JaySmall.com/old

In recent weeks, at least a half dozen acquaintances in and near the news biz have asked me about innovation in some form:

We want to start an innovation [program|team|fund] at my [newspaper|Web site|media company]. How do we do it?

How do you find and keep good people to manage an innovations process and team?

Resources are tight in my shop. We're cutting staff here or there. How do we set aside time and money for innovation and still [get the paper out|keep the Web server running|make payroll|see our families]?

How do you make build-vs.-buy decisions?

What about Scripps' (my day job) Entrepreneur Fund? How does that work, and how well is it working?

These are great questions that deserved better, faster replies than this tome. Still, I hope some of these ideas might help frame thinking about innovation at individual newspapers or media conglomerates. Even if you want to improve product development at another kind of company, you might find some nuggets of value.

I led a discussion on digital storytelling today at the American Press Institute, as mentioned in an earlier post (on which the c

As I mentioned, I was a panelist Tuesday in a session at the Newspaper Association of America marketing conference, titled "Searching for

I neglected to report Scripps' relaunch of GoSanAngelo.com, Web site of the San Angelo Standard-Times in Texas, which as of a few weeks ago became newly enric

CNB

In the mostly frivolous movie 13 Going On 30, the main character, after jumping magically to age 30 and the physique of Jennifer Garner, works as a creative leader at a fashion magazine she practically worshiped as a pre-magic 13-year-old.

The magazine publisher, under escalating competitive pressure, tosses out a word and a prospect that sends the whole staff reeling in horror:

Redesign.

In this Hollywood-coated glimpse at the magazine world, the term signals utter failure and bleak chances for recovery.

I've spent most of my career in the newspaper industry, including several years as an editorial creative director. I don't remember redesign projects taking on that air of disaster. I loved doing them, if only because of the ego feed of feeling like an auteur, and in no small part because I did redesigns in an era full of ugly papers that really needed them. It was hard not to improve a paper under those conditions.

Sounds like Web sites circa, say, now. :-)

But that's the perspective I bring to the conversation about return on investment for newspaper redesigns, which started in part here and extended to NewsDesigner's timeline charts showing circulation of several papers before and after redesigns. Pepper in a spirited discussion of redesigns' effect on newspaper revenue, and you start seeing people's true colors.

I chipped in on that discussion, too -- it's worth the time to read the whole debate in the comments on NewsDesigner. Some excerpts follow.