“When I started my career at The Washington Post in the late 1990s, the newsroom wore a dusty, outdated look as if it were paying homage to its legendary past. The Post of today occupies an updated building on D.C.'s renowned K Street, in modern, glass-walled offices with a Silicon Valley aesthetic,” explains Yuki Noguchi in their recent NPR article entitled “At 'Washington Post,' Tech Is Increasingly Boosting Financial Performance.”
“This is the Post after Jeff Bezos, the Amazon CEO and e-commerce visionary, bought it in 2013. Since then, the paper's business and technology has almost outshone its award-winning journalism,” Noguchi continues.
According to the NPR article, “Before Bezos, the Post was losing revenue and its losses were widening, as it struggled to find income to replace its decline in print ads. The Post is now privately owned and doesn't discuss specific figures, but says revenue and profits are up, as subscribers grow and digital ad revenue increases. Its monthly Web traffic has grown 56 percent, to 78.7 million over the past two years, according to ComScore.”
We’d say these are impressive numbers. Would you agree?
Numbers like these would make any proactive leader wonder how to achieve similar success.
So, we kept reading to find out.
Noguchi explains “that reflects its journalism, but it also reflects big changes under the hood. Under Bezos, the newspaper has transformed its operations, from how it writes headlines and chooses photos, to how it generates ad dollars.’
It appears to us that Bezos fought the status quo – and has a long-term strategy for hitting performance number worth writing about.
The Post's chief information officer, Shailesh Prakash, explains in Noguchi’s article that Bezos came with a message:
"He talks to us a lot about not being afraid to experiment, to think long term," Prakash says. "'Stop whining that the Web took publishing away from us, took our business model. It also brought new models,' "he says Bezos told them, in the NPR piece.
We couldn’t agree more!
Recognize the Need to Make Changes
Your old ways of running your operation are not efficient today, and won’t be tomorrow.
But there’s good news.
Technology has afforded you the ability to change your state, experiment new methods, and evolve your operation today, tomorrow, and into the future.
You don’t have to fall behind. You don’t have to succumb to “whining.”
You can do great things for your organization and leave a lasting legacy.
Do you want success?
Then, you must continuously experiment and think about the long term, period.
Your guests, staff, boss, and organization depend on it.
Keep reading; we’re here to help you make your first move.
Use Proactive Operations for Experimentation
You need baseline when experimenting.
But, that’s not it.
You also need to follow a discipline – or methodology – to ensure your experimentation maintains validity.
If you shoot from the hip, you’ll never get accurate results. You’ll never know what you did right or need to improve.
So, how do you get the results you need? What’s the best way to control your operation’s experimentation?
You use Proactive Operations.
Now, you might already know about Proactive Operations. But, if not, you should read about it here.
Using this methodology gives you a three-tier framework for operational setup and long-term testing of your processes.
- Identifying your current strategy (aka your processes, protocols, and procedures)
- Understanding how your infrastructure is set up
- What type of technology do you use? (Pen and paper are each considered technology)
It’s time to start experimenting once you’ve got your ‘current state’ documented.
Are you ready?
This is where it gets fun.
We’d recommend looking at all three tiers for an experiment to ensure everything aligns.
For example, start with your strategy.
Want to increase personnel for a location as a result of more fights? Make sure your infrastructure is matched accordingly.
It might not affect your infrastructure directly, but this is the point of following a methodology to ensure all bases are covered.
Then, address your technology.
Will you need additional budget to invest in the best resources to get this done? You need more incident management mobile apps.
Agreed?
OK, one experiment is done. How do you feel?
It’s much easier when you follow a methodology like Proactive Operations, right?
Institute Changes with Positive Long-Term Impact
You can’t stop at experimenting.
You can’t experiment just for the short-term either.
It’s critical to address your results and how they will impact your organization one, two, five, and even ten years from now.
What strategy, infrastructure, and technology changes and advancements do you plan to employ that have a positive long-term impact on your operation?
You’ve got to start your experimentation initiatives this way.
Many operations want quick fixes and an easy “improvements.”
But, what we’ve found is that many times it’s the laborious changes you make now, that have the best long-term results.
For example, we speak with many leaders and teams about their maintenance operation.
How quickly does your blood pressure rise once CMMS comes to mind? Immediately, right?
You dread the cumbersome system, but you’re even more stressed about having to a new system.
You’re dreading the transition and all the work that comes with it. Does this sound familiar?
Trust us; putting in the time and money investment now results in a high-performing operation for years down the road.
Over to You
The Washington Post is a clear example of embracing experimentation and thinking long term. Their results should motivate you to see what your operation can achieve.
Times have changed. Agility is a must have, but with focus, you can ensure the longevity of your operation’s effectiveness.
Now, we understand your operation is different. That’s fine. But, at least start with baby steps and use Proactive Operations to guide you.
So, are you ready change your operation's future?
