Strike Down the Blockers (Time to Value)
Removing what stops adoption beats adding shiny features; hunt blockers and watch the retention graph move.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 88%
A prioritization discipline that treats removing adoption blockers as equal in importance to building new features, organized around the goal of shortening time to value. You stand up dedicated effort to knock down blockers one by one and measure the activation and retention lift each time. Use it when a product has cool features but users still fail to adopt or stick.
Origin
Field described Figma running a literal team called 'blockers' during Figma Design's growth that struck down adoption barriers one by one, watching activation and retention visibly improve in the graph with each fix. Warp's founder Zach Lloyd credited learning this from Dylan.
Core principles
- 01Time to value: get users to the product's special moment as fast as possible.
- 02Removing blockers is as important as adding cool new stuff for retention.
- 03Blocking-and-tackling work is unglamorous but directly moves adoption metrics.
- 04Balance is required: pure table stakes gives you no exciting product either.
How to run it
- 1
Define the magic moment
Name the fast, special experience a new user must reach (a collaborative multiplayer moment in Figma; a great first prompt result in Figma Make).
- 2
Enumerate the blockers
List every table-stakes gap and friction point standing between a new user and that moment.
Pro tip Consider a dedicated team or workstream whose only job is knocking blockers down.
- 3
Strike them down one by one
Work through the blockers individually rather than batching them into a vague 'polish' effort.
- 4
Measure the lift per fix
Watch activation and retention after each blocker is removed; the graph should visibly move, confirming the work mattered.
Watch out Don't only do table stakes; without at least one awesome, exciting element you have no compelling product to adopt.
In the wild
Figma stood up a team called 'blockers' that struck down adoption barriers one at a time during Figma Design's growth. Each fix produced a measurable improvement in activation and retention that was visible directly in the metrics graph.
→ Steady, attributable gains in activation and retention from unglamorous blocker removal.
Warp founder Zach Lloyd said Dylan encouraged him to block on fixing blocking issues that prevent a user from adopting Warp, not just to chase innovative features.
→ Warp treats removing blockers as as important for retention as adding new capabilities.
Common mistakes
Chasing only shiny new features
Cool features don't retain users who are stopped by a blocker before they ever reach value.
Shipping only table stakes
A product that is all blockers-removed and no awesome moment gives users nothing exciting to adopt or believe in.
Is it for you?
Best for
Product teams whose feature set is strong but whose activation and retention lag because of adoption friction.
Not ideal for
Early products with no differentiated 'awesome' moment yet; you need at least one before blocker-removal pays off.
From the transcript
“we literally at some point had a team that would that was called blockers and they”
“each time we saw uh improvement in retention, improvement in activation the metrics for as we addressed each one you could literally see the change…”
“removing the blockers is as important for retaining users as adding cool new stuff.”
From the episode
Figma’s CEO: Why AI makes design, craft, and quality the new moat for startups
Dylan Field