Transforming The Economist online using Scrum

Web Content 2010 – June 8

Introduction

I'm Rob Purdie

Scrum Practice Leader, The Economist online

robpurdie@economist.com

http://twitter.com/robpurdie

http://facebook.com/robpurdie

http://robpurdie.net

The opinions expressed in this presentation are mine and do not

necessarily express those of The Economist Group

Session outline

Background (5 mins)

Content strategy (5 mins)

Challenges (5 mins)

Transformation (15 mins)

Questions (10 mins)

The Economist

Weekly news and international affairs

publication

Started in 1843 by James Wilson

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Our aim

"...to take part in a severe contest

between intelligence, which presses

forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance

obstructing our progress."

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Our reach

Today, The Economist sells 1.4 million

copies per week

The Economist online gets 20-30 million

page views and 4-5 million unique

visitors per month

The Economist online gets over 20

thousand reader comments per month

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Our situation

We need to increase our online

advertising revenues

We need to increase the number of print

subscriptions sold through the website

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Our response

Find ways to increase volume of content

on the site without increasing cost of

producing it

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Our vision

To make our site the premier destination

online for analyzing and debating the

global agenda by drawing on the

intelligence of journalists, readers and

guests

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

"The return of the expert"

Involve our editorial staff in the curation of

content from The Economist online and

around the Web

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Legacy systems

We had an inflexible content

management system

We had technical debt

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Outdated development practices

We were slow to respond to changing

business needs

We needed to be able to deliver business

value sooner

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Outdated management practices

Command and control management

crushes creativity and problem solving

abilities

Our teams were unmotivated - high

performance teams need autonomy,

mastery and purpose

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Move to Drupal

We chose to replace our proprietary

legacy systems with Drupal

Drupal fit with our content strategy

We wanted to become part of a contribute

to a vibrant open source community

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Adopt Scrum as framework

Scrum was designed to address the

dysfunctions of modern management

It's an empirical process

Products are delivered incrementally and

iteratively

Scrum teams are self-organizing

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Scrum process flow

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Perfect is the enemy of better

Our transformation is ongoing

We're not trying to be perfect, but we're

always and aggressively trying to be better

We're working to change old habits and to

beginning to think about our team

members' intrinsic motivations

Background

Content strategy

Challenges

Transformation

Questions

Questions

? Background

Content strategy

Problems

Transformation

Questions