Meta Avatars Investment Framework

Timeline: 2022–2023 | Role: Design Program Manager, Reality Labs

The Challenge

The 700-person Avatars organization at Meta was undergoing reinvention, doubling down on investments in embodiment and self-expression in the Metaverse. However, there were no published plans to leverage sound design—a critical component of creating immersive, emotionally resonant experiences.

The Sound Design team had recently succeeded with a VR avatars project, but had experienced significant reductions in force, limiting their capacity to impact all important areas across Meta. My challenge was to build a strategic framework that would help leadership understand where and how to invest in sonic design across an expanding universe of Avatar experiences—while operating with highly limited and potentially diminishing resources.

Key Outcomes

• Framework adopted by leadership and used to shape FY23-25 roadmap priorities across VR, AR, Mobile, and Fashion teams
• Conducted 24 discovery sessions across Product, UXR, and Design teams to understand pain points and opportunities
• Created "Discover, Focus, Test, Grow" program model balancing ambition with efficiency in a "year of efficiency" environment
• Delivered comprehensive recommendation plan with metrics analysis, competitive research, and investment prioritization framework
• Established credibility for Sound Design team with skeptical stakeholders through data-driven insights and deep domain expertise

The Approach

Phase 1: Deep Discovery (10 Weeks)

I started by learning the 700-person Avatars org structure, strategic plans, pain points, and innovations. This meant diving deep with Reality Labs Product, Engineering, Design, and Research leadership—understanding not just what they were building, but why, and what challenges they faced.

I partnered with the Business Intelligence team to assess the dynamic landscape of end-customers, ran 24 discovery sessions with diverse stakeholders, and conducted comprehensive competitive analysis of how other platforms approached sonic experiences in avatar and embodiment contexts.

Phase 2: Strategic Synthesis

The discovery revealed several key insights:

• VR and AR teams were highly receptive to sonic design partnership—they understood the value intuitively
• Mobile and Product Marketing teams needed convincing with quantitative data and metrics
• Sound design was often an afterthought in product development, leading to last-minute scrambles and missed opportunities
• No clear framework existed for prioritizing sonic design investments across the portfolio

"Sound design is like water to UX. Definitively essential. But in product development, it is often taken for granted, an afterthought. And afterthoughts are antithetical to considered design."

Phase 3: Building the Framework

I developed a multi-layered investment framework that balanced strategic ambition with resource constraints:

Investment Philosophy: "Discover, Focus, Test, Grow"—a UXR-driven approach that emphasized learning before scaling

Prioritization Model:

• Design for Parity: Match industry standards where differentiation isn't strategic
• Design to Lead: Exceed competitors where we have unique advantages
• Design to Innovate: Push boundaries where it aligns with platform vision

Project Classification:

• Can't Miss: High-visibility launches requiring day-one excellence
• Can't Fail: Core experiences where poor execution would damage the brand

DISCOVER → FOCUS → TEST → GROW

Start broad, narrow based on research, validate with users, scale what works

Overcoming Resistance

Not all stakeholders were immediately convinced. Mobile and Product Marketing teams, in particular, wanted quantitative justification. In response, I stood up two sub-projects:

1. Metrics That Matter: Partnered deeper with BI team to identify and analyze relevant performance indicators for sonic experiences

2. Deep UX Competitive Analysis: Conducted in-depth walkthroughs of competitor products, documenting how other platforms used sound to drive engagement and emotional connection

These efforts created unanticipated value—providing insights and data that helped stakeholders make more informed decisions beyond just sound design investments.

Concurrent Execution

While developing the strategic framework, I also supported time-sensitive design projects with fast deadlines. This included producing sound design for VR products launching at Connect '23—demonstrating the team's ability to deliver excellence even while building for the future.

What I Learned

This program taught me that gaining organizational trust requires more than good ideas—it requires demonstrating deep understanding of stakeholders' problem spaces, speaking their language (whether qualitative or quantitative), and delivering value even before formal adoption of recommendations.

The most successful frameworks are those that balance ambition with pragmatism. "Discover, Focus, Test, Grow" resonated because it acknowledged resource constraints while still enabling bold thinking where it mattered most.

Finally, I learned that program managers in exploratory spaces must be comfortable with uncertainty about downstream impact. I built the framework, documented it comprehensively, and handed it off—what happened next was beyond my control, but the rigor of the work ensured it would be useful regardless of organizational changes.

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