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Building a team is one of the hardest things you can do as a manager. How do you recruit and train talent? How do you make sure you have the right mix of people, and that they are applying their skills to the right projects? Our two experts will talk through their experiences, then hold an office-hours type session to talk through issues with session participants. Speakers Emily Ramshaw - Editor, The Texas Tribune @eramshaw | http://www.texastribune.org Jonathan Keegan - Director, Interactive Graphics, The Wall Street Journal @jonkeegan | http://wsj.com
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#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
How to Build a News App Team
Emily Ramshaw Texas Tribune @eramshaw
Jon Keegan The Wall Street Journal
@jonkeegan
It’s HARD!Hard for organizations big and small Unique challenges based on size, location and culture Lots of common problems – and common solutions – that can work for an organization of any size
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
Chemistry
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
The Makeup of our TeamsTexas Tribune
4 news app developers
2 are front-end; 2 are back-end
1 plays role of team lead
Support & back-up from 4-person tech dept
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
The Wall Street Journal
10 news app developers
2 designers
2 data developers
2 tools developers
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
The Makeup of our Teams
CodingJournalism
Design
ChemistryDefine the mix of skills you need for your team Cultural fit > predetermined skills / roles Account for personal chemistry Essential to always have someone speaking the language of journalism – someone to communicate with the newsroom Where possible, match projects to personalities
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
#appsteam
Hiring
@eramshaw @jonkeegan
Hiring Challenges
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
Texas Tribune
Competition with the big dogs
Competing with higher salaries
Inexperienced candidates
Convincing management that a strong news app team is money well spent
The Wall Street Journal
Competition is fierce
Hiring process can take longer
The Pitch
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
The Pitch: Texas TribuneCome work for a scrappy, innovative and youthful start-up –– BEFORE you get picked off by The New York Times Put your name on great work Austin is a tech-forward city that boasts an incredible quality of life, from BBQ to live music to great weather Delightful workplace culture More fun to be the pirates than the Navy
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
The Pitch
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
The Pitch: WSJHuge global audience Relatively small team. You can be a big fish in a small(ish) pond You can go anywhere from here Amazing endless stream of global stories Opportunities to work around the world !
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
TIPSCultivate your interns. Make them a member of your club. Treat them as peers, and as family. Then HIRE THEM.
Reach out to schools: Journalism and Computer Science programs and local civic hacking communities
Create great relationships with academics
Sell the culture and community
Pledge to further education at work: conferences, hackathons, training
Offer opportunities for advancement and leadership
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
TIPSBuild a team that is respected in the newsroom
Very small newsrooms: Partner with colleges, other newsrooms, INN
Engage with the news app development community: NICAR-L list, Hacks / Hackers, ONA. Host a meetup!
Where to advertise jobs: SOURCE, NICAR-L, IRE
Where to hunt: J-Schools, struggling start-ups, competitors – keep your ears open
Invest in enterprising, motivated reporters + editors who can make the transition
Find free help: Seek a Knight-Mozilla fellow or a Google fellow
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
From Our Survey“Appeal to their journalistic side and get them involved in investigations (or at least promise you will). If developers really wanted money they'd go develop, but they're interested in your team for deeper fulfillment that will help coax them out of higher paying gigs.”
“We've seen an issue teaching news to folks with a non-editorial background. For instance, what our ethical standards or story selection.”
“I definitely look for aptitude and communication skills more than developer skills. It's a lot easier to learn code than to learn how to work with luddites.”
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
From Our Survey“At our SRCCON on redesigning the newsroom, one team laid out a great playbook for how news organizations with no history of development can start to build a team”
http://bit.ly/appsteamtips
“There are newspapers who want to hire data or journo-devs but don't give them the time or support to do anything interesting. They constantly get conscripted for daily stories or clerical work and everyone quickly gets disillusioned.”
- Tom Meagher / @ultracasual
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
From Our Survey“ Converting promising homepage producers into web developers is your only hope if you don't have a big pile of money” - Ben Welsh / @palewire
!
“Appeal to their journalistic side and get them involved in investigations (or at least promise you will). If developers really wanted money they'd go develop, but they're interested in your team for deeper fulfillment that will help coax them out of higher paying gigs.”
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan
Come work at The Texas Tribune!
https://www.texastribune.org/jobs/news-apps-developer-front-end/ https://www.texastribune.org/jobs/news-apps-developer-back-end/
#appsteam@eramshaw @jonkeegan