How Tech Transformed the New York Times from Within
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The New York Times
When people talk about the evolution of the New York Times over the last 5+ years, they (we!) often use words like "innovation" or "transformation.” Nick Rockwell, its recently departed CTO, published an essay that offers a rare look into the technical and human efforts necessary to power the kind of change we've seen at the Times.
"I probably spent more time on defining, aligning, and measuring goals than anything else at the Times."
But we rarely get a glimpse at what that process really looks like because it's extremely difficult, often tedious, slow going, and not at all glamorous.
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"I kind of hate to say that we rewrote everything, but we pretty much rewrote everything."
Rockwell's team tackled everything from infrastructure overhauls to refactoring entire platforms and even performance reviews. And while we are only peeking behind the curtain of one team, the themes (and details) are instructive, acting as a microcosm of the broader organization during an aggressive transition.
Source: medium.com
Words by
CREATIVE STRATEGY DIRECTOR
Michael Shane