We’ll never hire someone who’s an information architect. It’s just too overly specific. With a small team like ours, it doesn’t make sense to hire people with such a narrowly defined skill-set.

Small teams need people who can wear different hats. You need designers who can write. You need programmers who understand design. Everyone should have an idea about how to architect information (whatever that may mean). Everyone needs to have an organized mind. Everyone needs to be able to communicate with customers.

–Getting Real: Get well-rounded individuals

I ran into this all the time. Or, better yet, I’d find out about a big package the day it was running in print, and we had to figure out a way to “Webify” it.

The problem is far too many newsrooms are print AND online, instead of just being a newsroom that has content in print and online. It’s really a matter of approaching what you are an organization. Most companies still see themselves as newspapers, TV stations, cable news channels, magazines, etc, instead of seeing themselves as news organizations.

I still think we are years away from really see a news organization that has strong synergy between print and online (or broadcast and online). Several years.

The future is when a team of journalists get together and say, “We’re going to cover this and report about that. So, how do we do it?” Then the discussion will be about what are the appropriate tools to use to report on this (text, photos, slideshows, video, databases, etc?), and what are the appropriate mediums (print, Web, mobile, broadcast, etc?)?

The future will not be about filling news holes, but rather will be about finding the best ways to tell each story.