Nick Petrie

My name is Nick Petrie and I’m currently Deputy Digital News Director at Reuters. Before that I spent nearly a decade at at The Times and Sunday Times, most of it as Deputy head of digital, where I worked on content and subscription strategy, newsroom transformation, newsroom tooling, data and insights in newsrooms and edition based publishing (amongst other things).

Elsewhere

I am a NPA Board Member

I ran a side project – Evolving Newsroom, which you can read more about here

I’m also a co-founder of Wannabe Hacks (sadly no longer online)

How I work

Create simple, inspiring strategies

I am good at creating simple, easy to communicate strategies that make it clear to teams and individuals what is expected of them. I know how to craft a narrative that inspires all my colleagues and encourages alignment.

A focus on readers

Over the last decade I have learnt how and when to use the dizzying array of insights we now have on our readers. I am the strongest advocate you will find for placing the reader at the heart of your product and decision making.

However, I don't believe in abdicating hard decisions to 'testing', it is still vital to be intentional in the product experience you wish to create.

Create space for risk taking

I like to build teams that are more than the sum of their parts. I think this is only possible when they feel comfortable taking risks. I have considerable experience in creating an environment where teams are open to all the options and new information and like to ask 'what if'.

A coach and a mentor

I like problem solving. I love helping other people to solve problems. I think coaching your team to their own realisations and solutions to the problems they face is one of the most powerful ways to help team members grow.

I try to be very clear about what I expect and what you can expect from me as a colleague and a leader.

I also strongly believe in the importance of mentoring and make time available every week to anyone (internal or external) that wants it. You can learn more about that here

Clear communication

I am happy and confident discussing the top lines for a story one minute, feeding back on wireframes the next, before analysing the trade-offs in our approach to storing analytics data in BQ. In all cases, clear communication is vital and knowing the level of detail and technical translation required is crucial.

I am a big advocate of tools such as Slack because I believe that the free flow of information in an organisation is vital to innovation and collaboration. Good use of tools like these takes work to make sure they are an asset and not a burden, but I am convinced they are worth the effort.

Adaptable leadership

I am primarily a coalition builder and a diplomat. I prefer to bring people with me, but I also recognise that organisations and teams need different types of leaders at different times.

I can adapt my style to what is needed. Whether that be a point person making decisions to allow others to execute or supporting from the back with a guiding hand.