term necessary aspect of what they build, don’t play that numbers game. Or what they do is they recognize that it is absolutely functionality, but the quality of those features that is actually going to get to great usability, desirability in their product.
Actually, I think it’s kind of like an analogy for going to the gym or working out. I don’t know about you, but literally every time I think to do this, there’s a fight in my head of like, “Ah, do I really need to work out today? Is this one day going to give me six-pack abs?” Like, “Of course not.” So like, “Why go? Why not just skip it today?” But of course then at some point, hopefully, I realize that it’s like, “Well, if I skip it today, what’s to stop me from skipping it another day?”
And really in the belief of that these things, it really does add up to a better outcome in the end, and so a longer, healthier life. So hopefully I can get myself together and go to the gym. I do think some of the best companies on the planet think that way. I recognize that customers don’t always ask for it. I mean, you might see it in support cases for example. Like clearly they don’t know how to use this next step and that is probably a quality issue and that they might be asking for in more improved features.
But some of the levels of quality, the level two, and three, and four, you might not get direct asked for. But I guess I’ll give you another analogy. If you don’t have competition, that’s fine. Right? If you think about the first car, I am sure that wheel was really hard to turn, and I’m sure that seat was not comfortable, and you could have any color you want as long as it’s black. Right? But there was no competition. The competition was a horse, so no big deal. For cars today it’s like the stitching, the choice of the leather, the sound of the door.
These distinguish a, hmm, okay car to a high-end special car with higher value. This is very much by understanding how the details matter and how execution of quality will take it to the next level. Lastly, I’ll just say that I know there’s this saying of it’s growth versus quality, but quality is growth. And if you think about how you can make your product easier to use and more understandable, that will of course drive people to use it, and use more of it, and have a better experience with it that they’ll want to talk about with others.
In fact, at Stripe our Growth team I would say is pretty much maniacally focused on building better experiences because we’ve seen it tied directly to our business metrics. We have things that we’ve improved on in our onboarding flow, for example, to make it easier to understand the products, understand how they work for your different use cases such that then we have seen activations increase because we’ve made these quality improvements that are just directly tied to growth.
One of the biggest examples that I’ve seen of business impact through quality is actually in the checkout experience. We’ve done research on the checkout experience in some of the top e-commerce sites. We found that 99% of the top e-commerce sites have errors in their checkout flow that actually hinder more impactful, more seamless, quicker checkout, and therefore higher conversion with their customers. These small things, really they’re quality issues.
They’re just that if you really understand what a consumer is trying to get out of the experience, then you can make it better. So we have been maniacally focused on that over many years, trying to make the checkout experience so much better for businesses and their consumers. So by improving the quality of the checkout experience through details small and large, we have seen a 10.5% increase in business’ revenue from an older form of checkout to a newer form of checkout. And those little details matter to have such a material impact on one’s revenue.
Lenny: You mentioned this before we started recording, but you guys power the checkout flow for some very big sites. Can you mention a few of these because they’ll give people a sense of like holy moly.
The Role of an Editor
Katie Dill: Yeah. Stripe is used by millions of businesses globally, small and large, from early stage startups, to SMBs, larger organizations and enterprises like Amazon and Hertz, Shopify, Spotify, X, which I believe you use. The work that we do, it ranges.
We have checkout flows, so when someone’s paying online, or in person, or we also provide a suite of financial automation tools so that you can run your subscriptions business, and recognize your revenue, and receive tax, and essentially manage the complexity of the financial space through powerful tools that hope to make your job easier so you don’t have to sweat the details of how these things work.
Lenny: I just want to follow this thread a little bit. You talked about these opportunities to improve the checkout flow through a design lens. You could also think of it from like as a product manager I’d be like, “Oh wow. Let’s just find all the things that people get stuck on and fix them.” How is it that you see that from the quality design perspective versus like, “Oh, let’s just move this metric and here’s all the things that are stopping people.” What would you say is the designer’s lens on that, if there’s anything there?
The Courage to Say No
Katie Dill: Honestly, a pet peeve of mine is this way of talking about things as there’s business goals and there’s design goals. Because I think maybe the first conversation one should have is that, “What are we trying to build towards?” And I would think that folks that want to create really impactful products, they want to create quality products, and that they want to create things that actually serve their customers in a positive and beneficial way because they know that will build a stronger business in the long run.
So yes, there may be slight prioritization details different through the process where a designer might be thinking more about the emotional experience and how somebody feels, because that’s oftentimes how they’re wired, and that is an important lens to bring on it. Whereas somebody else might just be like, “Well, just make the button bigger and they’ll click it more often, and that’s the outcome that we seek.”
So this is, again, why I was talking about how important it is to have multidisciplinary teams that work closely together because sometimes we are the checks and balances in the conversation. But I do think if we can align on what are we trying to build? Are we trying to build something great, then we can recognize the fact that it isn’t just that utility is an incredible important part of that, but so is usability and so is desirability because these things together make something truly great.
So beauty is an important part of that because it does make things more useful, it does make things more accessible, and that with these things kind of coming together you can build towards something better. I think that beauty on its own or just craft on its own without utility, I mean that’s like, I don’t know, that’s like Blu-ray or PATH. Right? That does not lead to a high-quality product. So it is the combination of these things, and so it’s like stepping towards that.
But if you really want your product, those features, to be utilized for all that they’re worth and to actually gain such esteem, and respect, and reuse, taking it to that next level and thinking about, “How do I make this actually an enjoyable use and that it really feels like it’s meant for me and it maps my mental model,” that craft and that quality of the execution of those details is going to be paramount.
Lenny: You mentioned this word beauty, and I wanted to follow on this a little bit of just … This is a big question, but just what is great design? What is beauty? Is there like a objective definition where if a designer is like, “This is great design,” is there just like, “Yes, that is true.” Or is it just an opinion? How do you think about what is great design? What is beauty, Katie Dill?
Quality Through the User’s Lens
Katie Dill: I love that we’re talking about this because I feel like there’s probably some people listening that are squirming in their seats. Of like, “Beauty? We’re talking about business here.” Which is great. Actually, there’s a fun fact. Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh have a book called Beauty. I would highly recommend it. Very, very worth the read. But one of the first things they talk about in the book is that from the 1800s to the 2000s the use of the word beauty in books that have been digitized by Google has decreased pretty dramatically.
It’s aligned with this idea of like, “Well, functionality is king. Functionality is what matters,” as if people think about functionality and beauty as like two opposite things. But what the whole book talks about is that like, “No, they’re not two opposite things.” Functionality is important, and actually beauty enhances functionality because it does make things easier to use, more approachable, more compelling to use. And there is actually some objectivity to whether or not beauty enhances things.
But if you ask a wide audience what color do they like more or what version of things do they like more, they tend to say the same thing because there is this shared understanding. The other piece of it that yes I can imagine is not talked about in business as often is just the importance of how people feel. A good example of how something looks, and how something is structured, and how that can translate to that, also from the book Beauty, they mentioned that they studied the tweets that came from people that were traveling through Penn Station versus Grand Central.
If you’ve been to those places I’m sure where I’m going with this, which is just like the people tweeting from Penn Station, it was just like more negative than the people that were tweeting from Grand Central Station that tended to be much more positive and optimistic. So the things that you create have this impact. And if you’re thinking about like, “I want people to enjoy using my-
”Store Walks”: 15 Core User Journeys
Katie Dill: … have this impact. If you’re thinking about, “I want people to enjoy using my product, I want them to feel at home in our product.” Of course, beauty is a part of it, and this matters deeply to us, and I know, as a financial infrastructure company in the B2B space, some may assume that that doesn’t matter as much, but it’s actually a key priority for us. Because, number one, things that are more beautiful, increase trust. You see that we’ve put painstaking detail into this and we care about the details of how something works, and that gives you assurance that we care about other details that you can’t see too.
Then, secondly, it is easier to use, as I’ve mentioned, it gives better user outcomes. What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to equip businesses to make the right decisions to be more successful at what they do. By bringing a interface or our invoices, or whatever it might be, to be more beautiful, and more easy to use, and more trustworthy, that will lead them to better outcomes. Thirdly, I strongly believe beauty begets beauty. When our business users or the consumers see the beauty and the care and the creativity that we put into things we deliver, then that again reassures them of just the care that we put into them. Actually, a perfect example of this, have you seen the show The Bear?
Lenny: I have, yes. Great example. Yeah.
The Quality Calibration Process
Katie Dill: All right. Okay. All right. No spoilers, but all I have to say is peeling mushrooms. Do you know what I mean?
Lenny: Yeah.
Firsthand Experience vs. User Research
Katie Dill: Yeah. Such a good example. Such a good example.
Replicating This Process at Home
Lenny: Someone just mentioned that same episode on a recent podcast episode.
Cross-Functional PQR Meetings
Katie Dill: Okay. All right. Well, it’s that good. It’s that good. I wish I could remember which episode that was, but it was seven? I forget. But anyway.
Lenny: Yeah, that’s exactly right. That’s exactly right.
Designing the Scoring System
Katie Dill: Oh, nice. Okay. All right. Well, and then lastly, quality is a matter of pride, beauty is a matter of pride. If we put that care into our work, more people will want to work with us, because they want to see their time spent and the care for their craft recognized and utilized and see that that can be put together into something really impactful. We really put that on the pedestal, because we know how much it matters to our users and then how much it matters to the people that work with us. Beauty is an important part of it all.
Turning Quality Feedback into Action
Lenny: Amazing. Speaking of beauty, when I think of Stripe and beautiful, I think of your website, and some of the specific landing pages you have, which are just incredibly nice. I’m just curious how you decide it’s time to redesign your website and how much time and thought you put into a new website. Because that feels like a common question founders have, “Should we redo our website?” And it feels like you guys really think deeply about that. So, I guess is there anything there that you can share?
Katie Dill: Yeah, there’s definitely a couple of things we could talk about in terms of operationalizing quality. Because the gravitational pull is to mediocrity. It is very easy to fall into a path of a baseline, where what is required to go to that next level where something feels truly great is certainly a lot of effort, and it’s a concerted effort. I will definitely say we are a work in progress and we have not nailed all the things and it is an ongoing pursuit of excellence.
The way that we build the website is that we certainly do put a lot of care into what we’re putting out into the world, and we view it as a articulation of how we care about our users in all that we provide for them. So, we take that very seriously. We try to meld art and science. So, it’s the creativity of the work, but it’s also just the technical power of the way that we show it.
How we’ve actually operationalized the way we do that is that we have design and engineering and our product partners and product marketing work really, really closely on this. Actually, it’s one of the few teams where all of these things report, well, not all of them, but most of those functions report into one place. So, engineering and design actually all report up into the design organization when they work on the website. Together, quite literally, as we were talking about earlier, if we were physically together, they would be sitting side by side and they’re batting ideas back and forth, because the engineer on the team has a great idea for how we could go about executing on it. And the designer on the team has another idea how to push that a little further. So, that rapid cycle of iteration is really, really powerful, especially when we’re trying to move quickly, but at an extremely high standard.
Quality and Performance Evaluation
Lenny: That’s super interesting. Is there anything else that you’ve found to be really helpful in just operationalizing great design, craft, beauty, any processes, systems, frameworks?
Core Formula for Team Management
Katie Dill: Yeah, I would love to tell you about something that we’ve actually rolled out pretty recently that I’m extremely excited about the positive impact on.
Lenny: Awesome.
Improving Organizational Transparency
Katie Dill: But before I get into that, one of the things that has been driving a little bit of this process and the way that I’ve been thinking about how we can build better things at Stripe is actually I’ve been just talking to people, talking to different design leaders, product leaders, engineer leaders at different organizations and trying to understand how they go about it. There are a couple of themes that are clearly coming through.
Number one is that quality is definitely a group effort. You’re sunk if you think that you can just hire some incredibly talented person and they’ll do it, that’ll be fine. The rest of us will do what we’re doing and they’ll do it, or that it’s just one organization that’s going to look out for quality or QA is going to solve it all for you. It really does need to be an organizational and a group effort. If you think about the way that you run the internal functions is going to show up in the outside and how clear you all are and how you’re talking about it and the standards that you set inside and you’re constantly reminding people of in the way that you communicate inside will then eventually show up outside. So, of course, keeping your talent bar high and then thinking about how those things really need to be cared for, that shared care across the organization is number one.
Number two is that there needs to be some amount of vision and alignment. So, if you hire all the best people in the world and you just set them out to go and do their thing, what are the chances that they’re all going to end up with something that actually aligns pretty well? Even if they all have incredible taste and they’re very good at what they do, there is subjectivity to every decision in some part. So, that they might end up with some things that are really great but don’t fit together as a really nice whole.
The perfect example would be building a house. You have the person that works on the roof and the person that works on the deck and the person that does the siding, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. A house is arguably far less complex than most of the technical products that we all know. Yet, there is painstaking effort put into having the plans and having a drawing of what the final thing is going to look like. There’s a GC, there’s an architect. And these people are helping to make sure that all those pieces fit together, and we should have that same care when we’re trying to build products together.
I think a big pair on that is then the next piece, which is editing. And you might call that your GC or your architect or somebody that sees how all these things fit together, and then has an ability to help narrow and reduce and remove the things that don’t fit. At Airbnb, Brian Chesky is the editor of all the things that come together. At the Economist, there’s a chief editor. But other organizations, they might decentralize that approach, which is certainly possible, but challenging, because you do need somebody to help see these things come together.
That pairs with the next piece, which is about courage, the ability to actually say, “No, this isn’t good enough.” To have the resolve to just be like, “Almost, but no.” Which is one of the hardest decisions I think leaders can make and certainly I’ve had to ever make in my career, too, is just a team puts all this care and effort into something and then you’re going to say, “Actually, unfortunately we’re just not there yet. Let’s try again.” That is, I think, incredibly important part of getting there and building the fitness of what you do.
Then, lastly, the thing that I’ve learned that will lead me to the example that you were asking about is that, in order to build quality, you really do need to understand it also from the user perspective, which gets me into my fixation with journeys, because that is how a user sees it. The user very, very, very rarely just deals with any aspect of what you build in isolation. There has to be a moment where they learn about it. There has to be a moment where they get to know it, and then there’s a moment where they actually decide to use it, and then something just changed and now they need to use that product in some other way. You have to understand it from that point of view to really understand whether or not the quality is there. I think that’s a critical piece of building teams that have empathy for their users.
So, we have been operationalizing that. All the things that I just mentioned, but one of the key pieces is to bring that approach to understanding the quality of the product. So, our goal was to set out to try to solve the fact that products can be shipped and they could be at their highest game when you ship them, they go through all the processes internally to be a high quality thing, and then it gets out into the world and then, over time, the quality regresses. Some of the reasons for that is that other things are being shipped. It’s kind of like, again, back to an analogy of a house, imagine you have one room where you redo the molding and you paint the little aspects and you’ve put new plates on the lights, now all of a sudden that room is great, but it makes everything else look worse and the whole composite is worse.
That is something that can happen to products is actually they get worse over time. Then you organize a company oftentimes and parts to be able to focus on their key business areas. That’s a very good thing because they get focused and they know what they’re building towards and they get expertise and they’re laser focused on that. So, ideally, they move faster. But what also happens is that they get so focused on that they forget about that piece of the journey, and how it all fits together, and not recognizing that part of their product experience is intimately tied to another.
So, what we did was we set out to, number one, increase the kind of awareness and accountability of leaders to own their journeys. What we have established are we started with 15 of our most important user journeys. 15 is somewhat of an arbitrary number. It’s a number that we can kind of keep track of, but also has pretty good breadth, but is certainly not comprehensive of all the most important things. But 15 of our critical user journeys, the things that we know matter so deeply to our users, and we must get right at the highest level of quality possible.
Those 15 things then each have engineering, product and design leaders that are responsible for the quality of those products. They review these journeys, what we call walk the store, where they review them as if they’re walking the floor of their store on a regular cadence, and they friction log what they experience, which I know David Singleton talked about on your podcast. They will write what they have seen, what’s working, what’s not working. They’re viewing this from, they’re trying to put themselves in the shoes of their user. This of course doesn’t replace user research, but it substitutes it and it adds to that.
So, they go through the experience and noting what’s working and what’s not working. And very critically, it’s a journey, so a lot of times it starts from internet search, it starts on Google trying to understand something, goes to the website, they end up on Docs, they end up in the dashboard, and they’re seeing it as a user might. With that, they’re able to find the entailments of the experience that may or may not be working. They jot that down, they file bugs, they reach out to the teams that may own the different parts of this experience, and then they score it. Then on, again, a regular cadence, we come together in almost like a calibration, where we meet and we talk about the score of their work.
