[Update: Michael Romaner has more details and a (we think) complete list of everyone who worked for MDW over the years.]
I just filed my last expense accounts, tying off my final paperwork at Morris DigitalWorks, where I've spent the last decade.
But I'm not leaving Morris. I'm being mainstreamed. As of this week I'm part of the Morris Publishing Group, which is rebooting with a new digital focus. I'll be reporting to Bob Gilbert, newly named VP of audience development. We'll be working directly with people in our local operating units to innovate, create, measure, report, share and advance.
Over the years, MDW helped Morris newspapers win stacks of awards and build one of the strongest online revenue streams in the industry. MDW also created online publishing software and became a successful vendor with clients throughout the United States and in Europe and Australia.
Now MDW is being dissolved, not in failure but in success. The old battles are over and we've won. We're digital-first. We've successfully embraced an open-source software revolution in our Web operations. Along with other Morris units, we've created a spinoff company to provide technology-driven shared services to other media companies. It's time to turn the page.
This isn't just paper shuffling; instead of being part of a specialized, separate "Internet division" pushing for change in the newspaper division, we'll be in the publishing group, pushing to change ourselves.
One of my first projects will be pulling together a virtual innovation project team consisting of smart people at our "formerly known as newspapers" business units. They'll devote a percentage of their time to designing, prototyping and real-world testing in a process modeled on what we've learned from the open-source software community. We will work together.
There are new battles to be fought, but they are different. We have to adapt to a new economic reality. It's as if we are mammals facing a new post-dinosaur world. We have no luddites and no curmudgeons to rail against, or to blame. Our future is up to us, and I'm looking forward to it.
Comments
Congrats
Digital First
Digital First: Not New - But About Time
I'm wondering about history
Let's hope this works elsewhere
Congratulations
Some more detail...
... from Michael Romaner: MDW . . . End of an Era.
we won
yeah right
Battles never end well
Ex: A lot of folks have struggled with the "we won" reference. But I think it's important to speak to the digital media partisans: it's over. Quit looking for curmudgeons to bash and get to work building the future. We're all in this together.
We've suffered mightily, as you note. Revenues are way down (not primarly because of the Internet), a lot of us have lost our jobs, and those of us who haven't have lost pay and benefits. Nobody comes through anything like what we've experienced without scratches. And we're not done. As the Harvard guys keep telling us, incumbent industries almost never survive major disruptions.
But I'm optimistic. Moving shared services, adhub, digital ad operations, Web hosting and MDW's Web developers into the NMT spinoff could be a big win as that unit takes on more external business. Refocusing Morris Publishing Group away from protecting the declining business and toward building the new businesses is the right thing to do. I think we'll be moving a lot more quickly in coming months.