Parsons | MS in Strategic Design & Management Design Innovation and Leadership: An innovation report to help The New York Times meet the challenges of, and thrive in the digital age.

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HUSSEIN ISMAIL
JOONSOO KANG
NANCY KARAM
ROUPEN KARAGEUZIAN
SARA ABOULHOSN

2. The New York Times Innovation report has triggered
curiosity and engaged discussions, and directed a lot
more attention towards the newspaper that has
never failed to take the lead and steal the spotlight
for decades.
Our own extensive research has led us to wonder
whether this innovation report was an accidental leak
at all, or a genius premeditated strategy to capture
attention, engage, and DISRUPT.
A LEAK OR A DISRUPTION?

3. OVERVIEW
Smartphones have become the
common means of communication and
connectivity in many countries. Also,
with the cloud services, people can
easily store and share information
through their smartphones.

4. 2007
1%
10%
80%
2012 2025
of Internet Connections Originate
from Mobile Devices by 2025.
Cyberspace 2025 - Microsoft
TRULY DIGITAL-FIRST ORGANIZATION
DESIGN INNOVATION
NYT Current Digital Presence and Competition
TRULY DIGITAL-FIRST ORGANIZATION

5. FEED-BASED AND
MOBILE-CENTERED
MEDIA CONSUMPTION
Younger generations are more likely to pick up on
the latest trends via feed-based SNS channels.
News trends tracking sites have risen as
disruptive forces in the media industry.
Mashable Reddit BuzzFeed
DISRUPTIVE FORCES

6. THE NEW YORK TIMES
CURRENT DIGITAL PRESENCE

7. NYTimes 2w ago
The New York Times announced that it has developed
an app to provide brief news reports for the Apple
watch and it is expected to be released in April 2015.

8. Under the direction of Alexis Lloyd, Creative Director
of the New York Times Research & Development
Lab, The New York Times has put efforts into digital
platforms for a fruitful interaction with systems such
as Scoop, Streamtools and the Listening Table.
NYT R&D LAB

9. Our Target Audience Encompasses
Generations X, Y, and Z.
Surveyed 112 people
Age 30-45
58%
Age 18-29
36%
45+
6%Age Range
SURVEY RESULT

10. 50% follow the news
daily and they check
it numerous times
throughout the day
WHEN DO YOU CHECK THE NEWS?
Daily
Rarely
Occasionally
TRULY DIGITAL-FIRST ORGANIZATION

11. 90% stated that they get the news
from digital channels
WHAT MEDIUM DO YOU USE TO GET YOUR NEWS?
59%
19%
29%
90%

12. WHAT TYPE OF NEWS DO YOU MOSTLY FOLLOW?Local
International
Politicalandsocial
Businessand
technology
Arts,Designand
fashion
Healthand
wellbeing
Entertainment,
SportsandLifestyle
Anytypeaslongas
it’smakingheadlines
71%
66%
38% 38%
50%
30%
52%
30%

13. To have news that is targeted to
appeal to those needs,
personalized and customized to
keep them reading and subscribed!
Digital First
(Already known by the NYT)
Creating a strategy to develop
direct outreach to the consumer.

14. “The wall dividing the newsroom
and business side has served
The Times well for decades.”

15. NEWSROOM
CONSUMER INSIGHT TECHNOLOGY
DIGITAL DESIGN R&D
PRODUCT MARKETING
FINANCE ADVERTISING
LEGAL STRATEGY
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
: THE WALL WITHIN

16. CONSUMER INSIGHT TECHNOLOGY
DIGITAL DESIGN R&D
PRODUCT MARKETING
FINANCE ADVERTISING
LEGAL STRATEGY
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
: THE WALL WITHIN
NEWSROOM
PROPER LEADERSHIP DIGITAL CULTURE
PROCESSES PRIORITIES
NEWSROOM MINDSET
NEW TEAMS
& STRATEGY
Mold and create a sustainable and flexible culture that
will allow The New York Times to transition to digital first

17. LEADERSHIP
In order to transition to a digital-first
newsroom, upper and higher
management need to be on board and
fully support the change.

18. DAVID HORTH & DAN BUCHNER
Two components of the innovation leadership
The environment that hosts creativity and
allows it to flourish is highly dependant on
leadership behavior.
We describe the three tasks of leadership
as setting direction, creating alignment,
and building commitment
1. Innovative approach to leadership
2. Leadership for innovation

19. Organizational Innovation
Requirements that Define Good
Leadership, which are Required by
NYT Now in Order to Flourish.
Ÿ Organizational Encouragement
Ÿ Lack of Organizational Impediments
Ÿ Leadership Encouragement
Ÿ Sufficient Resources
Ÿ Realistic Workload
Ÿ Freedom
Ÿ Challenging Work
Ÿ Teamwork and Collaboration

20. The NYT should adopt a new mindset to accommodate
a new culture, a design thinking mindset.
Ÿ Experimentation
Ÿ Iteration
Ÿ Fail fast and fail often
Ÿ Creating minimal viable products
Ÿ Feedback flows on new launches
Ÿ A/B testing
WHY DESIGN THINKING?
THE MINDSET
: DESIGN THINKING

21. A lot of research and articles seem to point to a
future where journalism merges with design to
create Human-Centered Journalism where
engagement is key to its future.