It relates to performance reviews. Performance reviews, managers are assessing an individual’s performance, which is hard. There’s some subjectivity to it, just like understanding quality can be. But what we do as managers is we calibrate. We come together and we talk about, “Okay, how well is our interpretation of our ladders document? And how well does that performance align? And are we doing it consistently across the rest of the organization?” So, we do something very similar. We calibrate these scores because what we’re really trying to do is not just the 15 essential journeys and the owners of those, we want to actually uplevel and bring more shared understanding of our quality bar across the company. These moments of calibration start that. Then having leaders do this creates this, number one, it cascades this idea of the importance of owning your journey and then also has upstream impact.
Because when people see the state of products in the wild as a user would, they learn a lot about what are some of the bigger opportunities that we can make to make the product better? What are some of the things that maybe we want to change in our process to make sure that we have even better things coming into the wild? One of the best parts of this is, since then we’ve learned that folks have seen that like, “Oh my goodness, our SEO for this particular product or the way we’re articulating it doesn’t align to actually how we want people to understand it later on in the journey. So if we improve this over here, we’re going to improve outcomes later on.” They’re seeing that and they’re now able to make that happen even faster to make some of the changes there.
Then my real favorite part is that we’re hearing from folks that maybe at first didn’t see this as necessary, that maybe in different functions that are just like, “Oh, I was so very focused on executing the technical ability of what I do on this thing, but I hadn’t seen it from this lens before.” Now there’re actually converts of like, “Yes, this is a really important part of it.” That goes back to the point of it’s a group effort. You don’t want just one function looking out for the quality of the product. So, having engineers and product managers and people of different disciplines walking the store, seeing the experience, feeling it firsthand, I think will lead to better care in all of the details that will aligned to better craft in the end.
How Org Structure Impacts “Distractions”
Lenny: Oh man, what an awesome process. I have a million questions I want to ask to better understand how you operationalize this. I’ll try to ask just a few. But one thing that stood out about this process is I think people kind of don’t trust their own judgment when they’re looking at their own product. They kind of, especially product managers, almost have to feel like they have to rely on user research or data to know a thing versus like, “I just see this and it feels bad to me.” I think I’ve learned over time more and more that you should really trust that, because you’re spending your energy trying to use this thing, you’re not that different from a potential user. So, I love that this actually relies on your personal judgment trying to use a thing, which I think people undervalue.
Team Restructuring and Collaboration Methods
Katie Dill: Yeah.
Stripe’s Creative Space
Lenny: A couple of just very tactical questions, how often roughly does this happen? Is it once a quarter?
Katie Dill: To your first point, 100%, they’re all just forms of input. I’m definitely not saying do this instead of user research, do this instead of data. It’s like these things in additional sense. I do think what’s so powerful about doing it firsthand is that, although I am the biggest supporter of user research, even hearing somebody talk about an experience, while that is really, really powerful, feeling the pain firsthand is just this next level of visceral understanding of like, “Oh, this could be better.” Your users, they might not always say what’s missing or what’s wrong, or maybe they don’t know that certain aspects of it could be better. Yeah, having your point of view on that in addition to the user research and what you’ve heard from them directly is really, really important.
But you asked about how often. We have, as I’ve mentioned, we are constantly looking at our processes and trying to figure out how we can make them better and better as an organization, as we’ve grown, things need to adjust. We today are doing it quarterly. The quarterly aspect of walking the stores by no means meant to be like that’s the only time people do it. But that is the time where we’re looking for update your scorecard and share the information in a dashboard where everybody can see. That is feeling right now to be the right cadence because that’s enough time that there can be material differences made. You can see the scores evolve over time. But also frequently enough that you’re not missing that perhaps there’s been a setback since. But, of course, my real hope is that they’re happening weekly, just perhaps in different parts of the organization.
Bold Ideas and Vision
Lenny: I want to ask a couple more questions so that folks can try this at home. I was just thinking this podcast is the opposite of don’t try this at home. It’s like, “Here, try this at home?”
Katie Dill: Try it at home.
Advice for Hiring Designers
Lenny: Yeah. So, I want to try to give people a few more answers to questions when they’re probably going to try to do this themselves. Who’s in these meetings? Do you join these walkthroughs? Does David join? What do you suggest there?
Katie Dill: Yeah. For what we’re doing for each team is they do them themselves together. At bare minimum, it should be the engineer, product manager and designer doing it together. The reason why we like to see it happen together is, again, as we’ve talked about before, is that people bring a different perspective to something. Let’s say somebody in the room might be like, “Oh my goodness, the load time didn’t feel really good there.” And like, “Oh, whoa, the way we’re stating this is not consistent per page. And that’s not on our design system.”
So, it is really powerful to have folks come together and do it. In fact, David Singleton, who you mentioned, he and I do these things very regularly, too. This is outside the essential journeys program, but he and I walk the store and we’ll just pick random flows and go through it together. I can’t code, but he can. So, he’ll do the code part and I’ll be sitting there being, “What? Do they really do that? How can we make that better for them?”
I really love the multidisciplinary approach, but then when we do the calibration after the team has done these walkthroughs and they’ve gotten their own perspective and they fill out the scorecard based on our rubric for quality, we will come together in what we call PQR, product quality review. And they will take us through what they have experienced, and then they’ll talk about, “So, this is why we’ve scored this, a yellow or a yellow green.” Then we might have a conversation about that.
It’s like, “Well, actually, that felt a little worse than you’ve described it. Actually, I think that we probably need to put more urgency on solving that.” Or in some cases it’s like, “Actually, that was pretty great. If you think about what we’re trying to help somebody achieve at this moment that actually is really hitting the mark.”
We will debate that there. In those meetings you’ll have, yes, myself, David Singleton, Will Gaybrick, who leads product and business, and then various leaders from the organization that might be relevant to that area. We are trying to give people insight to what’s happening across. Again, it’s a multidisciplinary room. I’m trying to keep it not too large, because obviously it can be hard to have discussion, but it is very valuable to make sure, again, that we have the perspective of product marketing and the perspective of engineering, the expected product in the room as we discuss what our quality bar is.
The Origins of Stripe Press
Lenny: Awesome. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. In terms of scoring, are you scoring individual steps of these journeys or is it yellow for segments? What are you scoring?
The Essence of Design Is Intent
Katie Dill: The way the rubric works is so that, and we have a template for the friction log. So, people fill out a friction log and it’ll be screenshots and then what they experienced. Then there is a tool to tag for each moment. It’s like, “Oh, that was a nice touch.” Or, “Ooh, that is not great. We should consider a fix.” Or different levels of severity of like, “Oh my gosh, P0 bug, we need to fix this right now.” So, they’ll tag for different moments in the journey.
Then there is a summary score at the end, which is based on a rubric that we have that talks about the importance of quality from the point of view of usability, utility, desirability, and actually going to that next level of surprisingly great. Then we’ll ask them to score on a whole what they felt of these things. Then that adds up to a summary score. Which we have also talked about the different ways of scoring. Is it a number-based system? Is it a letter-based system? Like A-minus and B?
Respect for Good Content
Lenny: [inaudible 00:45:42].
Lightning Q&A Session
Katie Dill: Yeah. So far we have landed on a color system because, honestly, I think people can get a little tied around the axle on how you’re measuring it, and to your point, especially in subjective things, and it’s just like, “Oh, it’s like, well, is it really a six or is it a seven?” We didn’t want people to get a little too worried about how does… It’s not meant to be an objective quantitative score. It is qualitative, it is judgment. We hire people for judgment, so we want them to bring that to the conversation. That’s how we chose the score, because we felt that would actually lead to quicker but straightforward opinions and decisions.
Lenny: At a lot of companies, you have these reviews and the founders share all this like, “Oh, this is broken, this is busted.” And as a product team, you’re like, “Goddammit, we have these goals we got to hit. We have this roadmap. And now we’re going to get a hundred things that the founder’s like, ‘Got to fix this.’” I’m curious just how you tell teams to take this stuff and prioritize it amongst all the other things they’re going to do. Is it just up to them, is they’re like, “Need to fix this”? Anything you can share there, but just how to actually operationalize taking this feedback and doing something with it?
A Guiding Life Motto
Katie Dill: Yes. Yeah. I’ve seen some organizations talk about when they’re doing planning, you do your OKRs quarterly or half year or year, whatever, recommendations of like, 10% of your time should be spent on fixing things, and 20% on growing things, and the rest on keeping the lights on, whatever it might be. Yes, I’ve seen different companies build a recommendation based on certain percentages of how they think teams should be spending their time.
We at Stripe think that, first and foremost, is that we have to make sure that folks are, number one, hired with the fact that they have great judgment and care for what they build, and they take pride in it. That’s number one. Then, you can give a lot of trust to people based on that commitment to building great things that they will use that in their decision-making. Then, of course, it needs to be very clearly advocated for at the highest levels of the…
… Advocated for at the highest levels of the company. And with that, I think that fuels people’s thinking as they’re building their plans, but there is iteration in the plans and we do have multidisciplinary people making the plans together. So it’s like, “Oh, okay, are we advancing these features? Are we going to be building growth? And is that improving the quality as well?” And so I think that’s how we together get to it, but there’s no formula that we ask people to.
Lessons from Parents
Lenny: So basically what I’m hearing is it’s the cultural just people are hired with this expectation we are going to focus on quality and we’ll prioritize things even though they may not move metrics because we know that this will generally improve and grow the business.
Katie Dill: Part of it though is showing how it moves metrics, because I think that is a dangerous belief that is absolutely out there, as we talked about earlier, but that actual quality improvements do increase growth, they do improve the bottom line. For example, we saw that folks were reaching out to support because they didn’t know the state of how one of their invoices was performing. And when we dig in, we realized it’s, well, we had a button that looked nice, but it wasn’t super clear, and so they didn’t know how to access the thing that they were trying to do. And so by improving that, we decrease the need for them to have to reach out, which is clearly not their want to have to call somebody to find the answer to their problem. And so with that, we’ve made an improvement and we, of course, improve the bottom line because of that.
So I actually think that maybe one of the steps that somebody should consider in their organization is just you have those examples, every company does, where quality leads to better business outcomes and to talk about those and make them known, because I think it’s actually a false belief that it’s one or the other, it’s like, “Are we going to work on quality and it doesn’t move the metrics? And where we do.” Some of them are longer term and so you have to look out for a while to see that change and the beliefs of your customers or how often they’re sharing your product or how often they’re succeeding in what they’re trying to do, but some of them are short-term impacts and that is an important thing for people to be aware of because it will give them ideas of, oh, we could do this in our team too, we could have a higher quality product and actually move the business metrics.
Insights from Flying
Lenny: Is there anything you do in how you evaluate performance of teams that helps prioritize this sort of thing? So generally it’s just, cool, this team moved this metric by a ton, they’re doing great. Is there anything that you bake into performance evaluations at Stripe, especially for product teams that help them understand and prioritize some of these things that may not obviously move metrics other than just broadly we believe great experiences are going to improve growth?
Katie Dill: Well, I think one part is being clear on what impact means, because I do think that in some companies impact is just, okay, what business metric did I move and how much? And there are certainly really important impact projects that folks can have that maybe they’re multi-quarter, multi-year, and so maybe you didn’t move this incredibly important business metric in one quarter, but actually the work that you are doing is instrumental to the success of the business. So there’s that. And then, like you said, there are perhaps quality efforts that are harder to measure or they’re longer term, but they’re still impactful. So I think number one is that when you’re thinking about how to come up with the rubric for how you’re going to judge performance, it’s just really honing in on what does impact mean, and then a lot comes from that and being able to and celebrate and recognize great work happening even when it’s not necessarily materially moving that number.
The other part of it is we have a ladder system. So it’s a document that’s not meant to lay out here’s the checklist of all the things you need to do, but it’s a guide for this is what is expected in your role and at this level, and in these documents we talk about the importance of things like quality in that what we pursue is building these things that are great. And another part of that is also the operating principles, which is the thing that we align on underneath all of these levels and ladders systems that we have. And our operating principles include meticulous craft. It is one of the things that is really important to us as an organization is just having that meticulous care for all that you do, whether it’s you’re designing the space that we work within or that you’re creating the API or that you’re building the interface or that you’re talking to people on support calls, the meticulous craft is something that is actually expected of everybody.
Lenny:
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I’m going to shift to a different topic and this is just the last area I want to spend some time on, which is team building leadership, that sort of thing. So you’ve led design at three hypergrowth companies, two of them, Airbnb and Stripe, are two of the biggest companies in the world, and also just known for great design. And I’m just going to ask a broad question, what have you learned about building, leading, managing, scaling large teams, are there lessons that stick with you? Anything come to mind when I ask that broad question?
Katie Dill: One of the things that has stuck with me through all the trials and tribulations of leading, and as I’ve already laid out for you in the very beginning of this call, haven’t always got it right, but one of the things that has been a clarifying force as I think about growing and leading teams, it’s actually something I learned at Airbnb when we were there together, it’s a formula sort of. So performance equals potential minus interference.
Lenny: I love that.
Katie Dill: And I really like this, it’s pretty simple, but it’s a good reminder that, as a leader, one of the things that you are of course driving towards is trying to get better performance so that your team feels more purpose and motivation and is excited about their work and that you’re building greater things for your customers and you’re having more business effect, and, of course, performance. But the key pieces of that, of course, is potential, so thinking about how you increase potential, which would be, of course, hiring really well, developing the talent and helping them grow and increase their own potential to do better and greater things. And then paired to that though of course is decreasing the interferences, which could be that lead weight on top of great talent, because you can hire the best people in the world, but like a muscle atrophying underneath a cast, if there are interferences that are holding them back from doing great work, they’re going to burn out, they’re not going to enjoy the work, they’re not going to be as successful, and you will not get as strong of performance from it.
And so I really do think of this constantly as to how can I increase potential, how can I decrease interferences? And over time, especially as your company grows, you’re going to have to keep doing that. The design work is never done in designing a team, because the more people you bring in, the more it puts your processes in a faulty state. I have intentionally run teams where you get to a point where it’s like running hot, it’s just like, “Okay, we’ve outgrown our processes.” And that’s okay because then you can learn as to, okay, this is how people are actually trying to work and this is how we actually can improve it. So making those changes as needed helps to make them more sought after and more informed in terms of as you improve the processes.
One of the things that I’ve been working on since I worked back at Airbnb was this idea of improving awareness of the things that are happening. What happens at a lot of companies, especially as they grow, is people lose touch with what’s happening in different parts of the organization, and everybody’s got a doc, their PRD, where they’ve written down what they’ve done and it’s got tons of words that nobody really understands and keywords for the different projects, and that isn’t the best way to lead to clarity. And I’m a strong believer that a picture tells a thousand words and a prototype saves a thousand meetings. What we do, and I’ve been doing it for the last decade or more, is having people within the design team share as a screenshot or a prototype of what they’re working on in a shared deck.
And so they add this to a slide, in Google Slides decks every couple of weeks, and we get to see what’s happening across the design team. And this is really important for all the designers because they could see, whether or not they’re a team of 10 or 170 or whatever it might be, what is happening, and they can say, “Oh my gosh, you’re working on that surface, so am I. And let’s talk about it. Or Oh, that’s an interesting pattern, maybe we could use this in more places.” And we send it to the product managers and the engineer leaders and the leaders in the company because it is also a really great way for them to understand what’s happening and what are we building together. Because going earlier, as I talked about, the importance of thinking about things as a journey, so what’s happening in the marketing side, what’s happening in this aspect of the product and seeing how all these pieces really fit together, that has been absolutely one of the things I will take wherever I go, whatever I do, because it has just been a very, very useful tool.
Lenny: I remember that at Airbnb, and there’s nothing more fun than just looking through a bunch of awesome designs and products that are in motion and in a deck form is so handy, just flip through what’s going on around the company, I’m like, “Oh wow, look at this thing. That’s amazing.” And it’s interesting that ends up in a deck, it feels like Figma would be really good for that too, but somehow decks are still really handy for simple things like that.
Katie Dill: One of the key pieces is just keeping it really low maintenance. Yes, the design team would definitely prefer that it would be in Figma, but critically I want all functions to be able to look at it. And if not everybody is on Figma, if they were, that would be great too, but if they’re not, it’s just flipping through really easy, touch of a button, you can just send it off, it’s behaviors that people are really used to and commenting. But maybe one day Figma.
Lenny: And the way you do that is it’s just like a scheduled call for all designers, add your stuff to this deck and then you email it out every two weeks I think you said?
Katie Dill: Yeah, and we experiment with how often we ask folks to share and also the granularity of what they’re doing. It is not meant to be a status check. We’re not asking everyone, “Show us what you’re doing.” It’s more of what are the projects that are happening? And we might ask, “Show us the medium and large projects,” if there’s such, it’s too much going on and all of a sudden it’s a 200-page deck and no one’s going to flip through it. So we have experimented and evolved that depending on the team size, and I think right now we’re at monthly sharing of it, and that seems to be working pretty well. It used to be biweekly, which I loved because I really love looking through, but if it’s feels like it’s a arduous task then it’s not succeeding.
Lenny: And especially knowing designers, they’d want to make sure it’s the best version of what they’ve done, and it takes all this extra time to, okay, we got to make this beautiful mock to show [inaudible 01:00:39] working on.
