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March 3, 2024 • 1hr 42min
Making Meta | Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth (CTO)
Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career
Andrew Bosworth, known as Boz, is the Chief Technology Officer at Meta and head of Reality Labs, the company's AR/VR organization. He joined Facebook in 2006 as one of the first engineers and has been instrumental in building many of the company's core products and technologies over the past 18 years.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Boz shares insights from his long tenure at Meta, including stories from the early days of Facebook, lessons from Meta's recent downturn and turnaround, thoughts on emerging technologies like AR/VR, and advice on leadership, communication, and career growth.
Making Meta | Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth (CTO)
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Key Takeaways
- Communication is the job - As a leader, your impact comes through creating artifacts or verbalizations that affect other humans. You have to communicate clearly to align teams and drive outcomes.
- Take the long view on external narratives - Don't get too caught up in short-term stock price swings or media coverage. Focus on what you know to be true about your company's fundamentals and long-term potential.
- Embrace curiosity when faced with disagreement - Instead of getting defensive, approach differing viewpoints with genuine curiosity to break down walls and find common ground.
- Trust yourself - Have conviction in your own judgment and expertise, while still being open to feedback. Your unique perspective has inherent value.
- Optimize for learning and variety of experience early in your career - Don't be afraid to try new roles and build diverse skills. This compounds over time into unique expertise.
- Balance future investments with core business - Even in tough times, continue investing in future growth areas while optimizing the core. Communicate this strategy clearly.
- Take extreme ownership of communication - If there are misunderstandings or misalignment, take responsibility for not communicating clearly enough.
Introduction
Andrew Bosworth, known as Boz, is the Chief Technology Officer at Meta and head of Reality Labs, the company's AR/VR organization. He joined Facebook in 2006 as one of the first engineers and has been instrumental in building many of the company's core products and technologies over the past 18 years.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Boz shares insights from his long tenure at Meta, including stories from the early days of Facebook, lessons from Meta's recent downturn and turnaround, thoughts on emerging technologies like AR/VR, and advice on leadership, communication, and career growth.
Topics Discussed
Early Days at Facebook (7:20)
Boz reflects on joining Facebook in 2006 as one of the first ~10 engineers:
- There was tremendous camaraderie but also intense work - most employees lived within 1 mile of the office and ate most meals together
- No experts to turn to - had to figure everything out themselves
- Built servers from scratch, handled all infrastructure themselves
- Worked extremely long hours - Boz had to wake up every 4 hours for 2 years to check anti-spam systems
Boz cautions against over-romanticizing startup life: "I don't want to take away from the romanticism of it. It's just that it's most often we hear those romantic stories from the successes...But it is not glamorous."
Building the News Feed (33:15)
Boz shares the story of creating Facebook's News Feed in 2006:
- It was the first algorithmically ranked content feed on any social network
- Initially very controversial - users complained but usage doubled
- Taught Boz the importance of having conviction in your vision: "You have to have conviction in what you're building. You're choosing your customers as much as your customers are choosing you."
- Made some mistakes in execution, but the core concept was right
- Ended up being one of the most economically valuable products in internet history
Communication is the Job (51:30)
Boz explains his philosophy that "communication is the job" for leaders:
- Your impact comes exclusively through artifacts or verbalizations that affect other humans
- Take extreme ownership of communication - if there are misunderstandings, it's on you to communicate more clearly
- Consider the mental model and starting point of your audience
- Use multiple modalities to reinforce key messages
- Address people's fears and concerns upfront
"You cannot not communicate. You are always communicating something with your face, with your clothes, with your body. What are you communicating?"
Meta's Recent Downturn and Turnaround (1:10:41)
Boz reflects on Meta's challenging period in 2022 and subsequent rebound:
- Stock price dropped significantly but has since recovered strongly
- Learned to take the long view and not get too caught up in short-term narratives
- Realized they hadn't communicated their long-term investment strategy clearly enough
- Made tough decisions to reduce headcount and increase efficiency
- Continued investing in future growth areas like AI and AR/VR while optimizing core business
"You don't want to work at a company that when times are tough, kills all future growth...You want to work in a company that has a balanced portfolio of investments."
Thoughts on Apple Vision Pro (1:00:47)
Boz shares his perspective on Apple's new mixed reality headset:
- Impressive in some ways, particularly for stationary use cases
- But Meta's Quest 3 is better overall in Boz's view - wider field of view, brighter displays, less motion blur, better hand tracking
- Encourages people to try both and compare: "If you go and try Quest 3, ask yourself if you'd rather have 7 of those...or one Apple Vision Pro."
Career Advice (39:01)
Boz offers several pieces of career advice based on his experience:
- Don't assume you won't be excited about a new area - give things a chance
- Early in your career, optimize for learning and variety of experience
- Be willing to take on new challenges outside your comfort zone
- Balance working on the most important company priorities with finding areas where you can have outsized impact
"Projects that start in the fire, hopefully are forged in some manner of metal that cools and is no longer in the fire...You deserve to go from the forge to the dam and back over time."
Embracing Curiosity (1:26:46)
Boz shares a powerful lesson he learned about approaching disagreements with curiosity rather than defensiveness:
- Observed a colleague who would respond to profound disagreements by saying "Fascinating, tell me more about why you think that"
- This genuine curiosity broke down walls and opened up productive dialogue
- Now tries to embrace curiosity when he feels that internal "clench" of disagreement
"Rather than reacting as if it was a threat that somebody saw it differently, or rather than reacting afraid that maybe she was wrong...she reacted with the most genuine and profound curiosity."
Failure Story (1:20:43)
Boz shares a story of failure from early in his career:
- Got into a heated argument with a colleague over a technical decision about RPC encoding
- Realized afterwards his identity and ego were too wrapped up in being "right"
- Learned the importance of managing emotions and approaching disagreements more productively
- Still remembers it vividly as a formative learning experience
"Your worst behavior is always gonna come out when you think you are under identity threat. When you feel like some core part of how you see yourself is in question, you will react with every ounce of your fiber to defend that conception of yourself."
Conclusion
Throughout the conversation, Boz offers a wealth of insights from his long career at Meta, touching on product development, leadership, communication, emerging technologies, and personal growth. Key themes that emerge include:
- The critical importance of clear, intentional communication as a leader
- Taking the long view and maintaining conviction in your vision
- Balancing investment in future growth with optimizing the core business
- Approaching challenges and disagreements with genuine curiosity
- Continuously learning and expanding your skillset throughout your career
- Trusting your own judgment while remaining open to feedback
Boz's journey from early Facebook engineer to CTO of Meta offers valuable lessons for anyone looking to grow their career in tech and make a significant impact. His emphasis on communication, curiosity, and continuous learning provides a blueprint for effective leadership in a rapidly evolving industry.
