Writing · Topic

Strategy

Strategy just means having a plan, and most news organisations don't have a coherent one. These pieces are about diagnosis, real trade-offs and thinking further ahead than next quarter.

  1. Bridge roles need to die

    They let us ignore the real problems.

  2. The Two product team problem

    Most publishers have two product teams: the newsroom and the product department. How alignment, structure and integration can make them one.

  3. Gotta get structural

    Starting as Digital Director at The i Paper: better reader metrics, a new relationship between newsroom and product, and a longer view of change.

  4. Readers readers readers readers readers

    If the news industry has one problem, it's failing to understand and serve readers' needs. Five places to start closing the gap.

  5. Stand out or fade away

    Lessons from edition-based publishing at The Times and The Verge's redesign: why news products need a point of view as platforms send less traffic.

  6. A golden opportunity?

    Most publishers are stuck partway through their digital transition just as AI arrives. The real problems are structural and cultural, and need alignment.

  7. A brief reflection on my first 18 months mentoring

    What 37 news product mentoring sessions taught me: missing career paths, how differently publishers organise, and how lonely the work can be.

  8. Why newsrooms need to stop transforming and start changing

    The news industry had time to adapt to disruption and squandered it. Why newsrooms need to stop running transformations and make lasting change.

  9. News 2050: a 30-year outlook for the media

    A 30-year outlook for news media: the meta-trends that will shape news by 2050, and what media companies should be doing about them now.

  10. Strategy isn't sexy. It just means having a (good) plan

    Strategy just means having a plan. Using the kernel from Good Strategy Bad Strategy: why coherent actions and real trade-offs are where plans fail.