Katie Dill: And actually another part of it that is another benefit of opening up the curtain a little bit of certainly we have to take things seriously in terms of confidential work, it’s work in progress, it’s not ready to go live, we’re not ready to critique all the details about this. We do need to make it very clear to folks that this is work in progress, but also that it is really beneficial to bring the work out because what isn’t great is that you get to the end of the project and people have worked tirelessly on it for some long stretch of time and then find out that, oh my gosh, this is the same project that we’re doing over here and this can be completely redundant, or these two things are on a path to collide.
So we want to know that sooner because it, absolutely, in the end of the day, will make the work better, save time. And so opening up that curtain and showing the work in progress, it can feel hard at first, but I think people have started to see the benefits in doing that and then usually that will lead to better outcomes in the long run in the culture too.
Lenny: Going back to this formula you shared, which I love, performance equals potential minus interference, is there an example that comes to mind of helping with the interference where you found that, oh, wow, this is really slowing things down and you change something?
Katie Dill: It actually goes back to org design that we talked about earlier and where people sit. So when I joined Lyft, as I mentioned to you earlier, I was like, oh, I had learned from the experience that I had at Airbnb and I came in needing to transform the organization, and was hopefully much better at it because I had learned so much. What actually was going on there is that the way that the team was organized before I got there was that actually physically the design team sat separately. They sat in a room that was just beautifully designed, separated from engineering and product and all the other functions by a locked door. And that was really interesting to see because of course there were a lot of benefits to it, which is that design had this very safe space for creative discovery and exploration and communication, there was work all over the walls, it was wall to wall whiteboards, and it was just absolutely a place where creativity could thrive.
Lenny: It sounds exactly like the Airbnb situation, by the way.
Katie Dill: The current Airbnb situation or the past?
Lenny: The original, the [inaudible 01:03:05] times.
Katie Dill: Yeah. And absolutely there are a lot of tie-ins to what I had seen. And the interesting part about how actually teams were working is that you would see that there was a lot of wasted work and there was a lot of misalignment in what we were trying to do because there was product managers and engineers that were sitting alongside each other making decisions and talking about the work and deciding things, and then designers were sitting over here in this other room and they were working on something, and then they’d meet up and it’s like, “That’s not aligned. No, that doesn’t fit the goal. And you went that way, we were supposed to go over this way.” And so interference in the sense that it was wasted work, it wasn’t actually aligned to the goals, it was slower. And there were definitely benefits, there was real reasons for doing this, and I know there are companies including Apple that have separation of these things.
But I think if you’re going into that way of working, there’s probably a lot of other decisions you need to make too in terms of the way the teams work. And so what I was seeing there was just the composite of all these aspects coming together that was not leading to more efficient and less interference. And so what we did was to evolve the way we were working and bring better alignment to the different functions.
And, again, had done it with an approach about listening and came into that with a better understanding of getting to know the team and getting to know engineering and product and see what our goals were together so that when we were making changes we were making the changes together and we actually were aligned so that on the day that we opened the doors and brought design and product together and had spaces for folks to work together and they actually sat with each other, we still kept the creative space for this is where we’ll do grits, this is where we’ll do working sessions, this is where the folks that don’t work in an embedded fashion we’ll sit, but we had the best of both worlds in that way. And so with that alignment of the way that the teams were working together, there was much faster iteration cycles, better clarity on how the work was working, and we still kept and protected that room for creative space, literally the room in terms of figuratively speaking for allowing for creative exploration, but more aligned.
Lenny: And just so I understand, essentially you reorged the teams and not just physically moved people, but you changed the way the product and design and eng team was even organized?
Katie Dill: Yes, literally and figuratively we broke down the wall and brought the teams physically together so that they would work together, and then we had an org chart where it’s like, okay, these designers are working on driver, these designers are working on rider, these designers are working on the safety team, and then they would sit with their respective engineers and product managers. And then as I talked about earlier, we would come together at key moments to make sure that we as a design function, we’re still aligning on shared goals about the overall experience, but also making sure that we could work well with our partners.
Lenny: So interesting that that was a recurring pattern at the places you went. I imagine Stripe was not like that, there was not all designers sitting in that locked room.
Katie Dill: Not in a locked room. When I joined Stripe, it was a Zoom universe, so it’s a little bit different, but even today we have a studio space where we have all the great tools of craft, and when you do go into the offices, we do have places where designers sit together, especially in the functions that aren’t embedded. For example, we have brand and marketing creative, we have the website team, and we have folks that work across all of the things that we do. And so for sure there usually is some sort of creative space, which I actually think having a physical space for creative discovery and exploration and having that up on the wall, I love that so much. And I go into the office about halftime now, and I think over time we’ll probably build that out more and more, because it is really powerful in addition to having teams sit by the disciplines that they work with every day.
Lenny: It reminds me of a quote I have on my wall that I think I found in the Rick Rubin book, but it’s by someone else, so I don’t know exactly where I found it, but it’s the object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.
Katie Dill: Ooh, that’s good. I like that very much.
Lenny: By Robert Henry. That’s what I try to do in this little podcast studio that we got here.
Katie Dill: That’s awesome.
Lenny: Is there anything else that you think would be useful to share either from scaling design teams or broadly?
Katie Dill: I think one of the other tendencies I see of companies in different stages of their growth is a fear of bold ideas. What happens is that… It can happen at small sizes and then it can happen at large sizes actually, it’s just that a fear of shaking things up too much or big ideas with lots of things changing at once are really hard to measure. And so actually if we just make an incremental approach, it’s very measured and we know what the outcome is going to be, it feels safer, I can get it done in the quarter, and depending on how your performance is managed, that might be more attractive. And so that is a dangerous tendency, because I think if we go back to what quality means, and you think about it as, well, quality is really your users are the judge of that, and the way that they experience things oftentimes across products, across surface, across time, if you just think about these incremental approaches to the scope of whatever that is that you own, you are very likely not to make the whole thing better.
So I think we have to fight against that. And the way I look at it is, the way I talk about it is reach for the stars and land on the moon. And what I mean by that is that vision work is really important, and I think sometimes you can get a bad name because you can end up with some folks that are doing vision work that goes nowhere, and they make a beautiful deck and then it gets seated on a shelf and nobody ever builds it. That is not what I’m talking about here, that is not what I recommend, but actually vision work that absolutely does look at the entirety of the experience, a comprehensive approach, a journey approach, and thinks about how these various things may come together to be better, and sketch out the ideal version. And I think Brian Chesky talks about it, I think it was the 11-star experience I think he once said.
Lenny: [inaudible 01:09:45] stuff. That’s what we talked about a couple of times in this podcast.
Katie Dill: Exactly. Looking at it as a journey. It’s not the five-star approach, it’s not the six-star approach, but the 11-star approach, but show what that ideal version is, because if you don’t know what that is, what are the chances that you’re going to increment yourself to the right outcome in the end? And as I talked about before, building the house, you want to see what that picture looks like and how all these pieces come together, and I strongly recommend you want to see what it looks like in an ideal form, because you can always work back from that.
And so it’s like, “Okay, if this is what we want to get to, this is what our product is going to look like in two years, how do we get there?” And what very likely is it’s a team effort and various parts of your organization are going to have to own various parts, and maybe we ship this piece first so that we can study it and learn and make sure that the data is good before we move to the next piece, I’m not suggesting you have to ship the whole thing at once, but that North Star lays out the process in a way that I think allows for big risk taking in a way that is measured and thoughtful and actually also feels like progress as you step towards that versus trying to get their day one and likely end up giving up.
Lenny: I love that, reach for the stars, land on the moon. That could be a metaphor for so many things. Let me try to squeeze in one more tactical tip for people listening. If someone’s hiring a designer, so someone that’s not a designer, just a founder of product team, what should you look for that may be a red flag or something that you want to look for to feel good that they’re going to be a good fit?
Katie Dill: The key, I think, to keep in mind is it’s easier to teach tools and process than it is taste and character, so I would certainly pay a lot of attention to that. Their hit rate for great judgment and great taste, and how they’ve honed that, even if they’re not very experienced, just to see do they have that natural inclination for great things. The other piece of it is that certainly you want to find somebody with great talent, for sure, and high craft, but you…
Katie Dill: Talent, for sure, and high craft, but you also want to find somebody that’s humble. Folks that are really good at what they do aren’t always, but humility is a really important part. I think it’s a really important part for anybody on a team because if you’re working on a team, you need to work together. And it is important that they have that respect and empathy and understanding and enthusiasm for the folks around them, but also the users. Humility means that they’re going to pay more attention to what the users are saying and hopefully be curious about what’s working and what’s not, and strive to navigate these things to make it better. The last piece would just be hustle or chutzpah. I’m not sure exactly what’s the right way to put it, but the design and the creative functions is the act of creation.
And it’s scary. To take a blank piece of paper and propose something that you think is better, is scary. To have the courage to say, “This is not good enough and we should do it again,” is scary. Having somebody that has that courage inside them to fight for great is pretty important. And that hustle to try to execute on that rapidly is, of course, essential as you’re hiring at any stage company.
Lastly, I think you were asking in particular, especially with younger companies or with startups, I think one thing that can be hard, it’s like do you hire a more junior doer or a more senior thinker/operator? It’s like if you had all the money in the world, all of it. But I do think in your early stages you probably do need a doer, but it is important to also have that lens of how do you build an organization that’s user-focused and the way that they operate and the way that they work together, and bringing a strategy that will help to be user-focused from the start. Maybe a great way of doing that is having a more senior leader, design advisor, and then a kind of executor or doer full-time on the team.
Lenny: That’s a really cool tip. On the craft and taste piece, a lot of times people don’t have that themselves necessarily. Any tip for how to measure that? Is there a book you’d recommend or trick? Or is it just trust your judgment and does this feel great to you?
Katie Dill: It’s contingent on what is the thing, what is the user need? Something that is really great, we do a lot of tools that we strive to make them power tools for our users. And a lot of times that means dense information that is still easily accessible, but will definitely feel different than perhaps a consumer product that is meant to be extremely light and sparse and directive to one individual thing at a time. So it really depends on the context of the product sometimes. That’s why it’s hard to kind of quote an individual book. But yeah, I can think on it and we can put it in the show notes. There are definitely books that talk about the principles of great design and we can look at that.
Lenny: Amazing. We’ll link to extra books that come to mind after. One other question I wanted to ask is, what’s a favorite project that y’all have worked on at Stripe?
Katie Dill: Oh yeah, we got a good one that I’m so excited about. First off, I don’t know if everybody knows this, but Stripe prints books. Stripe Press, we print books that are, we consider, ideas of progress. It’s our intention of bringing great ideas out there. Most of them don’t have anything to do with financial infrastructure. It might be any number of interesting problems and opportunities of things and ideas that people have talked about.
Lenny: I have many of them in my background here. I’m a huge fan of Stripe Press.
Katie Dill: Nice. And we take great care to deliver these ideas of progress and books that hopefully feel beautiful. We have a new book coming up that you can pre-order now, and it is Poor Charlie’s Almanac. It’s actually-
Lenny: Already pre-ordered.
Katie Dill: You did? I actually excited to hear that.
Lenny: I’m really excited for it.
Katie Dill: It’s a fascinating book. It’s 20 years old. It’s actually Charlie Munger’s words, but Peter Kaufman, a friend and a colleague of his, assembled all of these documents over the years of things that Charlie had written and said and put it into this kind of anthology. And so this book is really fascinating and it’s not really a linear story so much. We have reprinted this book. We created a teaser site that I strongly recommend you all check out. It’s really, really fun.
Lenny: Oh, man, it’s unreal. I remember when you launched that. I was like, “It just keeps going and gets crazier and wilder and amazing.” I don’t even know how that’s possible on a website.
Katie Dill: It’s pretty awesome. Our website team is… We talked about the importance of design and engineering working super closely together. It’s just like that. That art and science coming together into something that hopefully is fun and engaging and people want to pursue it. So the book will be coming out soon and we’re working on an update to the site that we’re really, really thrilled about, so you can read the book online in a special way. So yeah, very big fan of this.
Lenny: What’s the website for folks? Do you happen to have the URL? Otherwise, we’ll link to it in the show notes for
Katie Dill: The book. Yeah, yeah. It is press.stripe.com will be where you can see all the books that we have at Stripe Press. And I believe the first one in the line… And actually what you’ll see in the website is that we originally had a typical buying model of the squares outlined. One of the things that we sought to do with the website is to consider what would be a great experience for understanding different books. And when you go into a bookstore and you see the spines of the books and you pick them up and you turn them around and you look at them. And so that’s actually what you will… I should stop describing it. Just go and check it out and you’ll see we sought to deliver this work in a way that would be aligned with what a reader would want to pursue.
Lenny: I can’t help but ask, but how did that even come together? Was it just like this passion project of like, “This book’s coming out, I just want to invest a bunch of time resources into this?” Or how does that happen at Stripe?
Katie Dill: Stripe’s mission is to increase the GDP of the internet. We strive to build global economic prosperity because that’s greater access across the globe. But there’s more ways to do that than financial infrastructure. Financial infrastructure is absolutely a major part of that. It is like the lifeblood of businesses, and it enables them to accomplish more. But this notion of ideas of progress is another angle into that. While it might not be our core business, it is very much aligned with our mission. And so yes, it takes time, but we feel that it’s important for what we’re setting out to do. And it also relates to the pursuit of creativity and excellence. It is a part of our identity. It is a part of who we feel we are or we strive to be, and we’re excited to share that with people. It’s in some ways how they get to know us and they get to see the care that we put into any number of things.
Lenny: Katie, is there anything else you want to share or touch on before we get to our very exciting lightning round?
Katie Dill: We talked a little bit about the importance of different disciplines and the importance of quality being a group effort. I hope this doesn’t insult my function, as I say, but at the core, design is simply intention. You’re bringing intentionality to the decisions that you make in thinking about who is this thing for. If you’re designing a doorknob, let’s say, and it’s like, “Does the doorknob speak to whether or not I’m going to push or pull or turn? Is it comfortable in the hand? Is it easy to manufacture? Is it easy to put on and remove?” These are some of the intentional decisions one could make, whether or not they’re a designer, an engineer, the product person, any old function can put that intentionality.
If you think about who is impacted by this, who is using this? And that literally could be anything from designing a doorknob to designing your org structure to designing your strategy. Obviously, great design is also creative, and it also is demonstrated with great taste for what is beauty. Of course, that’s where I would say that design expertise with people that have these creative skills and this great taste is an incredible important thing to bring into the organization. Day one, everybody can bring more care and intentionality, and I think that will result in better outcomes, internally and externally, in the long run.
I think your podcast is a great example of great craft and great quality. I was just saying this to my husband the other day, as I was talking about doing this. It’s just like, your podcasts… There’s more usable learning per minute than most. I don’t know if that’s a metric that you’re measuring, but I love how you don’t have your guests tell about their background. Because when someone tells about their background, that is interesting, but it’s not really usable information. It’s like, “I can take this information and run with it and then bring it to my own team and make my work better.” You have clearly thought about that. Well, I don’t know if that’s why you made that decision.
Lenny: Absolutely. That is exactly [inaudible 01:21:40]
Katie Dill: Okay, great. I also love the way that you set these things up. You had said to me, in the thing that you set me, it’s just like, “If it’s not good, we’re not going to ship it.” And you set it in very nice ways, by the way. But at first I had this like, “Oh gosh, what if it’s not good?” But I also had this moment of like, “Well, that’s pretty great because if it’s not good, he’s not going to embarrass me to the rest of the world, hopefully.” And I love that because that was that courage that I was talking about earlier, too, of that you’re not going to let bad go out, because you know that each one of these little things will end up leading to a belief of the level of quality of what somebody can rely on getting when they listen to your podcast. Again, one workout isn’t going to be a six-pack, but every one of those things will end up leading to better quality overall. I don’t know, kudos to you. You’re nailing it. So great.
Lenny: Katie, what a nice way to end it. I really appreciate that. That’s exactly how I think about it, actually. You cracked my whole strategy of just making it as concretely useful as possible. I was actually on David Perell’s podcast recently and he had this really good way of describing this, which is exactly what I’ve tried to do, but I haven’t put my words into it of make it as useful as possible per minute without removing the humanity. And I realized that’s what I do, is I could cut all the stories of everyone’s backgrounds, but that sucks. It’s optimize for value and concrete, tactical advice, but also make it fun and human and interesting.
So thank you for the kind words. And with that, we’ve reached our very exciting lightning round. I’ve got a number of questions for you. Are you ready?
Katie Dill: I’m ready.
Lenny: Okay, let’s do it. What are two or three books that you’ve recommended most to other people?
