Unsticking a Stagnant Product Org: Twitter's Creative Renaissance
Kayvon Beykpour
Former Head of Product & GM Consumer, Twitter
NOV 2024
The Context
Twitter's Stagnation Problem
Functional org: product, engineering, design, research all siloed
No single decision-maker to resolve conflicts quickly
Highly opinionated leaders creating deadlock
Result: Product felt frozen. No major changes in years.
Sacred cows were everywhere — untouchable by design
"We wanted to change the lack of ambition, the lack of creativity, the lack of customers feeling that the product had changed at all."
The Breakthrough
How Kayvon Shipped Everything (All at Once)
Parag became CEO, restructured into GM model — Kayvon got engineering + design
Suddenly: decision-making speed 10x faster
Shipping velocity visible to the org (and customers)
One person accountable for outcomes, not endless debate
Started with Sacred Cows Framework: "What can't we change?"
The Feature List
Super Follows, Communities, Newsletters, Topics, Fleets, Reactions, Edge-to-edge Photos, Twitter Blue, Spaces, Live Video — all shipped in ~2 years
The Principle
Sacred cows are a roadmap. Start by asking: "What are all the things we think we're NOT allowed to change?"
Staffing for Obsession
How to Staff Projects That Matter
Skill set matters. Obsession matters more.
Hire (or move) believers, not just capable people
The curse of ambivalence: "It's hard to build something when the team doesn't believe in it"
Disagreement on your team = project dies before it ships
Use acquihires to bring in fresh, hungry product leaders
Let founders-of-features run their features like startups
The Reverse Chron Timeline Story
Twitter had a "Swish" toggle. Users asked for reverse chronological feed. But the team kept reverting them to ranked because it drove DAU metrics. Customers hated it. Metrics told a lie.
The Real Cost of Ambivalence
"Imagine building something from nothing. Now imagine doing it when half your team doesn't believe in it. That's not just hard — that's toxic to culture."
Culture Shift
Breaking Sacred Cows
Map your sacred cows (things you think you can't touch)
That map IS your hidden roadmap
Kill one sacred cow early to signal: "Everything's on the table"
Hire product leaders with pattern-match for restlessness
Give them control: GM + engineering + design, not committees
Celebrate shipping, not just metrics wins
Kayvon's test"I might flame out completely, but Hell if I don't try." The signal matters. Org needs to feel the PM is all-in.
The Contrarian View
Frameworks Can Paralyze
✗Jobs-to-be-Done solves product clarityINSTEAD →✓ Every framework followed religiously = process theater. You need judgment + nuance.
✗Optimize everything for OKRsINSTEAD →✓ Metrics can hide customer hostility. Amazon buries order details for DAU. That's evil metrics alignment.
✗Consensus-based product decisions scaleINSTEAD →✓ Consensus = deadlock at scale. Functional orgs need a CEO willing to tiebreak fast.
✗You can build culture with ambivalent teamsINSTEAD →✓ Staff projects with people who WANT to be there. Obsession is the cheat code for shipping.