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AMA: I'm Cap Watkins, Product Design Manager at Etsy

9 years ago from Cap Watkins, VP of Design @ BuzzFeed

  • Cameron MollCameron Moll, 9 years ago

    Cap! Great to see you here. I'll ask the same question I asked you in Chicago, as I'm sure others may appreciate the answer.

    Etsy has two audiences, buyers and sellers. Does it create conflict for the design team and/or management trying to satisfy both audiences? If so, how do you manage this?

    2 points
    • Cap WatkinsCap Watkins, 9 years ago (edited 9 years ago )

      Cameron,

      http://i.imgur.com/8ZozHvN.gif :)

      You know, I thought it might when I first started at Etsy. But what I've found is that, 99% of the time, the needs and concerns of our sellers and buyers align. Sellers want better tooling and features to better serve their customers, and their customers want better features and tools to help them find shops and items to purchase. It's pretty awesome that those things align so closely most of the time

      And on the odd occasions it doesn't, we're aware of that internally and work together to navigate it. We're pretty connected with our community (and getting more and more connected with both buyers and sellers as our User Research team gets more amazing), which helps us out a lot when considering how new features and products may affect both sides of our marketplace.

      I don't want to make it sound like it's always super easy or perfect, because it's not always. But hey, that's product design and development. We didn't sign up for easy!

      1 point