yelvington.com

The great philosopher Yogi Berra was quoted as saying, "You got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."

I was thinking about that the other day because a colleague had told a story about a key newspaper executive -- not one of ours, fortunately -- who admittedly had no goals or vision for that newspaper's website.

No goals. No vision. No strategy.

I wonder how widespread a problem that is.

Reading a blog item from Steve Duke at Northwestern University, I stumbled across this (emphasis added):

"But one [seminar] participant last week observed that 'maybe it's less a tech issue than a mission issue,' deftly linking the 'we suck' perception with the lack of a real audience strategy.

"We think he's right. It is less a tech issue and more an issue of not having a clear mission -- a strategy -- for how the Web site fits in with the print product to reach audiences and what audiences to target. Until newspapers can articulate a strategy, their Web sites will struggle.

Can you articulate the mission, vision and strategy for your newspaper's website? Can everyone on the team do the same?