Samantha Stevens, Director of Location Products at Tinder
Q: How do you foster collaboration between designers, developers and the product team?
A: We meet regularly with cross-functional stakeholders to brainstorm solutions, pitch new concepts and get each other excited about what's ahead.
Q: How does the culture of cross-collaboration at Tinder compare to your previous experiences?
A: Tinder is a small company compared to our user base and revenue, which means each person is able to have an outsized impact. There is a lot of openness to new ideas.
Alex Ross, Director of Engineering
Q: What about your work inspires you?
A: It introduces you to a more diverse set of people than you would otherwise meet – diplomats, crypto traders and data privacy experts.
Q: What accomplishments make you the proudest?
A: We've taken on several risky, long-term projects. Last year, we enabled users to log in with their phone number. This year, our Places feature and geolocation platform involved a lot of complicated work on all platforms. It's one of the biggest new experiences Tinder has successfully launched.
Brooke Hollabaugh, Senior Product Designer
Q: How does your team approach collaboration with different teams?
A: We hold company-wide testing sessions and build a corresponding Slack group that serves as a forum to share ideas, concerns and bugs for each project.
Q: Can you share a moment when that collaboration shaped the final product?
A: The importance of safety – especially for our female users – was a priority when building Places. We held an internal focus group with our female employees which shaped the final product.
Josh Gafni, Engineering Manager
Q: How would you describe your management style?
A: Knowing what motivates each person on your team is crucial. This is why I prioritize regular one-on-ones and goal setting.
Q: How much say do engineers have on the final product?
A: We hold a brainstorm every two weeks during which each person has the opportunity to present an idea. We encourage everyone to think creatively.
by Brian Nordli
See full article at BuiltInLA