9 Reasons Why News Media Web Sites Should Consider Moving to HTTPS in 2015

If you work in news media and are interested in technology, you may enjoy my article listing 9 Reasons Why News Media Web Sites Should Consider Moving to HTTPS in 2015. I co-authored it with Eitan Konigsburg and Elena Kvochko, two colleagues with expertise, deep knowledge and passion for cyber security, privacy and technology.

It is published on the Times Open Blog maintained by the Software Engineering Team at The New York Times.

My personal Web site, rajiv.com is served exclusively on HTTPS thanks to CloudFlare.

3 Dimensions of a Technology Team

Organizing Software Engineering Teams to Balance Products, Partners & Professions This organizational design for a technology department aims to optimally blend the need for the technology team to be an engine of innovation, a customer-service organization and technically excellent. It views the staff, roles and responsibilities in three dimensions: products, partnerships, and professions. Products and projects… Continue reading 3 Dimensions of a Technology Team

Three Pillars of a Media/Publishing Company

Questions: Where should product be depicted? Is product an extension of the journalism (newsroom)? In this way of thinking, all products including Web, mobile and all other digital products are primarily newsroom products. Or: Is product part of technology and development? In this way of thinking, product is primarily product development. Or: Is product a… Continue reading Three Pillars of a Media/Publishing Company

5 Productivity Tips for Executives in Leadership & Management Roles

Here are 5 productivity tips for executives in leadership & management roles. Each tip involves the number 5. Every morning (or the night before), make a prioritized list of the top 5 things you plan to accomplish that day. These are your must-do tasks for the day. At the day’s end (or when making the… Continue reading 5 Productivity Tips for Executives in Leadership & Management Roles

Management & Technical Career Growth Tracks (v2)

This second version of the diagram illustrating technical career tracks reflects the following updates since version one: A product management track is now included. (Future updates may include other tracks like design, editorial and marketing.) There is no longer a contributor-level position on the people-management track. This is because most organizations do not have an… Continue reading Management & Technical Career Growth Tracks (v2)

Future of Content Management for News Media for Web sites

Content on Web sites should be managed using systems that were designed from the ground up for the Web. Traditional content management systems with a legacy of features and workflows used for paper-based print products like newspapers and magazines are unsuitable for Web sites. The future of news media content management for Web sites is… Continue reading Future of Content Management for News Media for Web sites

The Evolution of Web Sites

Over the past 15 years, as the Web has evolved, the web sites have gone through these generations. What’s likely to be next in the future of what the Web will be? This article describes the Web so far and what form it will likely assume. 1993-1997: Generation 1.0 These web sites can essentially be… Continue reading The Evolution of Web Sites

Sometimes extra steps in workflows are good

When implementing a content management system or other product, customers often ask for workflows that require the least number of steps required to any given complete task. At first, this seems to make perfect sense; however consider this example of a car: Before you can get inside your car and start driving you have to… Continue reading Sometimes extra steps in workflows are good

Integrating Legacy Technologies With Web Systems at Newspapers

The topic of integrating print technology systems with web technology systems often comes up in the newspaper, magazine and book publishing industries. There is a key difference between Content Companies (e.g. newspapers, magazines) and Other Companies (e.g. pharmaceuticals). With the World Wide Web and information technology (IT) becoming part of everyday life, every company is… Continue reading Integrating Legacy Technologies With Web Systems at Newspapers

Consistency in Labeling Ads as “advertisements” on Content Sites

Some newspaper and magazine web sites visibly label some ads on their web pages as “advertisements” but don’t mark other ads including their own in-house ads on the same pages. Their intentions are journalistic: They want to visibly differentiate their editorial content from ads. (Though that doesn’t explain why they don’t label their own in-house… Continue reading Consistency in Labeling Ads as “advertisements” on Content Sites