22. Our stories were based a lot more on real
people’s needs rather than the story
being dreamt up in our head about what
we think is important or what document
we happen to have or what sources
happen to tell us.
Reporters went to each district and interacted
with the community to understand what was
important to the residents.

23. Call It Human-Centered Journalism
There seems to be a shift to incorporate design
thinking as a core part of the degree
The New School has a new Bachelor’s degree in
Journalism+Design that started this Fall 2014
JOURNALISM EDUCATION

24. DESIGN THINKING
is based on understanding the
world as a set of systems.
It can allow The NYT to become an integrative
thinking organization focused on
PARTICIPATION, COLLABORATION
and HUMANS!
The 3 rules of design thinking that
The NYT needs to embrace are
Putting people at the center
Inviting collaboration and
participation
Embracing experimentation
and failure

25. Ÿ Certain systems were designed for certain tasks
Ÿ Old system = Print
Ÿ New system = Digital
Ÿ Old tasks do not work for new systems
THE SYSTEM
: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

26. Three factors that affect
what an organization can
and cannot do and how it
embraces innovation:
Ÿ RESOURCES
Ÿ PROCESS
Ÿ PRIORITY

27. As successful companies mature, employees
gradually begin to assume that the processes and
priorities that have worked in the past are the right
ones for the future. Those processes and priorities
come to constitute the organization’s culture. One
of the most common complaints made by
newsroom executives today is the difficulty in
changing the newsroom culture to adapt to a
digital world. When attempting to change an
organization’s culture, the starting point is the task
that you’re trying to do, not the process or culture.
This is because processes and priorities are a
response to recurring tasks.
Clay Christensen and David Skok

28. MASTHEAD
NEWSROOM
STRATEGY
TEAM
BUSINESS
FINANCE
HR
PRINT ADVERTISING
DIGITAL ADVERTISING
SALES
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
ANALYTICS
NEWS STRATEGIST
DIGITAL STRATEGY
CREATIVE/ART DIRECTOR
SENIOR EDITOR
NEWSROOM: DESK

29. JOURNALISTS
PHOTOGRAPHERS
MANAGING DIGITAL EDITOR
MAGAGING PRINT EDITOR
EDITOR
DESIGNER
COPY EDITOR
SUB-EDITOR
PROOFREADING
DIGITAL EDITOR
DEVELOPER
TECHNOLOGY
R&D
DESIGN
SOCIAL STRATEGIEST
VIDEO
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

30. Not enough is yet being done to reach
and capture new audiences
Understand the new generation of readers
Our standards mean we
sometimes value deliberation over
speed and tradition over change.
- Newsroom Innovation Team
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT

31. Looking for a more convenient format, so
for this segment, iPad apps and e-papers
sound like a brilliant solution
The things that the existing audience wants
are directly opposite to what the next
audience expects.
UNDERSTANDING
THE NEW READER

32. 85% of readers are already digital and the
shift to mobile is massive where nearly
60% of readers access The New York
Times through mobile devices, while a
majority use social media as the main
channel for following the news.
FAST, SOCIAL AND MOBILE

33. Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Expect the news to be delivered to them
Less interested in long content regardless of its
journalistic quality
Look for news that falls within their interest range
Expect new products to be better and cheaper
At the same time, these are the readers with
the most connectivity, social media presence
and power to spread the news and recruit
more readers
THE FUTURE IS FOR MOBILE

34. Capturing this new generation of readers requires
a new approach and different tactics
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Developing solid promotional strategies for
stories before they get published
Search engine optimization
Finding influential users that can help
spread the articles through social media
Identifying relevant communities to seed
the story to
Reaching out to other media interested in
the story

35. But despite this growing segment that can
generate a significant increase in readership, the
NYT is yet to fully seize this opportunity to grow
its audience.
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
It needs to realize that sometimes the
standards it has set for itself get in its way
It needs to become more flexible, experiment
faster and accept failures as opportunities
to learn
It must become well prepared to survive
disruptions and develop competitive strategies
of its own for disruptive innovation

36. Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Target all segments of users immediately
Be ready to scale-up and exit swiftly
Seek innovation through rapid-fire, low cost
experimentation on popular platforms
The need to compete on all three disciplines:
Low cost, Product Innovation and
Customer Intimacy
BETTER, CUSTOMIZED, CHEAPER

37. STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
: AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
Tongal
Spotify
Active
Consumer
Passive
Consumer
Informative
Push
Interactive
Pull
Snapchat

39. Author: Citizen Y
CITIZEN Y

40. HUSSEIN ISMAIL
JOONSOO KANG
NANCY KARAM
ROUPEN KARAGEUZIAN
SARA ABOULHOSN