Three steps to building a news product

In Part 1, I talked about escaping the “service trap” by shifting from a story mindset to a product mindset. Now let’s get practical. Here are three simple principles any newsroom, of any size, can use to start building products that last longer, serve deeper and make your work more sustainable.

Principle 1: Start with the user

Years ago, when I was an editor, reporters would sometimes ask what leadership thought of their work. My answer was always the same: Don’t worry about them. If the readers are happy, they’ll be happy.

Fast-forward a few decades. When I was building LehighValleyNews.com, the question wasn’t what users thought, it was what they wanted. We had the budget back then to hire a research firm — but we ultimately learned what we could have discovered over a few cups of coffee.

The good news is that you don’t need a circulation report or a research firm anymore — you just need to ask. Spend an hour a week having a real conversation, whether it’s over coffee, in the comments or in a Facebook group. My favorite idea? After a council or school board meeting, set up a chair and a sign that says, “What do you wish you understood better about this place?”

The point is simple. You can’t build trust without listening first, and listening doesn’t cost a dime.

Principle 2: Connect the dots

I don’t know how many times I’ve seen a newsroom put out a huge story and move on the next day. It’s like lighting a match and walking away before you see if it catches.

It was especially true when I worked in television news at NBC10 and Telemundo 62. We’d do an incredible job on the story of the day with multiple packages and digital-only sidebars. Then we would abandon all those sources and contacts to move on.

That’s the trap. We treat every story like a finish line rather than a foundation. But product thinkers connect the dots. They ask, how can this work live longer? What else can it power?

Connecting the dots starts with seeing your reporting not as a single story, but as raw material, something that can be shaped, expanded and repurposed. Every dataset, quote and contact is potential energy waiting to be reused.

Take the example of a water quality investigation. You didn’t just create one article; you created a system. That system includes the deep-dive story, a bulleted explainer for social media, a newsletter that walks readers through what it means for them and an interactive map that invites them to search their own neighborhood. One effort, four distinct products.

The same logic applies everywhere:

• A season of high school sports coverage can evolve into a community scoreboard that updates automatically.
• A series on local elections can become a living voter guide refreshed each cycle.
• A profile of small business owners can anchor an ongoing “Shop Local” directory.

Product thinking doesn’t ask you to do more work. It helps your best work go further. It turns depth into efficiency and lets your journalism keep paying dividends long after publication day.

Principle 3: Iterate and learn

Every great product starts small. Before you invest months of effort, test the idea. Thinking about launching a new podcast? Don’t. Record a 10-minute voice memo version of your newsletter. Send it to 50 loyal readers and ask what they think.

That same quick-test approach works for almost anything. Use it for a new beat, a regular column or a weekly series. Try the idea out, measure how readers respond and then adjust. It’s about building habits, not hype.

When I worked in local TV, our mantra was, “Let’s test it in the 6 a.m. show.” That’s where all the experiments lived. The new formats, the offbeat stories, the visual gambles. Some of them would flop spectacularly, while others caught fire and made it into prime time. The point was never to be perfect; it was to iterate.

Big organizations love to talk about “failing fast,” but you don’t need a product lab to do that. You just need permission from yourself, your editor or your culture to test in public.

A small newsroom can do this as easily as a large one:

• Publish a pilot newsletter edition to a small segment and watch the open rates.
• Test two different headlines on social and see which sparks conversation.
• Try a new format for your weekly roundup and ask readers what worked.

The point isn’t to experiment endlessly, it’s to learn continuously. Every iteration gives you feedback you can use to make the next version better.

That’s the real secret behind product thinking. It replaces fear of failure with curiosity. It turns “What if it doesn’t work?” into “What might we learn if we try?”

What’s next: Finding the time

You’ve got the mindset. You’ve got the tools. But there’s one question every journalist still asks: Where do I find the time?

In the next piece, we’ll tackle that head-on. You’ll see how one small change, just one shift in how you plan your week, can carve out space for this kind of creative, strategic work without adding hours to your day.

Because the goal isn’t to do more. It’s to make what you’re already doing matter more.