Phase 1: Research

I began by reaching out to engineers, product managers, product owners, and other stakeholders to determine what kinds of information they want to learn more about in Figma. I also reviewed blog posts aimed at teaching engineers how to collaborate with designers.

Throughout the process, I checked in with stakeholders to ensure the content was being covered in a way that made sense and was intuitive.

Once I had an idea of the content that needed to be included, I built out a presentation in Figma. I figured 'what better way to get engineers more comfortable in Figma than by getting them in the tool?'. I Started by getting all my ideas down on slides and didn't pay too much attention to the formatting or order of the content yet. The key areas that I chose to focus on were: getting comfortable in the tool, collaboration strategies, inspecting designs, and integration with the Rocket Design System.

Once I had the content in the file, I organized it into 8 sections:

• Figma 101
• Navigation
• Page Elements
• Commenting and Exporting
• Inspecting
• Documentation
• Advanced Maneuvers
• Tips, Tricks, and Resources

After I had a first draft completed, I worked with the Design Operations Lead to review the content and make a plan for distributing the presentation. I also enlisted the help of a UX Writer to review the copy and make sure everything made sense.

After completing the course, we were paired up with the researcher on our team to assist with synthesizing user research that they were working on at that time. I, along with two other future research deputies, assisted with synthesizing research for the B2B team, specifically relating to client nurturing. We were each assigned two user testing videos to watch and take notes for on UserTesting, and then we all met to do some affinity mapping to group our findings into themes.

Summary and Review

Feedback

"Adam, Vanessa and Elle teamed up to create an awesome tool for engineers to learn how to use Figma, and gave a thorough, thoughtful, and well-delivered presentation to over 100 people to teach Figma and how to use it and Rocket Design System together! Unfortunately, Vanessa fell ill and couldn't attend, but gave a great opening deck on the value of good design and why it matter. She left great notes so Adam could give the presentation for her. And Adam nailed it! He did a great job of presenting Vanessa's slides and walking the team through the tool and giving a tutorial of Figma. He covered a TON of information and his work on the "Choose Your Own Adventure" Figma tool will leave behind an amazing self-service education tool for those who attended and those who didn't."
- Scott (Senior Content Strategist)

"Thank you for seeing the value and opportunity in creating artifacts and conversation starters to create more connections with tech, and for doing it in time for Hackweek to enable to most participation. Your work is an example of collaboration that we want to continue to model and your materials and message is easily replicable for wider learning. Hats off to you going this extra mile!!"
- Noeleen (Senior Design Director)

Lessons Learned

When presenting to a large audience with varying levels of experience with design software, it is important to zoom out as far as possible and not only give the basics of the tool, but also give the WIIFM (what's in it for me). Engineers may need to be sold on why they should even learn how to use Figma in the first place, and a few more slides may have been needed to drive that point home.

What's Next?

The expectation is that this is a living document that other designers can help me maintain by adding slides about new features, things I forgot to add, or things that just need more clarity. As mentioned above, additional information on why engineers should even learn Figma should be added.

My hope is that this can be a self-service educational tool for any collaborator to utilize to learn why we use Figma and why they should too. This will hopefully go a long way toward tearing down barriers between design and engineering and improve collaboration during the design process.