About the presentation
Too often, product design, product management, and engineering teams are thought of as three separate entities thus leading to people on those teams feeling less part of the process. This divide, according to Buzzfeed VP Cap Watkins, allows room for designers to feel devalued or when others attempt to make suggestions, at times even defensive. Having realized this battle at Buzzfeed, Watkins asked: "How do we create a culture of empowerment for design?"
In this talk, Watkins provides a step-by-step process to blur the lines between the different product building teams in an effort to get feedback on not only the work being done but also the process on how that work gets done. Change is complicated and creating the internal partnerships will adjust the way people work, but ultimately for the better. "We have to realize that working together doesn't mean we're trying to take each others job, we're just trying to be better collaborators," says Watkins.
About Cap Watkins
Cap Watkins is a product designer living and working in Brooklyn. He is currently the VP of Design at BuzzFeed, as well as a blogger, podcast guest, conference speaker, and lover of start-ups and technology. Cap believes in thoughtful, holistic design solutions that get out of the way and empower people to accomplish more. His past work includes Etsy, Zoosk, Formspring, and hush-hush stuff at Amazon.
