By Meta Careers
John Affaki has worked at both small startups and huge companies throughout his career, including Microsoft and Google; but says he has never experienced a culture that empowers its employees the way Facebook does. We recently spoke with John to learn more about the impactful work his team is doing, and to get his advice for other engineering leaders who want to build empowered, efficient teams (hint: get out of the way!).
Tell us about your role at Facebook.
My time is mostly split into three buckets. The first is growing our team: recruiting, bringing in new talent, and ensuring that our team members are meeting their career goals. The second is spent on making sure projects are running smoothly, blockers are removed, and people are focused on the most meaningful work. And last but not least, I work with other managers and directors to ensure our teams are positively contributing to Facebook’s culture.
Can you give us an example of what it’s like to build something that scales to millions of users?
My team is building a roadmap to change how video is consumed on Facebook. When you think about video consumption, it’s usually a very passive experience - people are used to watching it alone and they typically watch it and forget it. We want to shift video to be a real conversation starter that drives meaningful connections. To bring that vision to life we are testing features like Watch Parties that make it easier to engage with the content people are consuming.
The biggest challenge has been introducing options that differ from the traditional passive watching experiences - ones that are social and interactive. There are a ton of product and technical implications associated with these kinds of problems. For example, if a live video has significant gaps in delays for some users and not others, it can hinder their ability to have a meaningful conversation around that content. When you factor in hundreds of thousands - or even millions! - of people enjoying the same live stream, that scale makes it an even more technically challenging problem to solve.
How is Facebook’s culture different from other companies you’ve worked at?
I’ve worked at both startups and very large companies, and while many companies are dealing with big risks, they’re afraid to make bold bets. Or, they may make bold bets - but take a very long time to do so. Facebook is the first place I’ve worked that empowers engineers to move fast, take big risks and focus on making the most impact possible. As an engineer, you can geek out and try so many things; but at the end of the day, we’re building things that over two billion people around the world use on a daily basis.
That said, ultimately, what keeps me at Facebook are the people. Our leadership has an incredibly strong vision and moral compass to put the user first and always try to do the right thing.
How does Facebook empower its engineers to make a difference?
At many companies, managers will typically tell engineers what to do and how to solve a problem. At Facebook, we tell engineers, “Here’s the problem - now go fix it!” Everyone, no matter their level, has the ability to push back on ideas. If a manager is telling you to work on something that you don’t find meaningful, it's up to you to tell him or her what’s going to be more valuable.
Engineers are also encouraged to find their own huge problems to solve through company-wide hackathons that foster creativity and entrepreneurship. Some of the company's coolest features emerged from small groups of engineers prototyping and presenting in those events.
The way Facebook evaluates individual performance is also empowering. We don’t just look at the work you’re doing, but also at what you’re doing for the world around you. How are you contributing to the company, and what are you doing to create the best possible experience for our two billion users?
What advice do you have for other leaders who are focused on creating an efficient and empowered team?
I believe there is a big difference between managing your team and supporting your team, and I view a leader’s role as the latter. Rather than telling your team members how to do something, focus on removing the roadblocks that could potentially cause issues. Point them in the right direction, and get out of their way (trust, but verify!).
I also believe in transparency, and making sure people have full context and are focused on what matters. If you tell people to run as fast as they can, it creates a competitive environment; so it’s also important to hold people accountable not just for their own success, but also for those around them. As you take on larger bets, you’re not going to hit your goals if your peers around you don’t also hit their goals. We want to make sure everyone is invested in others’ success.
How do you manage work/life balance?
It’s important to set your own boundaries. Be vocal about how you work best, and get comfortable with letting others know what works for you. The great thing about being part of a team is that people help each other out. For example, my wife is traveling this week and I need to get in later and leave early each day to pick up the kids. My team has stepped in to ensure I have this time available, and I find this to be something people do for each other often.
What advice do you have for engineers who want to join Facebook?
My best piece of advice is to be genuine. Facebook goes out of its way to create a culture that lets you be yourself, and we look for people who will embrace and thrive in that environment. This goes hand-in-hand, but don’t lie about being good at something when you’re not. We’re ok with you not knowing something, because we’re here to help you grow. We’re bringing you in because of the potential we see - what we think you’ll be able to learn and achieve.
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