Katie Dill: One, How to Win Friends and Influence People. It’s an oldie but a goodie. I forget how many years old it is, but many, many decades. I think it was in the 1930s? The cover is funny. You might be embarrassed to read it on a bus, I don’t know. But the learnings from it are timeless, and I’ve actually read it four times and I can always do for another because it is a great reminder of just how important the way you articulate things are. And not in a negative or gross kind of way, but people care first and foremost about themselves. That’s the body that they’re within, that is the context that they’re within. Recognizing that can be really powerful as you think about leading teams, as you think about working with other people, as you think about being a good spouse, whatever it might be. I’m a big fan of that one.
The other one is a newer book, I think actually still a couple of years old. It’s about the Wright Brothers by David McCullough, I think. I’ve been learning how to fly, and so I’m very obsessed with this, but I think it’s a book that’s relevant to everybody. Especially even entrepreneurs, because it just talks about the impossible challenge of nobody thought it could be done. Even the American Institute of Science didn’t think it could be done. And these individuals that had the resolve and the commitment to make it happen. I think also the power of this beautiful partnership. Of course, they’re brothers. That doesn’t always mean you get along, but they’re brothers and they did, and it’s a beautiful story. Big, big, big fan of that.
And then third book, I would just say is… Actually, I brought it over because I knew you were going to ask me this question. I don’t know if you could read that, but The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse. This book was given to me by Jenny Yarden, which I think you may know. It’s wonderful. It’s a beautiful story. It makes you laugh, it teaches you a thing or two, and one of the best quotes in it is, “One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things.”
Lenny: Very Buddhist.
Katie Dill: Yes.
Lenny: What is a recent favorite movie or TV show that you really enjoyed?
Katie Dill: Oppenheimer was amazing. And TV show? Shrinking. And that one was really good, and it actually really surprised me how funny and positive it was, because the trailer for it does not give that impression. But it was really good.
Lenny: I’ve not seen that. What is a favorite interview question that you like to ask candidates?
Katie Dill: Tell me what work you are most proud of. And the reason I ask that is because it helps me understand their taste and their judgment, what motivates them, what work they view as good and as a good outcome. It also helps me understand a little bit about what they like to do and where their gravity pulls them.
Lenny: Is there a favorite product you recently discovered, be it an app or physical thing? Anything?
Katie Dill: Yeah. As a parent, you should definitely know the Toniebox.
Lenny: Ooh, I don’t don’t know this. The Toniebox?
Katie Dill: It’s so good. The Toniebox. I should have brought it over, too. So it’s like a squishy box, but it’s a speaker. And your kids can control it. And the way they control it is these little figurines. This is also a brilliant product because you want to buy all these figurines. But the little figurines, it could be like Belle from Beauty and the Beast or Elsa from Frozen, and they place the figurine on top and that activates the stories that the thing reads to you or the songs that it plays for you. You can record your own voice so that you’re telling stories to your child. And they control it all by themselves and they can drop it on the floor and it’s all good. But the Toniebox, pretty awesome.
Lenny: I just texted my wife to check this out so I don’t forget. Amazing. Great. Very handy and timely. Do you have a favorite life motto that you’d like to share, come back to, find meaningful?
Katie Dill: I don’t say this out loud, but I’ve had it as a Post-It in my jewelry box and that I see regularly. Tomorrow is today. And what I mean by that is that so often I will in my head be like, “I’ll do that tomorrow. I’ll eat better tomorrow. I’ll think about that vision tomorrow. I’ll communicate better expectations tomorrow.” And it’s like those joke signs that “Free beer tomorrow.” Because very easily, tomorrow just always moves on. And I needed to remind myself that it’s actually, it is now today. Tomorrow is now today.
Lenny: I love that one. I feel like I need to take all these mottoes, which are amazing. I love this question that I just invented. And just put them all on my wall here in this office.
Katie Dill: Yes, that’s a great idea. You should make a book. Book of Lenny Mottoes.
Lenny: Oh, man. The Tribe of Mentors version of Lenny’s podcast.
Katie Dill: That’s awesome.
Lenny: Is there a lesson that your mom or dad taught you that has really stuck with you, especially as a newish parent?
Katie Dill: I think about this a lot. I am a mom of twin girls, and I feel so lucky that my parents raised me to see that accomplishment is based on merit and hard work. They never made me feel like because I was small and that I was not as strong as somebody, whatever it might be, that I wasn’t able. My dad had me chopping wood and mixing cement as a young kid, and that certainly led me in one part to be a designer, but also to be able to pursue leadership. Even though sometimes I’m comfortable willing to be in the room where I am vastly outnumbered by people that don’t look like me or just not letting that hold me back.
And actually, I thought about that the other day because I was riding in a Lyft to the airport. This was also at 4:00 AM, so it was a really hard time to be in a Lyft to gone to the airport. The driver was telling me about his kids, and actually he had twins. It was one boy and one girl, and so we were talking about twins. He’s like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, my girl, she’s my princess. My son doesn’t understand why I don’t let her take out the garbage and why her job is to sweep and that’s his job.” He’s like, “I’m not going to let her take out the garbage.” I was sitting in the back of the car wondering, “Should I tell him, you’re screwing it up?”
Just because she’s a female doesn’t mean that she’s not able to do the jobs, even the hard ones and even the bad ones taking off the trash. I really do think that I’m so fortunate that that was never the way that my parents were looking at it. Now, today, I feel like that is very much a part of a little bit of my chutzpah and willingness to step out there because I hadn’t been held back from those hard jobs earlier.
Lenny: Final question. You mentioned that you fly planes, and this is actually related to my last question. I guess one that I was going to ask if that’s true, you mentioned it is true. Is there a lesson that you’ve taken from learning to fly and flying that you’ve brought into product, leadership, design? Anything come to mind?
Katie Dill: First of all, learning to fly has been such an amazing experience because there haven’t been many things in my adult life where you feel like yourself going from knowing nothing about something and being able to do something, and what an incredible journey that is. Whether it’s learning a language or whatever, that is awesome and highly recommended. But one of the key things that has definitely sat with me from the experience of learning how to fly that I definitely thought about how to bring it into my work is that when I was getting to the stage of being able to do things myself… My instructor is sitting there next to me and usually is right there at the controls with me, so if something goes wrong when I’m flying, he’s right there.
I remember one of the first times when I was learning how to land where he moved his seat back. A lot. And so he was now out of touch with the controls. He could jump there if he needed to, but he really pulled back. And it was such an incredible visceral experience. I was like, “He trusts me. Right now, he is showing his faith in me to take this and take this challenge on.” And I think about that all the time. It’s just like, “How can I show my team, people I work with, my support and trust in them to take that challenge on?” I can’t always move my seat back, but what might be the way? And so that’s been a pretty great example of something I want to pull forward.
Lenny: That is an awesome metaphor. I feel like this whole episode is just full of beautiful metaphors. Also, just full of beauty. Katie, thank you so much for being here. Two final questions. Where can folks find online if they want to reach out and maybe ask some questions? And how can listeners be useful to you?
Katie Dill: First off, please do find me online because, as I talked about, we are in the pursuit of trying to build excellent things and it’s always a work in progress, and so I’m always interested to learn how others do it and see how we can improve our own methods. I am Lil_Dill on Twitter, and then I think that name was taken on Threads, so I’m Lil_Dilly, with a Y, on Threads, and then I’m on LinkedIn and find me there. We’re hiring, so definitely reach out at our job board, too. Stripe.com/jobs. Definitely check us out. We definitely would love to hear from you.
Lenny: Katie. Again, thank you so much for being here.
Katie Dill: Thank you, Lenny.
Lenny: Bye, everyone.
Thank you so much for listening. If you found this valuable, you can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Also, please consider giving us a rating or leaving a review as that really helps other listeners find the podcast. You can find all past episodes or learn more about the show at LennysPodcast.com. See you in the next episode.
Glossary
| English | 中文 |
|---|---|
| 11星体验 | 保留原文说法,即 Brian Chesky 提出的”11-star experience”概念 |
| Brian Chesky | 保留原文(Airbnb 联合创始人兼 CEO) |
| Charlie Munger | 保留原文(美国投资家、伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司副董事长) |
| chutzpah | 胆识、敢闯的劲头 |
| David McCullough | 保留原文(美国历史作家、《莱特兄弟》作者) |
| David Perell | 保留原文(播客主持人、作家) |
| David Singleton | 保留原文(Stripe CTO) |
| friction log | ”摩擦日志”(记录用户体验中障碍的文档) |
| Grand Central | 保留原文(纽约中央车站) |
| intervention | ”干预”(团队集体向管理者表达不满的组织行为) |
| Jenny Yarden | 保留原文(Katie Dill 提到的朋友) |
| Jessica Walsh | 保留原文(设计师,《Beauty》作者) |
| Joebot | 保留原文(Airbnb 员工昵称) |
| Katie Dill | 首次出现,保留原文(Stripe 设计负责人,曾任 Airbnb、Lyft 设计高管) |
| Lenny | 保留原文(播客主持人 Lenny Rachitsky,前 Airbnb 产品经理) |
| Marketplace | 保留原文(Airbnb 内部跨职能团队名称) |
| Penn Station | 保留原文(纽约火车站) |
| Peter Kaufman | 保留原文(《Poor Charlie’s Almanack》编者) |
| Poor Charlie’s Almanack | 保留原文(Charlie Munger 的文集书名) |
| Rick Rubin | 保留原文(美国知名音乐制作人、作家) |
| Robert Henri | 保留原文(美国画家、艺术教育家) |
| ROI(投资回报率) | 首次出现标注”投资回报率”,后续直接使用 ROI |
| Shrinking | 保留原文(Apple TV+ 电视剧) |
| Stefan Sagmeister | 保留原文(设计师,《Beauty》作者) |
| Stripe Press | 保留原文(Stripe 旗下的出版品牌) |
| Thayer | 保留原文(Airbnb 办公地点/房间名) |
| The Bear | 保留原文(电视剧名) |
| Toniebox | 保留原文(儿童音频播放设备) |
| Tribe of Mentors | 保留原文(Tim Ferriss 著作,书名) |
| walk the store | ”走店”(Stripe 内部质量审查机制) |
| Will Gaybrick | 保留原文(Stripe 负责产品和业务的高管) |
| 北极星目标 | 对应原文”North Star”,指引领方向的愿景目标 |
Reformatted by reformat_english.py
与 Stripe 设计负责人一起构建精美产品 | Katie Dill(Stripe、Airbnb、Lyft)
逐字稿
Katie Dill:
在 Google 数字化的书籍中,“美”这个词的使用频率下降了,而且是相当大幅度的下降。这与一种观念相吻合——“功能性才是王道,功能性才是最重要的。“仿佛人们把功能性和美看作两个对立的东西。不,它们并不是对立的。功能性很重要。而实际上,美能增强功能性,因为它确实能让东西更好用、更亲切、更吸引人去使用。
与之相关的另一点,在商业领域不太常被谈及,就是人的感受有多么重要。更美的东西能增加信任感。你看到我们在其中倾注了煞费苦心的细节,看到我们关心某个产品如何运作的细节,这会给你一种信心——我们同样关心那些你看不到的其他细节。
Lenny:
今天的嘉宾是 Katie Dill。Katie 是 Stripe 的设计负责人,负责监管产品设计、品牌与营销创意、网站建设、用户研究、内容策略和设计运营。Katie 此前曾担任 Lyft 的设计负责人,以及 Airbnb 的体验设计负责人。她在三家不同的超高速增长公司中建设和领导设计团队,见证了团队规模至少增长十倍,其中 Airbnb 和 Stripe 是全球最大、增长最快的公司之一,也是设计最优秀的产品。
在我们的对话中,Katie 分享了领导大型设计团队的艰辛与挑战的故事,她为将质量运作化所建立的流程,她如何务实地看待质量与美,设计如何直接推动增长,以及在 Stripe 带来转化率大幅提升的相关案例,还有她用来提升团队绩效的数学公式,她建议如何组织设计和产品团队,招聘设计师时应该看重什么,以及更多内容。我非常幸运能在 Airbnb 工作期间与 Katie 共事,也非常高兴能邀请她来到这个播客。接下来,在简短的赞助商信息之后,为您带来 Katie Dill。
(广告段落已跳过)
Katie,非常感谢你能来。欢迎来到播客。
Katie Dill:
谢谢你邀请我。很高兴来到这里。
Lenny:
这是我的绝对荣幸。在我们为这期播客做准备的时候,你提到了一段你在 Airbnb 时期的经历——设计团队对你发起了一次”干预”,我之前完全不知道这件事。因为我当时也在那里,而且完全不知道发生了这种事。我非常好奇想听这个故事。你能说说发生了什么吗?
Airbnb 设计团队的”干预”事件
Katie Dill:
啊,上来就问轻松的问题,我懂的。好吧。
Lenny:
直奔主题。
Katie Dill:
是的。不,我很乐意谈谈这件事,因为坦率地说,这是我领导生涯中最大的学习经历,或者说至少是在一个瞬间集中发生的那种。事情发生在我在 Airbnb 的早期。我当时的职位是接管设计部门,或者叫体验设计部门。基本上就是产品设计团队,当时有十个人。他们之前直接向其中一位创始人汇报,然后要开始改为向我汇报。
在我面试的过程中,我了解到很多关于哪些方面运作良好、哪些不良好,以及设计部门在与其他团队协作中经历的一些困难和挫折。所以看起来在工程、产品管理和设计三者的协作方式上是有改进空间的。设计团队的敬业度得分也很低。
所以我基本上是准备就绪、满怀热情地进来的,想要根据我从公司各层级领导者和员工那里了解到的各种情况来推动一些改变。我大刀阔斧地进来了,准备大干一场。然后在我入职大约一个月的时候,我的日历上出现了一个会议——周四早上八点半,一个半小时,一半的设计团队参加,也就是五个人,还有我们的人力资源合作伙伴。
Lenny:
哦,不好。
Katie Dill:
通常这不是个好兆头。
Lenny:
这从来都不是好兆头。
Katie Dill:
是的。我对这一幕记得非常清楚。我记得走进办公室——Airbnb 办公室里的所有房间都是非常独特的空间,看起来就像 Airbnb 上的房源一样。但偏偏这一次是那个全白墙壁、只有一张灰色长方形桌子的房间。我走进房间,他们五个人围坐在桌旁。他们面前放着一沓纸,然后他们轮流安静地照着纸念,一条条念出他们看到的我的所有错误,以及他们不喜欢我的所有地方。
Katie Dill:
那真的是一个非常艰难的时刻。我经历了听到反馈时所有常见的那些”悲伤阶段”——第一反应就是想回嘴,想说”对,但那是有原因的”,或者”实际情况不是那样的”,“我当时这么做是因为……”但万幸的是,我还有理智去倾听,而不是那样回应。我的意思是,他们显然是在告诉我,信任是我缺失的东西之一。
所以我认真听完了他们的每一句话,把所有反馈都记在心里。不管每个人具体说了什么,有一点非常清楚——贯穿所有反馈的核心主题是,我没有赢得他们的信任。所以无论我做的事情本身是对是错,关键在于我没有把团队带在身边。他们完全不知道可以相信我正在努力构建和塑造的东西,不知道我在乎他们,不知道我把他们的利益和共同的目标放在心上。而这完全是我的责任。
回想起来,虽然那段经历很痛苦,但我非常感激,也非常佩服他们能够聚在一起把这些话告诉我。像那样把反馈说出口并不容易。所以那是一次极其宝贵的学习经历。我从那之后立刻调整了自己的工作方式。建立信任的关键,就是去倾听——认真听取团队中每个人想做什么、在乎什么、什么在驱动着他们。
于是我开始迅速做出改变,依然朝着组织需要进行的大方向前进,但这次是把大家一起带上。你可以把变化强加于人,但如果你想和他们一起推进,信任就是其中最关键的要素。几个月后,我们团队拿到了全公司最高的员工敬业度评分。
所以客观上情况确实改善了。从那以后,我把这个经验带入了之后加入的其他公司。我的心得是:不要一上来就大刀阔斧,而要先倾听,这样你才能真正推动那些对身边人有积极影响的变化,并把他们一起带上。
设计团队的座位安排
Lenny:
哇,当时我就在那儿。我完全不知道这件事正在发生。你说的是不是那段时期——所有设计师都待在 Thayer 的同一个房间里?
