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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

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Chemistry

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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

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The Wall Street Journal

10 news app developers

2 designers

2 data developers

2 tools developers

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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

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#appsteam

Hiring

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Hiring Challenges

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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

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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

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The Pitch

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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 !

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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

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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.”

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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

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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/

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