What’s your school of thought when it comes to publishing systems – newspapers, radio, TV, whatever – and speed to market? Make it perfect, dot every i, cross every t…spend a couple years. Or get a good one in quickly and grow it, as needs grow?
Okay, you’re thinking this is not exciting, and why do I care? But you’re wrong. Almost everything digital revolves around a “publishing system” of sorts. You’ve got a thought for your Facebook page, but you have to publish it, so how it functions, the interface, the speed, the ease of use make all the difference. Same for this blog. Same for Twitter. Slow and cumbersome, you waste time, and perhaps don’t use as often as you would otherwise.
Same stands for the media and publishing system decisions. Only it’s almost a life or death call now, since so many companies teeter on the edge financially, and finding cash to buy systems, and reinvent their operations, and pay the bills, too, is a challenge these days.
It also has everything to do with how a media company organizes itself for this century, not the last. Is the staff (now, much smaller than two years ago) integrated into publishing to all devices, all output methods, or it it split apart, one little group doing this, another doing that? A bunch of separate fiefdoms. Is everyone focused on the content, or the publishing system?
There are already almost too many minefields to navigate. Doesn’t it seem logical – regardless of the name brand – to work to integrate widely across the editorial team, do it right, but know that you keep building it and growing the system as needs change.
But whatever happens, do it quickly. As the industry reinvents, there’s a true need for speed, flexibility and ease of use. It’s simple.