Katie Dill:
在我到之前,我想确实有一种倾向,就是”设计团队就跟设计团队坐在一起,不一定要跟工程师、产品经理等紧密协作”。而我认为打造高效组织的一个必要条件是:首先,一起协作很重要。让工程师、产品经理和设计师坐在一起,有共同的目标,保持一致,能够随时互相看看对方在做什么、讨论问题,这很重要。所以坐在一起是重要的。
不过你提到的 Thayer 那件事,其实是我非常用心推动的一个做法——在一周中多次关键时刻,把设计团队聚在一起,建立设计团队的内部社区。就像 Airbnb 的 Joebot 曾经说的:“你穿哪件 T 恤?你是哪个团队的?“我当时说:“你有两件 T 恤。一件是设计团队的 T 恤,另一件是你所在的跨职能团队的 T 恤,比如 Marketplace 团队。因为这两个社区都很重要,只是各自的原因略有不同。“所以没错,Thayer 是一个很好的据点。
设计投资回报率的论证
Lenny:
跳出来看,我觉得设计领域一直有一个绕不开的问题——大多数 PM、大多数创始人,在理性上都能理解设计的价值,理解高质量的价值。但在日常决策中,它往往不会被优先对待,排在新功能、新产品发布之后,部分原因就是 ROI(投资回报率)非常不清晰。
如果我们再花一个月时间,在设计上、体验上把它做得更出色、更惊艳,这能给我们带来什么?显然,在 Airbnb,设计是被高度重视的。在 Stripe,从外人的角度看,显然也是如此。我很好奇你学到了什么关于如何论证设计 ROI 的经验,以及 Stripe、Airbnb 和 Lyft 是怎么做的。
Katie Dill:
这是个好问题,我觉得这是一个由来已久的问题,可能永远不会消失,也许是因为质量标准一直在演进、不断提高。但在深入讨论之前,我想先建立一个基准——我会说质量是分层级的。最基本的是:这个东西能不能用?能不能实现某种价值主张?能不能完成它的本职工作?这是基础的质量。
再往上一层:它是否做得非常出色?是否没有错误?其实也许”没有错误”还算不上非常出色,只是不出错、各方面都能正常运转。然后在此基础上,第三层、第四层、第五层——它是否超出了预期,做到了用户甚至没有期望过的事情?我确实认为质量层级应该基于用户期望来划分。我不认为存在哪个领域是天生不在乎质量的。
我觉得更多的是关于优先级的问题,就像你刚才说的——把某个东西做到非常出色到底值不值得,还是说不如再加一个新功能?追求新功能的诱惑总是很大,而不愿把现有功能打磨到真正优秀的水平。这确实很难。我能理解,当你看着用户群体,所有人都在高呼要求某个新功能的时候,你当然会优先去做那个,而不是去做他们从没要求过的东西。另一方面,你会面临这样一种情况:在产品下一步发展中有三件可能做的事,其中两件你能衡量效果,而且能直接对标业务目标,而另一件你没法衡量。
当然,去追那些能衡量、能确定效果的事情会更有吸引力。但那些深知质量不可妥协的公司——质量是他们所构建产品的长期必要组成部分——不会玩这种数字游戏。或者说,他们认识到功能固然重要,但这些功能的质量——真正带来出色的可用性和产品的吸引力——才是关键。
其实我觉得这有点像去健身房或锻炼的类比。我不知道你们怎么样,但几乎每次我想去锻炼的时候,脑子里都会有一场斗争:“啊,今天真的需要锻炼吗?就这一天能练出六块腹肌吗?""当然不能。""那干嘛去?今天不去又怎样?“但当然,希望到某个时刻我会意识到:“如果今天跳过了,那明天跳过又有什么理由不呢?”
真正相信这些日积月累的努力最终会带来更好的结果——更长久、更健康的生活——所以我希望能说服自己去健身房。我认为世界上一些最优秀的公司就是这样的思维方式。我承认客户并不总是直接要求高质量。我的意思是,你可能会在客服工单里看到一些线索——比如用户显然不知道怎么使用某个下一步操作,那很可能是一个质量问题,只是他们可能以要求改进功能的形式来表达。
质量即增长
Katie Dill: 但质量的一些更高层次——第二层、第三层、第四层——你可能不会收到直接的需求。不过我可以再给你一个类比。如果你没有竞争对手,那没关系,对吧?想想第一辆汽车,我敢说那个方向盘一定很沉,座椅一定不太舒服,你想要什么颜色都可以——只要它是黑色的,对吧?但那时候没有竞争,竞争对手是马,所以没什么大不了。而今天的汽车,讲究的是缝线工艺、皮革的选择、车门关上的声音。
这些细节把一辆”还行的车”和一辆高端的、更有价值的特别之车区分开来。这正源于对细节重要性的深刻理解,以及对质量的精益求精能把产品带到下一个层次。最后我想说,我知道有一种说法叫”增长与质量的两难”,但质量就是增长。如果你想想如何让产品更容易使用、更容易理解,那自然会驱动更多人去使用它、更多地使用它,并拥有更好的体验,进而愿意与他人分享。
事实上,在 Stripe,我们的增长团队几乎是在偏执地专注于打造更好的体验,因为我们看到这与业务指标直接挂钩。比如我们在入驻流程中做了一些改进,让产品更容易理解,让用户清楚不同使用场景下产品如何运作,结果我们看到激活率提升了——正是这些质量改进直接推动了增长。
结账体验的质量提升
我见过的质量带来商业影响最显著的例子之一,其实就在结账体验上。我们对一些顶级电商网站的结账体验做了研究,发现 99% 的顶级电商网站在结账流程中存在错误,这些错误实际上阻碍了更高效、更顺畅、更快捷的结账,也因此降低了客户转化率。这些小问题,说到底就是质量问题。关键在于,如果你真正理解消费者想从这段体验中获得什么,你就能把它做得更好。所以我们多年来一直在偏执地专注于此,努力让结账体验对企业及其消费者都好得多。通过大大小小的细节来提升结账体验的质量,我们看到从旧版结账到新版结账,企业的收入提升了 10.5%。这些细微之处叠加在一起,就能对收入产生如此实质性的影响。
Lenny: 你在录制前提到了这个,你们为一些很大的网站提供结账流程。你能提几个吗?因为这会让大家有一种”天哪”的感觉。
Katie Dill: 当然。Stripe 服务于全球数百万企业,大大小小都有——从早期创业公司,到中小企业,再到像 Amazon、Hertz、Shopify、Spotify、X 这样的大型组织和企业。我相信你也在用 X。我们的工作范围很广。我们有结账流程,就是当用户在线上或线下付款时的那个环节;我们也提供一整套金融自动化工具,让你可以管理订阅业务、确认收入、处理税务,本质上是通过强大的工具来管理金融领域的复杂性,让工作更轻松,不必为这些细节操心。
Lenny: 我想沿着这条线再追问一下。你谈到从设计视角去改善结账流程的机会。但从产品经理的角度来想,可能会说:“哇,把所有用户卡住的地方找出来,全部修掉。“从质量设计视角看待这件事,和”我们来推动这个指标,找出所有阻碍用户的东西”,你看到的方式有什么不同?设计师的视角是什么?这里面有什么区别吗?
设计师的视角
Katie Dill: 说实话,我有一个不太喜欢的方式,就是把事情分成”业务目标”和”设计目标”来讨论。因为我觉得,大家首先应该讨论的是”我们到底想构建什么?“我相信那些想要创造真正有影响力的产品的人,他们想要创造高质量的产品,想要创造出真正以积极有益的方式服务客户的产品——因为他们知道,这样才能在长期建立一个更强大的业务。
当然,在整个过程中,优先级的细节可能会有所不同。设计师可能更关注情感体验,关注一个人的感受——因为这往往是他们的思维方式和关注重点,而这确实是一个重要的视角。而另一些人可能会说:“把按钮做大一点,点击次数就多了,这就是我们要的结果。”
所以我之前谈到跨学科团队紧密协作如此重要——因为有时候我们是对话中的制衡力量。但我确实认为,如果我们能在”我们到底要构建什么”上达成共识——我们是否要构建一个卓越的产品——那么我们就能认识到,不仅仅是功能性(utility)是其中极其重要的部分,易用性(usability)和吸引力(desirability)同样重要,因为这些东西结合在一起,才能真正造就卓越的产品。所以美是一个重要的组成部分,因为它确实能让东西更好用,确实能让东西更易获得。这些要素结合在一起,你就能构建出更好的产品。我觉得如果只有美本身,或者只有工艺本身,而缺乏功能性——那就好比 Blu-ray 或者 PATH,对吧?那不会带来高质量的产品。所以这是这些要素的结合,是朝着那个方向一步步迈进。
但如果你真的希望你的产品、你的那些功能被充分利用,真正赢得尊重和持续使用,那就需要把它带到下一个层次——去思考”我如何让这变成一种令人愉悦的使用体验,让它真正感觉是为我量身定做的,符合我的心智模型”——那种对细节执行的工艺和质量将是至关重要的。
什么是好的设计?什么是美?
Lenny: 你提到了”美”这个词,我想就此追问一下——这是一个大问题——到底什么是好的设计?什么是美?有没有一个客观的定义?当一个设计师说”这是好的设计”的时候,是不是存在一种大家公认的”是的,确实如此”?还是说这只是一个见仁见智的看法?你怎么看待什么是好的设计,什么是美,Katie Dill?
Katie Dill: 我很高兴我们在聊这个话题,因为我猜可能有些听众正坐在椅子上坐立不安——“美?我们在谈商业呢。“这很好。其实有一个有趣的事实:Stefan Sagmeister 和 Jessica Walsh 有一本书叫《Beauty》(美),我强烈推荐,非常值得一读。他们在书中最先提到的一点是,从 1800 年代到 2000 年代,在 Google 数字化的书籍中,“beauty”这个词的使用频率出现了相当显著的下降。
这呼应了一种观念,即”功能性才是王道,功能性才是一切”,仿佛人们把功能性和美当作两个对立面。但这本书的核心观点恰恰是——不,它们并不对立。功能性当然重要,而美实际上会增强功能性,因为它让产品更容易上手、更平易近人、更吸引人使用。而且,美是否能提升体验,其实在某种程度上是有客观标准的。
但如果你去问一大群人更喜欢哪个颜色、更喜欢哪个版本,他们的回答往往趋于一致,因为人们确实存在一种共通的审美认知。另一个方面——我可以想象这在商业语境中不太常被提及——就是人的感受有多么重要。《美》这本书里举了一个很好的例子,说明事物的外观和结构如何影响人的感受:他们研究了人们途经 Penn Station 和 Grand Central 时发出的推文。
如果你去过这两个地方,一定知道我要说什么——从 Penn Station 发推文的人,情绪明显比从 Grand Central 发推文的人更消极,后者往往更加积极乐观。所以你创造的东西会产生这样的影响。如果你想的是——
Katie Dill: ——会有这种影响。如果你在想,“我希望人们喜欢使用我的产品,我希望他们在我们的产品中感到自在”,那美当然是其中的一部分,这对我们来说至关重要。我知道,作为一家 B2B 领域的金融基础设施公司,有些人可能会觉得这一点没那么重要,但实际上它是我们的核心优先事项。原因之一,更美的东西能增加信任感。你看到我们在细节上倾注了大量心血,你对运作方式精雕细琢,这让你相信我们在你看不见的地方同样一丝不苟。
第二个原因,正如我提到的,更美意味着更好用,能带来更好的用户结果。我们想做的,是帮助企业做出正确的决策,让他们在所做的事情上更加成功。当我们的界面、我们的账单,或者任何其他东西变得更加美观、更易用、更值得信赖时,就能引导他们获得更好的结果。第三,我坚信美会产生美。当我们的企业用户或消费者看到我们在交付的产品中所投入的美、用心和创造力,这会再次让他们确信我们的用心。事实上,有一个完美的例子——你看过《The Bear》这部剧吗?
Lenny: 看过,很好的例子。
Katie Dill: 好的。不剧透,我只想说——剥蘑菇。你懂我的意思吧?
Lenny: 懂。
Katie Dill: 太好的例子了。太好的例子了。
Lenny: 最近有期播客里也有人提到了同一集。
Katie Dill: 是吗,那确实是好,确实是好。我希望能记得是哪一集,好像是第七集?我忘了。总之。
Lenny: 没错,就是那样。
Katie Dill: 太好了。最后一点,品质关乎自豪感,美关乎自豪感。如果我们把这种用心投入工作,就会有更多人愿意与我们合作,因为他们希望自己的时间和匠心被看见、被认可,看到它们被汇聚成真正有影响力的成果。我们确实把品质放在至高无上的位置,因为我们知道它对我们的用户有多重要,对与我们共事的人也有多重要。美是这一切中不可或缺的部分。
Stripe 网站的设计与重构
Lenny: 太棒了。说到美,当我想到 Stripe 和美这两个词时,我想到的是你们的网站,还有你们的一些落地页,真的是极其出色。我很好奇你们如何决定是时候重新设计网站了,以及你们在新网站上投入了多少时间和思考。因为这似乎是创始人常有的疑问——“我们该重做网站吗?“而且感觉你们确实在这方面思考得很深入。所以,这方面你有什么可以分享的吗?
Katie Dill: 有的,在如何让品质落地运转方面,确实有几件事可以聊。因为重力的方向永远朝向平庸。人很容易滑入一条只是及格的路径,而要达到那种真正让人觉得出色的水平,显然需要大量的努力,而且是持续不断的努力。我必须说,我们仍在不断完善中,并没有把所有事情都做到完美,这是一场持续的追求卓越的过程。
我们构建网站的方式是,我们对展示给世界的东西确实倾注了大量心血,我们将其视为我们对用户关照的一种表达——关乎我们为他们提供的一切。所以我们对此非常认真。我们试图将艺术与科学融合。既有作品的创造力,也有呈现方式上的技术力量。
我们具体如何让这一切运转起来呢?设计、工程、产品合作伙伴和产品营销紧密协作。实际上,这是为数不多的几个团队之一,所有这些职能——不是全部,但大部分——都汇报到同一个地方。所以,工程师和设计师在做网站时实际上都汇报到设计组织。他们真正坐在一起——就像我们之前说的,如果我们在同一个办公室,他们就是肩并肩坐着——来回碰撞创意,因为团队里的工程师可能有一个很好的想法来实现某个效果,设计师又有另一个想法把它再推进一步。这种快速迭代的循环非常强大,尤其是当我们需要在极高标准下快速推进的时候。
Lenny: 非常有意思。你还发现有什么对让好的设计、工艺、美真正落地运转特别有帮助的东西吗?任何流程、系统、框架?
