Learnings From A Decade
What I learned from running an online magazine for ten years.
Hi there, it’s been a long time since the last newsletter. However, I still was shocked that it’s been already three months. Time flew by like a fighter jet, and sometimes I felt like a passive passenger, not a pilot.
The most critical decision in the past months was probably to close down my online magazine Negative White after a decade of voluntary efforts. There are two reasons for the decision:
Increased Workload
By the end of June, I got appointed as product manager for Blick.ch. I’m excited about this tremendous opportunity, and I love to work more on projects, development, and strategy.
However, it adds a ton of mental workload to my already tight schedule as Head of Community and product manager for our newsletters. I felt that I had to re-organize my energy.
Lost Joy
But what really drove the decision was the lack of joy, a general sense of fulfillment in work on Negative White. Sure, there were moments of happiness and success. Nevertheless, the moments when I felt overwhelmed and stressed by the things on my to-do list occurred ever more frequently.
In the very first newsletter issue I sent through Revue, I wrote about three key metrics: joy, relationship, and money. Joy was always the most significant driver for Negative White. Its decrease, therefore, led to the rational consequence: the era had to end. Don’t get me wrong; it was a tough decision nonetheless.
In 2018, I listed some of my learnings that Negative White provided in this newsletter. They’re still valid, but I’d like to offer a synthesized summary here:
Hi there, who would have thought that a virus is turning out to be the biggest driver of digitization and decentralized working environments?
The coronavirus uncovered many issues: Schools were not prepared at all, businesses that put shareholder value above all are struggling, and the lack of digital infrastructure in Switzerland’s public administration is staggering.
However, I’m concerned about the debate around remote work. Although the home office policies were ramped up quickly by enterprises all around the globe, they’re not representative of the transformation of our working environment. Let me explain why.
The advantages of working from home have been confirmed over and over again. The employees are more productive, an observation I made about myself in the last three weeks while in the home office. Also, a team member confirmed that she felt more obliged to be productive than usual. She claims it’s because working from home gives her more responsibility in managing her day.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about agile development. This year, we’ve been able to deploy a series of new features for our commenting infrastructure. While most of them are invisible to the users, there is one exception: Finally, we’re able to engage in the comment sections clearly labelled as official accounts.
Often, people in the newsroom are staggered about the velocity of new features we manage to release. They tell me about their struggle to get things done. These complaints regularly come from people with a background in journalism. And I think that’s the problem.
Human-centered Storytelling
How Design Thinking improves audiences-driven journalism.
Design Thinking has become a major buzzword in the last few years. It is clear that Design Thinking is not the solution for everything. However, as a human-centred framework that “integrates the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success” (Tim Brown), Design Thinking may provide a useful process for public-powered journalism.
In a research paper for my master’s degree in Digital Management at Hyper Island, I explored the ways Design Thinking could be applied in journalism. This article is a comprehensive summary of said paper as well as a start for further discussions and improvements.
Let’s take a look at the Design Thinking process as described by the British Design Council.
It starts with a problem statement. After that, there are four phases visualized by a double diamond:
- Discover: Gaining insights into the problem
- Define: Synthesizing research findings
- Develop: Ideating potential solutions
- Deliver: Implementing a solution that works
Sometimes a fifth phase is added to show that the delivered solution is iterated over and over. Dan Nessler, a Hyper Island alumni and Head of UX at Hinderling Volkart, wrote a comprehensive guide to the Design Thinking process if you want to dig deeper into that topic.
Why should Design Thinking be applied in journalism?
The general definition of journalism may be summarized in three services to society: Information, explanation, and classification. But: “The bulk of news stories get created without the customers (the audience) meaningfully involved in the decisions that shape the product (the story),” writes Jennifer Brandel, CEO of Hearken. Interaction with the “people formerly known as the audience” usually happens after the publication.
However, many studies indicate a positive effect on business success in media companies that engage with their users early on. So it’s quite a paradox that most journalists believe that their work is vital to serving the public interest but are wary of allowing readers to dictate what’s newsworthy. There’s an excellent paper by James G. Robinson about the journalist’s perception of their readers.
Today, journalism is competing in the rambling attention economy of the internet. The competitors are not only other publishers but social media platforms as well. It is, therefore, essential to attract attention by focusing on people’s needs. Also, the world is getting more interconnected, and humanity tackles complex problems. A focus on the readers’ questions helps journalism to fulfil its purpose in society.
Design Thinking can help to achieve a higher engaged community and erase the gut feeling about interests and relevance by actively including the readers in the process. However, this does not conclude that the readers will make every decision. In terms of journalism, the newsroom still can decide but always with the reader in mind. The success stories also show the economic viability of a human-centred storytelling approach. The publishers are struggling with financial sustainability. Therefore, it is crucial to focus the resources at hand on the people’s needs.
Moreover, a loyal audience is vital for business success, whether the publisher bets on ad revenue, memberships, contributions, or subscriptions.
Introducing the Human-centered Storytelling framework
Keeping the readers in mind has already become a habit in many newsrooms. However, the idea of including them in the editorial process feels worrisome and abstract to the reporters I interviewed for the research paper.
Why Do Journalists Have A Hard Time Listening To The Audience?
If you ask an older journalist about the past, you will hear at least some crazy stories. By crazy, I mean batshit insane.
If you ask an older journalist about the past, you will hear at least some crazy stories. By crazy, I mean batshit insane. Things happened back then; you could not imagine in your wildest dreams. You inevitably ask yourself how they managed to create a newspaper every day.
It was a different time, and a different mindset ruled in newsrooms. I’d even state that it was an ego-driven approach to journalism. I, the journalist, have an idea for a story, and I will write it – no matter what. The journalists had total control over the process, and feedback or criticism was lagging. Maybe some letters were sent, and perhaps some phone calls were received.
Yeah, those were the good, old days, the aging journalist will tell you.
But were they really that good?
Last week, I began studying Digital Management at Hyper Island. The first couple of campus days were emotionally challenging, inspiring, and enlightening. Here’s my biggest takeaway so far.
My motivation changed quite drastically throughout the months before the course even began. When I applied, I worked as a project manager. So naturally, I hoped to learn more about tools that will help me in that area.
Then, I got the position as the leader of the newly founded community team. I hoped, the master’s degree will provide me with skills and frameworks to lead.
But when I spoke to several Swiss alumni, I realized that it would probably change me instead of just stitching some knowledge onto me.
And that’s what happened. The so-called Foundation Days at Hyper Island kickstarted something in me, that was sound asleep for a far too long time: an inner dialogue about my feelings and needs.
While reflecting on the experience made in Manchester, I also came to another realization: You can’t form relationships with positions–only people. You may have respect because higher positions have higher authority. But that doesn’t mean you’ll connect on a human level.
In this rapidly changing world of digitalization, we’re facing more and more complex tasks. Effective teamwork is essential. I can recommend the book “Creating effective teams” by Susan A. Wheelan. It’s a great guide to understanding how groups have different stages in their lifespan. Here’s an article that may help you either.
Relationships formed between group members as well as the leader are crucial to creating a trusting, open, and creative environment that drives innovation.
Leaders have to inspire the change towards a more emotional – in fact, human – culture. That means they have to take the first step into vulnerability as described by Brené Brown: