Podcasts Technology Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career An inside look at how the New York Times builds product | Alex Hardiman (CPO at The New York Times)

An inside look at how the New York Times builds product | Alex Hardiman (CPO at The New York Times)

Published: Nov. 13, 2022, 1:01 p.m.

Alex Hardiman is Chief Product Officer at the New York Times, where she oversees the company\u2019s news, cooking, games, audio and advertising products. Previously, Alex was Chief Business & Product Officer at The Atlantic, and before that she was Head of News Products at Facebook. We discuss how engineers and product people work with writers to create impactful stories, how teams build the incredible visualizations and experiences for NYTimes.com, how product teams are structured within the New York Times, and the good and bad about working at a company like the New York Times versus a FAANG tech company. We also talk about the details behind the New York Times\u2019s acquisition of Wordle and uncover what the Times is dreaming up for its product over the next 10 years.

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Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-inside-look-at-how-the-new-york

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Where to find Alex Hardiman:

\u2022 Twitter: https://twitter.com/alex_hardiman

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrahardiman/

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Where to find Lenny:

\u2022 Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

\u2022 Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:

\u2022 Miro: https://miro.com/lenny

\u2022 Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lenny

\u2022 Vanta: https://vanta.com/lenny

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Referenced:

\u2022 Jodi Kantor: https://www.nytimes.com/by/jodi-kantor

\u2022 Wordle: https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/

\u2022 Wordle Is a Love Story: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/technology/wordle-word-game-creator.html

\u2022 Josh Wardle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/powerlanguish

\u2022 Eric Kim\u2019s recipes: https://cooking.nytimes.com/ourcooks/eric-kim/

\u2022 Wirecutter: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/

\u2022 Framing Britney Spears: https://www.nytimes.com/article/framing-britney-spears.html

\u2022 Hard Fork podcast: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/04/podcasts/hard-fork-technology.html

\u2022 High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People: https://www.amazon.com/High-Growth-Handbook-Elad-Gil/dp/1732265100

\u2022 An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management: https://www.amazon.com/Elegant-Puzzle-Systems-Engineering-Management/dp/1732265186

\u2022 The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium: https://www.amazon.com/Revolt-Public-Crisis-Authority-Millennium/dp/1732265143

\u2022 Giovanni\u2019s Room: https://www.amazon.com/Giovannis-Room-James-Baldwin/dp/0345806565/r

\u2022 The Daily podcast: https://www.nytimes.com/column/the-daily

\u2022 The Wire on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-wire

\u2022 Google Workspace: https://workspace.google.com/

\u2022 Slack: slack.com

\u2022 Figma: figma.com

\u2022 Mode: https://mode.com/

\u2022 GitHub: https://github.com/

\u2022 Fidji Simo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fidjisimo/

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In this episode, we cover:

(04:48) Alex\u2019s background

(07:37) How Alex fought disinformation on the news team at Facebook\xa0

(11:11) How some product people thrive in chaos

(14:13) Alex\u2019s return to the New York Times

(16:22) What product means at the New York Times

(20:42) How the product team at the New York Times is structured

(26:20) How the New York Times makes stories come alive with balanced creative and technical teams

(33:15) The acquisition of Wordle\xa0

(42:00) What it was like to work at the New York Times during the onset of Covid

(47:11) How to avoid burnout on a product team

(49:26) How the New York Times has set itself apart with its subscription package

(52:21) How the New York Times\u2019s products are rooted in helping in the real world

(52:54) Lenny\u2019s tips for improving Wirecutter

(53:36) The differences and similarities on product teams in a news organization

(59:58) Lightning round

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.



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