Katie Dill: 有的,我很想跟你分享一个我们最近刚推出的东西,我对它带来的正面影响感到非常兴奋。
Lenny: 太好了。
向其他设计领导者取经
Katie Dill: 但在讲这个之前,推动这个流程的一部分动因,以及我一直思考如何能在 Stripe 打造更好产品的方式,其实是我一直在跟不同的人交流——跟不同组织的设计负责人、产品负责人、工程负责人交谈,试图理解他们是怎么做的。其中有几个主题反复浮现。
质量是集体之功
Katie Dill: 第一,质量绝对是集体之功。如果你觉得只要招到某个天赋异禀的人就行了,他一个人搞定一切,其他人该干嘛干嘛,那你就完蛋了。或者你以为靠某一个部门来把关质量、靠 QA 帮你兜底就行,那也行不通。这必须是整个组织、全团队共同的努力。你内部运作的方式,最终会外化呈现出来——你们内部的沟通有多清晰、制定的标准有多高、在内部沟通中不断提醒团队坚持的那些要求,最终都会体现在外部产品上。所以当然,保持高水准的人才门槛,然后思考如何真正用心地呵护这些事情——让整个组织形成这种共同的责任感,这是第一点。
愿景与对齐
第二,需要一定程度的愿景和对齐。如果你把全世界最优秀的人才都招来,然后放手让他们各干各的,他们最终做出高度一致的东西的概率有多大?即使他们每个人都品位极高、业务精湛,每一个决策在某种程度上都存在主观性。所以他们可能各自做出了一些非常出色的东西,但拼到一起却无法成为一个协调的整体。
最典型的例子就是盖房子。有负责屋顶的人、负责露台的人、负责外墙的人,等等等等。房子可以说比我们熟知的大多数技术产品简单得多。然而,人们会花大量心血绘制蓝图,画出最终成品的图纸。有总承包商,有建筑师。这些人负责确保所有部分严丝合缝地拼在一起。我们在协作构建产品时,也应当倾注同等的心力。
编辑的角色
我认为与此紧密相关的是下一个要素——编辑。你可以把它理解为总承包商,或者建筑师,或者某个能洞察所有部分如何协同的人,然后有能力帮助收缩、精简、去掉那些不合拍的东西。在 Airbnb,Brian Chesky 就是所有内容的总编辑。在《经济学人》,有一位主编。其他组织可能会把这种职能分散化,这当然也可以,但挑战很大,因为你确实需要有人来审视全局、确保各部分融为一体。
说”不”的勇气
与此相配的下一个要素是勇气——能够真正说出”不行,这还不够好”的能力。有决心说”差一点,但不行”。我认为这是领导者最难做出的决定之一,当然也是我职业生涯中不得不做的最艰难的决定——一个团队倾注了全部心血和努力做出一个东西,然后你要说:“抱歉,我们还没到位,再来一次。“我认为这是达成卓越、锻造产品品质过程中极其重要的一环。
从用户视角理解质量
最后,我所学到的——这也将引向你刚才问到的那个案例——是,要打造高质量产品,你确实需要从用户的角度来理解质量。这就引出了我对”旅程”(journey)的执念,因为那就是用户看待产品的方式。用户极少数情况下只会孤立地接触你构建的某一个环节。一定有他们了解产品的时刻,有他们逐步熟悉产品的时刻,然后有真正决定使用的时刻,再然后某个变化发生了,他们需要以另一种方式使用这个产品。你必须从那个视角去理解,才能真正判断质量是否达标。我认为这是培养团队对用户产生同理心的关键所在。
“走店”机制:15 条核心用户旅程
所以,我们一直在将这些理念落地执行。我刚才提到的所有要点都在推进,其中一个关键部分就是把这种思维方式引入到产品质量的理解中。我们的目标是解决一个问题:产品发布时可以处于巅峰状态,经过了内部所有流程的打磨,成为高质量的产品,但进入真实世界后,随着时间的推移,质量会回退。部分原因在于其他产品在不断上线。这又回到了房子的比喻——想象一个房间你重新做了线脚、刷了细节、换了灯具面板,这个房间焕然一新,但反而衬托得其他空间更显破旧,整体观感反而更差了。
产品也会出现这种情况,实际上它们会随时间推移而变差。而公司往往按业务板块来组织团队,使其能聚焦于各自的关键领域。这本身是好事,因为团队获得了专注,知道自己要构建什么,积累了专业能力,目标明确。理想状态下,他们推进得更快。但与此同时,他们过于聚焦自己的那一块,反而忽略了那段旅程、忽略了各部分如何衔接,没有意识到自己的产品体验与另一个团队的产品体验紧密相连。
所以我们采取的行动是,首先,提升领导者对各自旅程的意识和责任担当。我们确立了 15 条最重要的用户旅程。15 这个数字多少有些随意——它是我们能跟踪管理的数量,同时也有不错的覆盖面,但当然并不能涵盖所有重要事项。但这是 15 条关键用户旅程——那些我们深知对用户意义重大的体验,我们必须以最高质量标准来交付。
这 15 条旅程每一条都有工程、产品和设计负责人共同负责其质量。他们定期审查这些旅程,用我们称之为”走店”(walk the store)的方式——就像巡视自己店铺的卖场一样——以固定节奏进行审视,并对体验进行”摩擦日志”(friction log)记录。我知道 David Singleton 在你的播客里也谈到过这个做法。他们会写下自己的所见所闻,什么好用、什么不好用。他们尽量把自己代入用户的视角。当然这不替代用户研究,但它是一种补充和增益。
所以他们完整走一遍体验,记录下哪里顺畅、哪里不顺畅。非常关键的一点是,这是一段旅程——很多时候起点是网络搜索,从 Google 上试图了解某个东西开始,然后进入官网,再到文档页面,再到控制台(dashboard),他们是以用户可能的路径来体验的。通过这种方式,他们能发现体验中那些可能存在问题或运行良好的环节。他们记录下来,提交 bug,联系负责该体验不同部分的团队,然后进行评分。然后,同样以固定节奏,我们汇聚一堂,几乎像一次校准会议,一起讨论各项工作的评分。
质量校准机制
Katie Dill: 这和绩效评估有些类似。绩效评估中,管理者需要评估个人的表现,这本身就很困难。其中不可避免地会有主观性,就像理解质量一样也会带有主观成分。但我们作为管理者会做的是进行校准。我们会聚在一起讨论:“好,我们对职级标准文档的理解是否一致?员工的表现与标准的对应关系如何?我们在整个组织内的执行是否统一?“所以,我们做了非常类似的事情。我们对这些评分进行校准,因为我们真正想做的,不仅仅是这 15 条关键旅程及其负责人层面的提升,我们希望在全公司范围内拉高水准,建立对质量标准更广泛的共识。这些校准会议就是一个起点。然后,由领导者来做这件事,一方面会向下传递”拥有自己旅程”这一理念的重要性,另一方面也会产生上游的影响。
因为当人们以用户的身份去审视产品在真实环境中的状态时,他们会发现很多关于如何让产品变得更好的重大机会,也会意识到我们在流程中可能需要做哪些调整,以确保交付到用户手中的东西质量更高。其中一个最棒的收获是,自那以后团队成员发现,比如”天哪,我们这个产品的 SEO 优化,或者我们对它的表述方式,与用户在后续旅程中实际需要理解的内容并不一致。如果我们在这里做出改进,后面环节的效果也会随之提升。“他们看到了这些关联,现在能够更快地推动相关改动。
而我真正最喜欢的部分是,我们听到一些最初觉得这事没必要的人——一些不同职能的同事——也说:“我之前太专注于自己手头工作的技术执行,从来没有从这个角度来看过。“现在他们反而成了这个做法的拥护者:“是的,这确实是产品工作中非常重要的一部分。“这又回到了那个观点——质量是集体努力的结果。你不希望只有一个职能在关注产品质量。让工程师、产品经理和不同专业背景的人一起走店,亲身体验、亲身感受,我认为会让每个细节都得到更好的关照,最终带来更精良的工艺水准。
Lenny: 天哪,真是一个很棒的流程。我有无数个问题想问,想更好地了解你们是怎么把这件事落地的。我尽量只问几个。但这个流程中有一点让我印象深刻——我觉得人们在审视自己的产品时往往不太相信自己的判断。尤其是产品经理,他们几乎觉得必须依赖用户研究或数据才能得出一个结论,而不是说”我就是看到这个东西,感觉它不好用”。随着时间的推移,我越来越觉得你应该真正相信自己的感觉,因为你在花精力尝试使用这个产品,你和潜在用户其实没有本质区别。所以我很欣赏这个做法实际上依赖的是你的个人判断,而这种判断的价值常常被人们低估。
Katie Dill: 没错。
Lenny: 几个非常实操性的问题——这大概多久做一次?是每季度一次吗?
一手体验与用户研究的关系
Katie Dill: 关于你说的第一点,我完全同意——它们都只是不同形式的输入。我绝对不是说用这个替代用户研究,或者替代数据。而是在这些之外再做这一层补充。我确实认为亲身去做这件事之所以如此有力量,是因为——虽然我是用户研究最大的支持者——但哪怕只是听别人讲述一段体验,虽然那也确实非常、非常有价值,亲身感受到那种痛苦却是另一种层次的切身体会:“哦,这个地方确实可以更好。“用户不一定总能说出缺了什么、哪里不对,或者他们也许根本不知道某些方面其实可以做得更好。所以,在用户研究和直接来自用户的反馈之外,拥有你自己的观点和判断,是非常非常重要的。
关于你问的频率——正如我之前提到的,我们一直在审视自己的流程,不断思考如何随着组织成长来让这些流程变得越来越好。我们目前是按季度来做。季度性的走店并不意味着人们只在那个时间才做这件事。但那个时间点是我们要求更新评分卡、把信息汇总到仪表盘上让所有人都能看到的节点。目前的节奏感觉是合适的——这个时间间隔足够长,可以看到实质性的改进,可以看到评分随时间演变;同时又足够频繁,不至于错过期间可能出现的退步。当然,我真正的期望是走店这件事每周都在发生,只是可能发生在组织的不同角落。
如何在家复刻这一流程
Lenny: 我想再问几个问题,好让大家可以在自己团队里尝试这个做法。我刚才在想,这档播客简直就是在鼓励大家”在家试试看”。
Katie Dill: 试试看吧。
Lenny: 对。所以我想尽量多回答一些大家在尝试时可能会遇到的问题。这些会议都谁参加?你会参与走店吗?David 会参与吗?这方面你有什么建议?
Katie Dill: 对于每个团队来说,他们自己一起做。最起码,工程师、产品经理和设计师应该一起做。我们之所以希望看到大家一起完成,原因还是我们之前说过的——不同的人会带来不同的视角。比如说,房间里可能有人会说:“天哪,那个加载速度感觉不太好。“然后另一个人说:“哇,我们每页的表述方式不一致,而且这不在我们的设计系统中。”
所以让大家聚在一起做这件事真的很有价值。事实上,你提到的 David Singleton,他和我也经常做这件事。这是在关键旅程项目之外的——他和我会走店,随机挑选一些流程,一起走一遍。我不会写代码,但他会。所以由他来做代码层面的部分,我坐在旁边说:“什么?他们真的要这样做吗?我们怎么才能让他们的体验更好?”
我非常推崇这种跨学科的方式。然后,当团队完成了走店,形成了自己的看法,并根据我们的质量评分标准填写了评分卡之后,我们会聚在一起召开我们称之为 PQR(产品质量评审)的会议。他们会向我们展示他们的体验,然后讨论:“所以我们给了这个黄色评分,或者黄绿色评分。“然后我们可能会就此展开讨论。
比如说:“嗯,其实那比你描述的还要糟糕一些。我觉得我们需要在解决这个问题上投入更多的紧迫感。“或者在某些情况下是:“实际上那已经相当不错了。想想我们在这个环节要帮助用户达成什么目标,它确实命中了靶心。“
PQR 会议的跨学科讨论
Katie Dill: 我们会在那些会议上就此展开辩论。参加这些会议的有我自己、David Singleton、负责产品和业务的 Will Gaybrick,以及与该领域相关的各个业务负责人。我们试图让大家了解全局的进展。同样,这是一个多学科的会议室。我会尽量控制人数不要太多,因为显然人太多很难展开讨论,但确保我们在讨论质量标准时,房间里同时拥有产品营销的视角、工程团队的视角、预期产品的视角,这一点非常重要。
Lenny: 明白了。关于评分,你们是对旅程中的每个步骤单独评分,还是按段落给黄色评级?具体是怎么评分的?
评分体系的设计
Katie Dill: 评分标准的设计是这样的——我们有摩擦日志的模板。大家填写摩擦日志,里面会有截图以及他们的体验描述。然后有一个工具可以对每个节点打标签。比如:“哦,这个细节不错。“或者,“嗯,这个不太好,我们应该考虑修复。“或者不同严重程度的标注,比如:“天哪,P0 级 bug,我们需要立刻修复这个。“所以他们会在旅程的不同节点打上标签。
然后在最后有一个总结评分,基于我们制定的一套评分标准,从可用性、实用性、吸引力,一直到”令人惊喜的出色”这个更高层次来衡量质量的重要性。然后我们请他们对这些维度进行整体评分。这些分数汇总成一个总结评分。我们也讨论过不同的评分方式——是基于数字的系统?还是基于字母的系统?比如 A 减、B 之类的?
Lenny: [听不清]。
Katie Dill: 对。目前我们采用了颜色系统,因为说实话,我觉得人们有时会在如何精确度量上纠结不休,而且正如你所说,尤其是在主观判断的事物上,很容易陷入”它到底是六分还是七分”这种争论。我们不想让大家过于担心怎么精确打分——这不是一个客观的量化分数。它是定性的,是基于判断的。我们雇佣员工就是为了他们的判断力,所以我们希望他们把这种判断力带入讨论中。这就是我们选择这种评分方式的原因,因为我们觉得这样能让大家更快、更直接地表达意见和做出决策。
质量反馈如何落地执行
Lenny: 在很多公司,创始人做这类评审时会指出一堆问题:“哦,这里坏了,那里有问题。“而作为产品团队,你会想:“天哪,我们有目标要完成,有路线图要走,现在又要面对创始人提出的一百个’必须修复’的东西。“我很好奇,你是怎么告诉团队把这些反馈和其他待办事项一起排列优先级的?是完全由他们自己决定什么”需要修复”吗?这方面有什么可以分享的——就是如何真正把这些反馈落实成行动?
Katie Dill: 是的。我见过一些组织在做规划时会这样建议——无论你是按季度、半年还是年度做 OKR,都会推荐比如 10% 的时间用来修复问题,20% 用来增长,其余用来维持日常运转之类的。是的,我见过不同的公司基于一定比例来制定团队时间分配的建议。
在 Stripe,我们首先认为最重要的是:第一,确保招聘时就看重员工有出色的判断力,并且关心自己构建的东西,以此为荣。这是第一位的。然后,基于他们对打造优秀产品的这份承诺,你可以给予他们充分的信任,相信他们在决策中会运用这种判断力。当然,这一点也需要在公司最高层面得到明确的倡导。
有了最高层面的倡导,我认为这会影响大家在制定计划时的思考方式,而且计划本身也有迭代的过程,我们确实是由多学科背景的人一起制定计划的。所以会说:“好的,我们要推进这些功能吗?要做增长方面的建设吗?同时质量也在提升吗?“我认为这就是我们共同达成目标的方式,但我们并没有要求团队遵循某个固定公式。
Lenny: 所以我听下来基本上就是——这是一种文化层面的东西,大家在招聘时就带着这样的预期:我们要关注质量,会优先处理那些事情,即使它们可能不会直接拉动指标,因为我们知道这总体上会改善业务、推动增长。
Katie Dill: 不过其中一部分是要展示质量改进如何推动指标,因为我认为有一种危险的观念确实存在——正如我们之前讨论过的——即认为质量改进真的能促进增长、改善营收底线。但实际上,质量改进确实能促进增长,确实能改善盈利。举个例子,我们发现用户因为不了解自己某张发票的执行状态而联系客服。我们深入调查后发现,原因是我们有一个按钮看起来不错,但不够清晰,所以用户不知道如何访问他们想要的功能。于是我们改善了这一点,减少了用户不得不主动联系客服的情况——显然,用户也不想为了找到问题的答案而打电话求助。通过这个改进,我们提升了用户体验,同时也改善了营收底线,这是理所当然的。
所以我实际上认为,也许组织可以考虑做的一步就是——收集那些案例,每家公司都有,就是质量提升带来更好业务成果的案例——然后把这些案例拿出来讨论、让大家知道。因为我认为有一种错误的二分法观念:“要么做质量,但它不拉动指标;要么做别的事。“而实际上并不是非此即彼。有些影响是长期的,所以你需要放长线去看客户信念的变化、他们分享产品的频率、或者他们成功完成目标的频率。但也有些是短期就能看到的成效,这是大家需要意识到的重要一点,因为这会给他们启发:哦,我们团队也可以这样做,我们可以在提升产品质量的同时真正推动业务指标。
质量与绩效评估的关联
Lenny: 在评估团队绩效方面,你们有没有什么做法来帮助优先考虑这类事情?通常来说就是——这个团队把某个指标提升了很多,干得不错。你们在 Stripe 有没有在绩效评估中加入什么内容,尤其是针对产品团队,帮助他们理解和优先处理那些可能不那么明显能拉动指标的事项,而不仅仅是笼统地相信”优秀体验会促进增长”?
Katie Dill: 我认为一部分在于明确”影响力”到底意味着什么,因为确实有些公司把影响力简单等同于——你推动了什么业务指标、推动了多少。而实际上,有些非常重要的影响力项目可能是跨季度、跨年的,所以也许你在一个季度内并没有推动那个极其重要的业务指标,但你正在做的工作对公司的成功至关重要。这是一方面。另一方面,正如你所说,有些质量方面的努力可能更难衡量,或者见效周期更长,但它们同样有影响力。所以我认为第一点是,当你思考如何制定绩效评估标准时,关键是深入厘清”影响力”到底意味着什么——由此出发,很多事情会随之清晰。你就能够去认可和表彰那些优秀的成果,即使它们未必在数字上有明显的提升。
另一个方面是我们有一套职级体系(ladder system)。这是一份文档,目的不是列出一张清单——“你需要做的所有事情”,而是一份指南,说明在这个角色、这个层级上对你的期望是什么。在这些文档中,我们谈到了质量的重要性——我们追求的是打造真正优秀的产品。与此相关的还有我们的运营原则(operating principles),这是我们所有职级体系之下共同对齐的基础。我们的运营原则中包含了”精工细作”(meticulous craft)。这是我们作为组织非常重视的一点——对所做的一切都保持那种一丝不苟的态度,无论你是在设计我们工作的空间,还是在创建 API,或是在构建界面,又或是在接听客户支持电话,“精工细作”是对每个人的实际期望。
Lenny: 接下来我想换个话题,这也是我想花些时间聊的最后一个领域——团队建设与领导力。你曾在三家高速增长的公司领导设计,其中 Airbnb 和 Stripe 是全球最大的公司之一,同时也以出色的设计著称。我想问一个宽泛的问题:在建设、领导、管理、扩展大型团队方面,你学到了什么?有什么经验教训一直伴随着你?当我问这个宽泛的问题时,你脑海中浮现了什么?
