System Acquisition and Development

Case One Etsy Uses DevOps for Rapid Deployment
Looking for a unique gift—such as a personalized, hand-stamped fishing lure or maybe
a vintage gold hairpin or even a crocheted hat for your cat? If so, you might want to join
the 24 million active buyers who turn to the Web site Etsy as their source for handmade
and vintage products—ranging from art and photography to clothing and jewelry to
home décor and furniture.
Etsy was founded in 2005 in an apartment in Brooklyn, New York, by a small group of
people who saw a need for an online exchange where crafters and artists could sell their
handmade and vintage goods along with art and craft supplies. The company, which
views itself as a global community of creative entrepreneurs, shoppers, manufacturers,
and suppliers, now has more than 800 employees and a peer-to-peer e-commerce site
that generated close to $2.4 billion in sales in 2015. Currently, the site has over 35
million items available for sale from 1.6 million active sellers around the world.
Early on, Etsy placed a high priority on developing a sophisticated technology platform
to support its business, with an engineering culture centered around a philosophy that
the company has dubbed “Code as Craft” (the company even operates an engineering
blog under that name). However, as with many start-ups, the development of Etsy’s
Book Title: eTextbook: Fundamentals of Information Systems
Chapter 8. System Acquisition and Development
Case Studies