An inside look at how the New York Times builds product | Alex Hardiman (CPO at The New York Times)
1. Embrace Chaotic Problems
Product managers should seek out and embrace chaotic problems, as these conditions allow them to thrive by structuring inputs, identifying core issues, prioritizing, and rallying teams around shared goals.
2. PMs as Universal Problem Solvers
Recognize the universal importance of product managers and product thinking to diagnose key problems and develop radically novel solutions across all industries, not just tech.
3. Cultivate Grit and Focus
Develop grit and resilience to navigate tough problems, focusing intensely on the most important issues at hand while being willing to let less critical things slide when necessary.
4. Gain Diverse Product Experience
Work in various product contexts to improve pattern recognition, learn to solve a wider range of problems, and enhance your ability to navigate complex situations.
5. Organize Teams by Functions & Missions
Structure your organization with both functional groups (e.g., product, design) for craft and growth, and cross-functional mission-based teams focused on high-level goals and objectives.
6. Adopt Dual Product Development Modes
Product teams should operate in two modes: rapid, in-the-moment decision-making for urgent needs, and long-term system-level thinking to build scalable tooling and consumer experiences.
7. Focus on Real-World Impact
Design products that directly facilitate real-world outcomes for users, such as enabling informed decision-making or practical actions, to maximize tangible impact.
8. Integrate Editorial Judgment in Product
For products that shape journalism, embed product-minded editors within cross-functional teams to combine their expertise with data and research, ensuring high-quality, impactful content.
9. Structure Expert Knowledge for AI
Leverage the expertise of your specialists by structuring their knowledge into data sets that can be used to train algorithms, enabling scalable and high-quality algorithmic decision-making.
10. Train Algorithms with Quality Signals
On platforms where you own the content, train algorithms using quality signals (e.g., editorial importance scores from journalists) in addition to engagement metrics, to ensure content quality drives outcomes.
11. Blend Editorial Judgment with Data
Product managers should value expert editorial judgment as an “art” alongside “science” from KPIs and customer research, integrating both qualitative and quantitative insights for decision-making.
12. Foster Product-Minded Editors
Encourage editors to develop a product mindset, understanding how their editorial judgment can be structured and scaled through product and algorithmic decision-making.
13. Reduce Burnout Through Focus
To combat burnout, increase focus on essential tasks and actively decide what to stop doing, reducing context switching and providing clarity for teams.
14. Free Public Safety Information
Prioritize public safety by making critical information freely accessible to everyone, especially during crises, rather than placing it behind a paywall.
15. Transparent Communication During Migrations
When facing unexpected issues during product migrations, be transparent with users about the facts and the development process to demystify rumors and maintain trust.
16. Preserve Core Product Magic
When acquiring products, prioritize preserving the core magic and user experience that made them successful, integrating thoughtfully to avoid disruption and ensure a seamless transition.
17. Protect User Data with Accounts
Implement user accounts to protect valuable user data, such as stats and history, ensuring continuity and accessibility across different devices and platforms.
18. Broaden Product Distribution
Expand the reach of your products by making them easily discoverable and accessible across multiple existing surfaces and applications within your ecosystem.
19. Separate Editorial and Business Leadership
Maintain the independence of your content by establishing distinct leadership structures for editorial and business sides, even while fostering intense collaboration between them.
20. Offer Flexible Work Accommodations
To attract and retain diverse talent, be flexible and accommodating to employees’ life circumstances, meeting them where they are to enable them to do their best work.
21. Diversify Reading for Inspiration
Balance your reading with both pragmatic, work-related books and fiction, as inspiration and new ideas can often come from stepping away from your core practice.