团队管理的核心公式
Katie Dill: 在领导岗位的种种考验和曲折中,有一件事一直伴随着我——正如我在这次通话一开始就跟你讲的,我并非总是做对了——但在思考如何发展和领导团队时,有一个让我思路变得清晰的东西,其实是我在 Airbnb 和你一起工作时学到的,可以说是一个公式:绩效 = 潜力 − 干扰。
Lenny: 我很喜欢这个。
Katie Dill: 我真的很喜欢这个公式,它很简单,但是一个很好的提醒:作为领导者,你当然在追求更好的绩效,让你的团队感受到更多目标感和动力,对工作充满热情,为客户打造更好的产品,产生更大的业务影响——当然,还有绩效本身。但其中的关键要素,首先是潜力——思考如何提升潜力,当然包括招聘非常优秀的人、培养人才、帮助他们成长、提升他们自身的能力去做更大更好的事情。而与之配套的,当然就是减少干扰——干扰可能像一块沉重的铅块压在优秀人才身上。因为你可以招募世界上最好的人,但就像打石膏后萎缩的肌肉一样,如果有干扰在阻碍他们做出优秀的工作,他们就会倦怠,不会享受这份工作,不会那么成功,你也无法从他们身上获得那么强的绩效。
所以我确实一直在不断思考这个问题——如何提升潜力、如何减少干扰?而且随着时间推移,尤其是公司规模扩大后,你需要持续做这件事。设计一个团队的工作永远不会完成,因为你带的人越多,你的流程就越容易出现问题。我有意让团队运行到一种”过热”的状态——就是”好吧,我们的流程已经跟不上发展了”——这没关系,因为这样你就可以去观察:人们实际上是怎么在尝试工作的,我们可以怎样真正改进。所以根据需要做出这些调整,能让改进后的流程更被需要、更有依据。
提升组织内的信息透明度
从在 Airbnb 工作以来,我一直在推进的一个理念是——提高对正在发生之事的知晓度。很多公司在成长过程中都会出现一个问题:人们逐渐与组织中其他部门正在做的事情失去联系。每个人都有自己的文档,比如 PRD,写下了自己做了什么,里面满是大量文字和各种关键词,但没人真正理解——这并不是带来清晰度的最佳方式。我坚信”一图胜千言,一个原型省千场会议”。我们的做法——过去十多年我一直在做——就是让设计团队的人以截图或原型的形式,在一个共享的演示文稿(deck)中分享他们正在做的事情。
他们把内容添加到幻灯片里,每隔几周放进 Google Slides 的演示文稿中,我们就能看到设计团队在做什么。这对所有设计师来说都非常重要,因为无论团队是 10 人还是 170 人,他们都能看到正在发生什么,然后说:“天哪,你也在做那个界面,我也是,我们聊聊吧。“或者”哦,那个模式很有意思,也许我们可以在更多地方用到它。“我们还会把它发给产品经理、工程负责人和公司领导层,因为这也是让他们了解当前进展、了解我们共同在构建什么的一个非常好的方式。正如我前面提到的,把事物视为一段旅程来思考非常重要——市场那边在做什么、产品的这个方面在做什么,然后看所有这些部分如何真正拼合在一起。这绝对是我无论走到哪里、做什么都会带走的东西之一,因为它一直是一个非常有用的工具。
Lenny: 我记得在 Airbnb 时就是这样,没有什么比翻看一堆正在推进中的精彩设计和产品更有趣的了,而且以演示文稿的形式呈现真的很方便,随手翻翻就能了解公司各处的动态,我会想:“哇,看看这个,太棒了。“有意思的是最后它落脚在演示文稿里——感觉 Figma 应该也很适合做这件事,但不知怎么的,演示文稿在这种简单场景下就是很好用。
Katie Dill: 其中一个关键就是保持低维护成本。是的,设计团队肯定更希望它放在 Figma 里,但关键是我想让所有职能部门都能查看。如果不是所有人都在用 Figma——如果都在的话那当然很好——但如果不是,翻阅演示文稿就很简单,一键就能发出去,这是人们非常习惯的行为模式,评论也很方便。不过也许有一天会用 Figma。
Lenny: 你们具体是怎么做的?是安排一个定期会议,让所有设计师把自己的内容加到这个演示文稿里,然后每两周邮件发出去——你刚才好像说的是这样?
Katie Dill: 对,我们尝试过不同的分享频率,也调整过分享内容的粒度。这不是要做进度汇报,我们不是在要求每个人”展示你在做什么”,而是更侧重于:有哪些项目正在进行?如果项目太多,我们可能会说”只展示中型和大型项目”,否则突然变成一份两百页的演示文稿,没人会翻看。我们根据团队规模不断试验和调整,目前是每月分享一次,效果还不错。以前是每两周一次,我很喜欢,因为我真的很爱翻看这些内容,但如果它开始让人觉得是一项繁重的任务,那就说明方式不对了。
Lenny: 尤其了解设计师的性格,他们会想确保展示的都是自己最好的版本,结果要花额外的时间——“好吧,我们得做个漂亮的效果图来展示正在做的东西。”
Katie Dill: 实际上这还涉及另一个好处,就是稍微拉开一点帷幕。当然,我们对机密工作必须严肃对待——这是进行中的工作,还没有准备上线,我们还没准备好接受所有细节层面的评审。我们需要向人们明确这是进行中的工作,但把工作拿出来展示确实非常有价值,因为更糟糕的情况是:你到了项目末期,团队辛辛苦苦做了很长时间,然后发现天哪,那边那个团队也在做同样的事情,完全可以省掉,或者这两个项目正在走向冲突。
所以我们希望尽早知道这些,因为归根结底,这会让工作成果更好,节省时间。拉开帷幕、展示进行中的工作,一开始可能会让人不适应,但我认为大家已经开始看到这样做的益处,而且从长远来看,这通常也会带来更好的文化和更好的成果。
组织架构对”干扰”的影响
Lenny: 回到你分享的那个公式,我很喜欢——“绩效等于潜力减去干扰”——你有没有一个具体例子,关于帮助消除干扰的?比如发现”哇,这个真的在拖慢进度”,然后做出了改变?
Katie Dill: 这其实要回到我们之前讨论过的组织架构设计,也就是人员的座位安排。当我加入 Lyft 时——正如我之前跟你提到的——我带着在 Airbnb 积累的经验进入公司,需要改造这个组织,而且因为之前学到了很多,所以希望这次能做得好得多。当时的情况是,在我到任之前,团队的组织方式是:设计团队实际上是物理上分开坐的。他们坐在一个精心设计的房间里,和工程、产品以及其他职能部门之间隔着一道上锁的门。这确实很有意思,因为当然这样做有很多好处——设计团队拥有一个非常安全的空间来做创意探索和交流,墙上贴满了作品,满墙都是白板,那绝对是一个能让创造力蓬勃生长的地方。
Lenny: 顺便说一句,听起来跟 Airbnb 的情况一模一样。
Katie Dill: 你说的是现在的情况还是以前的?
Lenny: 以前的,早期的时候。
Katie Dill: 是的,和我之前看到的确实有很多相似之处。而实际工作中有趣的部分是,你会发现有大量的工作被浪费了,目标之间也有很多不一致,因为产品经理和工程师坐在一起做决策、讨论工作、拍板定案,而设计师坐在另一个房间里,做着自己的事情,然后双方碰头时才发现:“这不对齐。这不符合目标。你们往那边走了,我们应该往这边走。“所以从干扰的角度来看——工作被浪费了,实际上没有对齐目标,速度也变慢了。当然这样做也有切实的益处,有真实的理由去选择这种模式,我知道包括 Apple 在内的一些公司也有这种职能分离的做法。
但我认为,如果你要走那条路,在团队协作方式上可能还需要做大量其他配套决策。我在那里看到的是所有这些因素综合在一起,并没有带来更高的效率和更少的干扰。所以我们做的是逐步调整工作方式,让不同职能之间实现更好的对齐。
团队重组与协作方式
Katie Dill: 同样,我们采取倾听的方式来推进这件事,在了解团队、了解工程和产品部门、看清我们共同目标的基础上做出更好的判断,这样当我们做出改变时,大家是一起做的,目标真正对齐了。所以当我们最终打开大门,把设计和产品放在一起,为大家提供协作空间,让他们真正坐在一起的时候,我们仍然保留了创意空间——这里是做头脑风暴的地方,这里是做工作坊的地方,这里是不以嵌入式方式工作的同事坐的地方——我们做到了两全其美。随着团队协作方式的对齐,迭代周期大幅缩短,工作进展的清晰度也提高了,同时我们仍然保留并守护了创意探索的空间——既是字面意义上的一间房间,也是比喻意义上的空间——让创意探索得以进行,只是方向更加对齐了。
Lenny: 我想确认一下我理解对了——本质上你们做了团队重组,不只是把人物理上搬到一起,而是改变了产品、设计和工程团队的组织方式?
Katie Dill: 是的,无论是字面上还是比喻意义上,我们拆掉了那堵墙,把团队物理上放在一起让他们协作。然后组织架构也做了调整:好,这几位设计师负责司机端,这几位负责乘客端,这几位负责安全团队,然后他们分别和对应的工程师、产品经理坐在一起。同时正如我之前提到的,我们会在关键节点聚到一起,确保作为设计职能,我们仍然对整体体验的共享目标保持对齐,同时也确保我们和合作伙伴之间协作顺畅。
Stripe 的创意空间
Lenny: 真有意思,你去到的地方都出现了这种模式。我猜 Stripe 应该不是那样,不会有所有设计师被关在一个房间里的情况。
Katie Dill: 没有关在房间里。我加入 Stripe 的时候已经是 Zoom 的世界了,所以情况有些不同。不过即使在今天,我们也有一个工作室空间,配备了各种精良的工艺工具;当你去办公室时,确实有设计师坐在一起的地方,特别是那些非嵌入式职能的设计师。比如我们有品牌和营销创意团队、网站团队,还有跨所有业务线工作的人员。所以通常都会有一个创意空间,我其实非常推崇用物理空间来做创意发现和探索、把作品贴在墙上,我太喜欢这种做法了。我现在大约一半时间去办公室,我觉得随着时间推移,我们会在那个基础上越建越好,因为物理空间真的非常有力量,当然,除此之外也要让团队和他们日常协作的专业伙伴坐在一起。
Lenny: 这让我想起我墙上贴的一句话,我觉得是在 Rick Rubin 的书里看到的,但那句话是别人说的,所以我不太确定出处——“目标不是创作艺术,而是进入那种让艺术不可避免地产生的美妙状态。”
Katie Dill: 哦,说得好。我非常喜欢这句话。
Lenny: 是 Robert Henri 说的。这也是我在我们这个小播客工作室里想做到的事情。
Katie Dill: 太棒了。
大胆的想法与愿景
Lenny: 关于扩展设计团队或者其他方面,还有什么你觉得值得分享的吗?
Katie Dill: 我看到公司在不同成长阶段还有一个常见的倾向,就是对大胆想法的恐惧。这种情况……小公司会有,大公司其实也会有,就是害怕改动太大,或者一次性改变很多东西的大想法确实很难衡量效果。所以人们会觉得,不如走渐进路线,这样一切都可以衡量,我们知道结果会怎样,感觉更安全,一个季度内就能完成,而且如果你的绩效管理方式是这样设定的话,渐进路线可能更有吸引力。但这是一个危险的倾向,因为如果我们回到”质量意味着什么”这个问题——质量归根结底是由用户来判断的,而用户的体验往往是跨产品、跨界面、跨时间维度的——如果你只在自己负责的范围内做渐进式改进,你很可能无法让整体变得更好。
所以我认为我们必须对抗这种倾向。我的说法是——手摘星辰,脚落月亮。我的意思是,愿景工作非常重要。当然这个词有时候名声不太好,因为确实有些人做的愿景工作毫无下文,做了一份漂亮的幻灯片,然后就被束之高阁,从来没有人去落地执行。这不是我在这里说的,也不是我推荐的。我说的愿景工作,是真正着眼于体验的全貌,采用综合性的、用户旅程式的方法,思考这些不同要素如何整合在一起才能更好,然后勾勒出理想版本。我觉得 Brian Chesky 谈到过这个,我记得他好像说过”11星体验”。
Lenny: 没错。我们在播客里也聊过好几次这个。
Katie Dill: 对,把它作为一个旅程来看。不是五星方案,不是六星方案,而是11星方案——展示那个理想版本是什么样子。因为如果你不知道那个理想版本是什么,你通过渐进迭代最终走到正确结果的可能性有多大?正如我之前说过的,盖房子的时候你想看到那张效果图,看到所有这些部分如何组合在一起。我强烈建议你要看看理想状态下它是什么样子,因为你永远可以从那个理想往回推演。
所以思路是:“好,如果这是我们要达到的目标,这是我们的产品两年后的样子,那我们怎么到达那里?“而最有可能的情况是,这需要整个团队的努力,组织的不同部分需要各自负责不同的模块,也许我们先交付这一部分,这样我们可以研究、学习、确保数据没问题,然后再进入下一部分。我不是建议你必须一次性全部交付,但那个北极星目标以一种有条理的方式铺就了路径——它允许你在一种可衡量、深思熟虑的方式下承担大风险,而且随着你一步步接近目标,会真正感受到进展,而不是试图在第一天就一步到位,最后很可能半途而废。
招聘设计师的建议
Lenny: 我很喜欢这句话——手摘星辰,脚落月亮。这个比喻可以套用在太多事情上了。让我再挤一个实操建议给听众。如果有人要招聘设计师——不是设计师本人,而是一个创始人或产品团队——应该注意哪些可能是红旗的信号,或者哪些是让你觉得这个人会很合适的正面信号?
Katie Dill: 我认为关键要记住的一点是,工具和流程比品味和品格更容易教会,所以我一定会在这方面多加关注。看他们做出优秀判断和拥有好品味的成功率,以及他们是如何培养这种能力的——即使经验不算丰富,也要看看他们是否天生就倾向于追求卓越的东西。另一方面的考量是,你当然希望找到一个有才华、有精湛技艺的人,但你……
Katie Dill: 才华当然重要,精湛技艺也必不可少,但你同时也需要找一个谦逊的人。在各自领域真正出色的人并不总是如此,但谦逊确实是非常重要的一部分。我认为这对团队中的任何成员都很重要,因为如果你在团队中工作,你需要与他人协作。他们需要对身边的人怀有尊重、共情、理解和热情,同时也要对用户抱有同样的态度,这一点非常重要。谦逊意味着他们会更认真地倾听用户的声音, hopefully 会去主动探究哪些地方有效、哪些地方不行,并努力在这些方面找到更好的解决方案。最后一点就是干劲,或者说是胆识。我不太确定用哪个词更准确,但设计和创意工作本质上是一种创造的行为。
拿一张白纸,提出一个你认为更好的方案,这是令人恐惧的。有勇气说出”这还不够好,我们应该重来”,也是令人恐惧的。找到内心有这种勇气、愿意为卓越而战的人,是非常重要的。而这种迅速将想法付诸行动的干劲,无论在什么阶段的公司招聘中,当然都是不可或缺的。
最后,我想你特别问到的——尤其是对较年轻的公司或初创企业而言——有一个难题是:你应该招一个更偏执行的初级人才,还是一个更偏思考和运营的资深人才?就好比你有钱可以随便选一样。但我确实认为在早期阶段,你可能更需要一个执行者,但同样重要的是要有一种视角,去思考如何建立一个以用户为中心的组织——他们如何运作、如何协作——并从一开始就引入一套有助于聚焦用户的策略。也许一个好的做法是:有一位更资深的设计负责人或设计顾问,再配一位全职的执行者。
Lenny: 这个建议很棒。关于技艺和品味这一点,很多时候人们自己未必具备这些。你有什么建议来衡量这些吗?有没有推荐的书或者技巧?还是说就相信自己的判断,凭感觉判断这是否足够好?
Katie Dill: 这取决于具体是什么产品,用户的需求是什么。有些东西确实非常出色——我们做了很多工具,致力于把它们打造成用户的高效工具。很多时候这意味着信息密度很高,但仍然易于获取,这种感觉肯定与消费类产品不同——后者通常追求极度轻量、稀疏,一次只引导用户做一件事。所以这确实取决于产品的具体情境。这也是为什么很难推荐某一本书的原因。不过我可以想想,我们可以在节目备注里附上。确实有一些书讨论优秀设计的原则,我们可以找找看。
Lenny: 太好了。我们之后会附上你想到的额外书目。我还想问一个问题,你们在 Stripe 做过的项目里,有没有最喜欢的?
Katie Dill: 哦有的,我们有一个我非常兴奋的好项目。首先,我不知道大家是否都知道,Stripe 是出版书籍的。Stripe Press,我们出版书籍,这些书是我们所认为的”进步的理念”。我们的初衷是把好想法传播出去。其中大多数与金融基础设施没有任何关系,可能是各种各样的有趣问题、机遇,以及人们讨论过的思想和观点。
Lenny: 我身后的书架上就有很多本。我是 Stripe Press 的超级粉丝。
Katie Dill: 太好了。我们非常用心地去传递这些进步的理念,希望这些书也能给人美的感受。我们有一本新书即将面世,现在可以预订了,是《Poor Charlie’s Almanack》。其实是——
Lenny: 我已经预订了。
Katie Dill: 真的吗?听到这个我很高兴。
Lenny: 我真的很期待这本书。
Katie Dill: 这是一本迷人的书,已经有二十年的历史了。实际上是 Charlie Munger 的文字,但他的朋友兼同事 Peter Kaufman 多年来收集了 Charlie 写过和说过的所有资料,汇编成了这部文集。所以这本书确实非常引人入胜,它不完全是线性的叙事。我们重新印刷了这本书,还做了一个预告网站,我强烈建议大家去看看,真的非常有趣。
Lenny: 天哪,简直不可思议。我记得你们上线的时候,我当时就觉得”它一直在往下走,越来越疯狂、越来越精彩”。我甚至不知道网站上怎么做到那种效果的。
Katie Dill: 确实很厉害。我们的网站团队……我们之前谈到过设计和工程紧密合作的重要性,就是这个样子。艺术与科学结合在一起,创造出的东西希望能让人感到有趣和引人入胜,让人愿意去探索。这本书很快就会面世,我们还在对网站做一次更新,我们对此非常期待——你可以用一种特别的方式在线阅读这本书。所以是的,我非常喜欢这个项目。
Lenny: 网址是什么?你手边有 URL 吗?如果没有的话,我们会放在节目备注里。
Katie Dill: 书的网址,有的。press.stripe.com,你可以在那里看到 Stripe Press 出版的所有书籍。我相信排在第一位的就是……实际上你在网站上会看到,我们最初有一个典型的购买模式,就是排列好的方块。我们在设计网站时想要思考的是,什么才是了解不同书籍的好体验。当走进一家书店,你会看到书脊,拿起来翻到背面看看。这其实就是你会……我还是不再描述了,直接去看看吧,你会发现我们力求以一种与读者期望相契合的方式来呈现这些作品。
Stripe Press 的由来
Lenny: 我忍不住想问,这个项目是怎么做出来的?是像那种热情驱动的项目——“这本书要出了,我就是想投入大量时间和资源”?还是在 Stripe 内部这是怎么发生的?
Katie Dill: Stripe 的使命是增加互联网的 GDP。我们致力于建设全球经济繁荣,因为这代表着全球范围内更多的机会。但实现这个目标的方式不止金融基础设施这一种。金融基础设施当然是其中的重要组成部分,它是企业的命脉,使它们能够实现更多。但”进步的理念”这个概念是另一个切入角度。虽然它可能不是我们的核心业务,但与我们的使命高度一致。所以是的,这确实需要投入时间,但我们认为这对于我们的目标来说是重要的。它也关联着对创造力和卓越的追求。这是我们身份的一部分,是我们认为自己是谁、或者我们努力想成为的样子的一部分,我们很兴奋能把这些分享给大家。在某种程度上,这也是人们了解我们的方式,他们能看到我们在各种事情上所投入的心力。
Lenny: Katie,在我们进入非常令人期待的闪电问答环节之前,你还有什么想分享或补充的吗?
设计的本质是意图
Katie Dill: 我们之前谈到过多学科协作的重要性,以及质量是集体努力的成果。我希望我接下来要说的话不会冒犯到我的职能——但从本质上讲,设计就是意图。你在做决策时带着意图去思考:这个东西是给谁用的?假设你在设计一个门把手,你要考虑的是:“这个门把手是否清晰地传递了应该推、拉还是旋转的信号?握在手里是否舒适?是否容易制造?是否容易安装和拆卸?“这些都是可以带着意图去做的决策,不管你是设计师、工程师、产品人员,还是任何其他职能角色,都可以注入这种意图。
只要你思考谁会受到影响,谁在使用这个东西——这可以是任何事,从设计一个门把手,到设计你的组织架构,再到设计你的战略。当然,优秀的设计也离不开创造力,也需要对美有出色的品味。当然,这也是为什么我认为,拥有这些创意能力和出色品味的设计专业人才,是组织中极其重要的力量。从第一天起,每个人都可以带来更多的用心和意图,我认为长远来看,这会在内部和外部都产生更好的成果。
对好内容的敬意
我觉得你的播客就是优秀匠心和出色品质的绝佳范例。前几天我和我丈夫谈起要做这期节目时我就这么说了。你的播客……每分钟能学到的实用知识比大多数都多。我不知道你是不是在追踪这个指标,但我特别喜欢你不让嘉宾介绍自己的背景。因为当一个人介绍自己的背景时,确实有趣,但并不是真正可用的信息。而你的节目是那种”我可以把这些信息拿走,带回自己的团队,让我的工作变得更好”的内容。你显然在这方面做过深思熟虑。当然,我不确定你是不是因为这个原因才做了那个决定。
Lenny: 完全是。正是——
Katie Dill: 太好了。我也很喜欢你设定这些事情的方式。你在发给我的信息里就说了,“如果不够好,我们就不发布。“顺便说一句,你说这些的方式非常得体。但一开始我心里一紧,“天哪,要是不够好怎么办?“但同时我也想到,“嗯,这其实挺好的,因为如果不够好,他就不会让我在全世界的面前丢脸了,但愿如此。“我很欣赏这一点,因为这就是我之前谈到的那种勇气——你不会让糟糕的东西流传出去,因为你知道每一个这样的小细节,最终都会塑造人们对你的播客品质水准的信任。再说了,做一次锻炼练不出六块腹肌,但每一个这样的决定累积起来,就会带来整体上更好的品质。不得不说,做得好,你真的做得太棒了。
Lenny: Katie,以这样的方式结尾真是太好了。我非常感谢你说的这些。实际上,这正是我的思考方式。你完全看穿了我的策略——就是让它尽可能地具体实用。我最近上了 David Perell 的播客,他用了一种非常好的方式来描述这一点,正是我一直想做的,但我自己没有找到合适的表达:在不丢失人情味的前提下,让每一分钟的内容都尽可能地有用。我意识到这就是我在做的事情——我可以把所有人讲自己背景的故事都剪掉,但那样太无趣了。在优化价值和具体、可操作的建议的同时,也要让它有趣、有人情味、有吸引力。
所以谢谢你的赞美。那么,我们已经到了非常令人期待的闪电问答环节。我为你准备了几个问题。准备好了吗?
闪电问答
Katie Dill: 准备好了。
Lenny: 好,开始吧。你有哪两三本书是最常推荐给别人的?
Katie Dill: 第一本,《人性的弱点》(How to Win Friends and Influence People)。这是一本老书,但非常经典。我不记得它有多少年了,但有好几十年了。我记得是 1930 年代的?封面挺有意思的。你可能在公交车上都不太好意思读它,不知道。但书中的道理是永恒的,我其实已经读了四遍,总觉得还可以再读一遍,因为它很好地提醒了你:你表达事情的方式有多么重要。这不是在说那种消极或功利的意思,而是人首先关心的是自己——他们活在自己的身体里,那就是他们所处的情境。认识到这一点可以非常有力量,不管你是带领团队、与他人协作,还是做一个好配偶,什么场景都适用。我是这本书的铁杆粉丝。
另一本是比较新的书,其实也出了几年了。是 David McCullough 写的关于莱特兄弟的书。我最近在学飞行,所以对这个特别着迷,但我认为这本书对每个人都有关联。尤其是创业者,因为它讲述的是一个不可能的挑战——没人觉得这事能做成。连美国科学学会都认为不可能。而这些人凭借着决心和毅力把它变成了现实。我觉得它还展现了美好伙伴关系的力量。当然,他们是兄弟,这并不总是意味着你们能相处融洽,但他们确实是兄弟,而且相处得很好,这是一个很美的故事。超级推荐。
第三本书,我想说……其实我特意拿过来了,因为我知道你会问这个问题。不知道你能不能看清,是《男孩、鼹鼠、狐狸和马》(The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse)。这本书是 Jenny Yarden 送我的,你可能认识她。这本书太棒了,是一个美丽的故事。它会让你笑,也会教你一两点道理。书中最好的一句话是:“我们最大的自由之一,是我们如何回应事物。”
Lenny: 很有禅意。
Katie Dill: 是的。
Lenny: 最近有没有一部你特别喜欢的电影或电视剧?
Katie Dill: 《奥本海默》非常精彩。电视剧的话,Shrinking。这部真的很棒,而且它让我很惊喜,因为它既搞笑又温暖积极,但预告片完全给人不同的印象。真的很好看。
Lenny: 我还没看过。你最喜欢在面试中问候选人什么问题?
Katie Dill: 告诉我你最自豪的工作是什么。我问这个问题的原因是,它帮我了解他们的品味和判断力,什么在驱动他们,他们认为什么样的工作是好的、什么样的成果是好的。它也能帮我了解他们喜欢做什么,以及他们的重心在哪里。
Lenny: 最近有没有发现什么喜欢的产品,不管是 app 还是实物,什么都行?
Katie Dill: 有。作为家长,你一定要知道 Toniebox。
Lenny: 哦,我不知道这个。Toniebox?
Katie Dill: 太棒了。Toniebox 真的很好,我本来应该也把它带过来的。它是一个软软的盒子,但同时也是个音箱,而且孩子可以自己操控。操控方式是通过这些小玩偶——这个产品设计得非常巧妙,因为你会忍不住想买齐所有玩偶。小玩偶可以是《美女与野兽》里的 Belle,也可以是《冰雪奇缘》里的 Elsa,孩子把玩偶放在盒子顶部,就会激活相应的功能——给她们讲故事,或者播放歌曲。你还可以录制自己的声音,这样就是你在给孩子讲故事。而且孩子完全可以自己操控,摔到地上也没事。Toniebox 真的非常棒。
Lenny: 我刚给我妻子发了条消息让她看看这个,免得忘了。太好了,非常实用也很及时。你有没有特别喜欢的人生格言,愿意分享的,经常回想起来的,觉得特别有意义的?
人生格言
Katie Dill: 我不会大声说出来,但我把它写在一张便利贴上,放在首饰盒里,经常能看到。上面写的是:“明天就是今天”。我的意思是,我脑子里经常会想,“我明天再做吧。我明天再吃得更健康。我明天再去想那个愿景。我明天再更好地沟通期望。“这就像那个经典笑话——招牌上写着”明天免费啤酒”。因为明天太容易一直往后推了。我需要提醒自己,现在已经是今天了,明天已经变成了今天。
Lenny: 我喜欢这句。我觉得我需要把所有这些格言都收集起来,都特别精彩。我很喜欢我这个自己发明的问题。我要把它们全贴在我办公室的墙上。
Katie Dill: 对,这个主意很好。你应该出一本书,《Lenny 格言集》。
Lenny: 天哪。Lenny 播客版的《Tribe of Mentors》。
Katie Dill: 太棒了。
父母的教诲
Lenny: 有没有你父母教过你的、一直铭记在心的道理?尤其是你作为相对新手父母来说?
Katie Dill: 我经常想这个问题。我是双胞胎女儿的妈妈,我非常幸运,我的父母从小让我认识到,成就靠的是能力和努力。他们从来没有让我觉得,因为我个子小、力气不如别人,我就做不了什么。我小时候,我爸就让我劈柴、和水泥,这在一定程度上引导我成为了一名设计师,也让我有能力去追求领导力。即使有时候房间里绝大多数人跟我长得不一样,我也能坦然处之,不会因此退缩。
前几天我还在想这件事。当时我坐 Lyft 去机场,凌晨四点,那个时间打车去机场真的很辛苦。司机跟我聊起他的孩子,他正好也有一对龙凤胎,所以我们聊起了双胞胎的话题。他说,“对对对,我女儿,她是我的公主。我儿子不明白为什么我不让她去倒垃圾,为什么她的任务是扫地,倒垃圾是他的活儿。“他说,“我不会让她去倒垃圾的。“我坐在后座上心想,“我应该告诉他,你这样做不对吗?”
仅仅因为她是女孩,不代表她做不了那些工作,哪怕是辛苦的、哪怕是倒垃圾这种脏活。我真的觉得自己非常幸运,我父母从来没有这种观念。如今,我觉得这很大程度上造就了我的一点胆识和敢闯的劲头,因为我从小就没有被那些辛苦的工作所限制。
飞行带来的启示
Lenny: 最后一个问题。你提到过你会开飞机,这个问题其实跟我刚才想问的有关。我本来想确认一下是不是真的,你提到过确实是真的。在学习飞行的过程中,有没有什么感悟带到了产品、领导力或设计工作中?有什么想到的吗?
Katie Dill: 首先,学习飞行是一段非常美妙的经历,因为在我成年生活中,很少有事情能让你体验到从对某件事一无所知到能够做到的过程,这是一段非常不可思议的旅程。不管是学一门语言还是别的什么,都非常值得推荐。但在学飞行的过程中,有一个关键的经历一直留在我心里,我也一直在思考如何把它带到工作中。那就是当我到了可以自己操作飞机的阶段时,我的教练就坐在我旁边,通常手就放在操纵杆上跟我一起控制,所以如果飞行中出了什么问题,他随时在。
我记得我学降落的时候,有一次他把自己的座椅往后拉了很多。他现在够不到操纵杆了。如果需要的话他可以跳过来,但他真的退到了后面。那是一种非常强烈的身体感受。我当时想,“他信任我。此刻他正在向我展示他对我的信心,让我来承担这个挑战。“我时时刻刻都在想这件事。就是,“我怎样才能向我的团队、我的同事展示我对他们的支持和信任,让他们去承担挑战?“我不一定都能把座椅往后拉,但有没有其他方式?所以这是一个非常好的例子,我一直想把它带到工作中来。
Lenny: 这是一个非常棒的比喻。我觉得这一整期节目充满了优美的比喻,也充满了美本身。Katie,非常感谢你来参加节目。最后两个问题。大家如果在网上想找到你、或者想问一些问题,应该去哪里找?另外,听众怎样能帮到你?
Katie Dill: 首先,请务必在网上找到我,因为正如我之前谈到的,我们一直在追求打造卓越的产品,这永远是一个进行中的工作,所以我一直有兴趣了解别人是怎么做的,看看我们可以怎样改进自己的方法。我在 Twitter 上是 Lil_Dill,Threads 上这个名字被占用了,所以我在 Threads 上是 Lil_Dilly,最后面有个 Y。我还在 LinkedIn 上,也可以在那里找到我。我们在招人,所以也请关注我们的招聘页面,Stripe.com/jobs,一定要来看看,我们非常期待你的消息。
Lenny: Katie,再次非常感谢你来。
Katie Dill: 谢谢你,Lenny。
Lenny: 大家再见。
非常感谢你的收听。如果你觉得这期节目有价值,可以在 Apple Podcasts、Spotify 或你喜欢的播客应用上订阅。也请考虑给我们评分或留下评论,这真的能帮助更多听众找到这个播客。你可以在 LennysPodcast.com 找到所有往期节目或了解更多关于这个节目的信息。下期见。
术语表
| 原文 | 中文 |
|---|---|
| 11星体验 | 保留原文说法,即 Brian Chesky 提出的”11-star experience”概念 |
| Brian Chesky | 保留原文(Airbnb 联合创始人兼 CEO) |
| Charlie Munger | 保留原文(美国投资家、伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司副董事长) |
| chutzpah | 胆识、敢闯的劲头 |
| David McCullough | 保留原文(美国历史作家、《莱特兄弟》作者) |
| David Perell | 保留原文(播客主持人、作家) |
| David Singleton | 保留原文(Stripe CTO) |
| friction log | ”摩擦日志”(记录用户体验中障碍的文档) |
| Grand Central | 保留原文(纽约中央车站) |
| intervention | ”干预”(团队集体向管理者表达不满的组织行为) |
| Jenny Yarden | 保留原文(Katie Dill 提到的朋友) |
| Jessica Walsh | 保留原文(设计师,《Beauty》作者) |
| Joebot | 保留原文(Airbnb 员工昵称) |
| Katie Dill | 首次出现,保留原文(Stripe 设计负责人,曾任 Airbnb、Lyft 设计高管) |
| Lenny | 保留原文(播客主持人 Lenny Rachitsky,前 Airbnb 产品经理) |
| Marketplace | 保留原文(Airbnb 内部跨职能团队名称) |
| Penn Station | 保留原文(纽约火车站) |
| Peter Kaufman | 保留原文(《Poor Charlie’s Almanack》编者) |
| Poor Charlie’s Almanack | 保留原文(Charlie Munger 的文集书名) |
| Rick Rubin | 保留原文(美国知名音乐制作人、作家) |
| Robert Henri | 保留原文(美国画家、艺术教育家) |
| ROI(投资回报率) | 首次出现标注”投资回报率”,后续直接使用 ROI |
| Shrinking | 保留原文(Apple TV+ 电视剧) |
| Stefan Sagmeister | 保留原文(设计师,《Beauty》作者) |
| Stripe Press | 保留原文(Stripe 旗下的出版品牌) |
| Thayer | 保留原文(Airbnb 办公地点/房间名) |
| The Bear | 保留原文(电视剧名) |
| Toniebox | 保留原文(儿童音频播放设备) |
| Tribe of Mentors | 保留原文(Tim Ferriss 著作,书名) |
| walk the store | ”走店”(Stripe 内部质量审查机制) |
| Will Gaybrick | 保留原文(Stripe 负责产品和业务的高管) |
| 北极星目标 | 对应原文”North Star”,指引领方向的愿景目标 |
此文档由 AI 分片翻译(translate_long_document)