To modernize a legacy publisher, engineering leaders must confront structural tech fragmentation and build cross-functional trust. Brian Hamman, Senior VP of Product Engineering, and Jason Sobel, Chief Technology Officer at The New York Times, join the podcast to detail their journey scaling a world-class digital operation. Moving past old identity crises of whether they are a tech company, the duo explains how they match engineering excellence to world-class journalism. They discuss the rollout of their Delivery Engineering Shared Platform (DVSP), leveraging objective data to eliminate undifferentiated heavy lifting and give leverage back to developers. Brian offers perspective on navigating Conway's Law in publishing workflows, while Jason highlights the strategic use of AI tools like Claude and Cursor to empower multidisciplinary teams.

Join us as we discuss:

• [2:38] Tech strategy perspectives from the old and new guard

• [12:35] Finding an engineering team’s identity at a world-renowned newspaper

• [17:51] Timing innovation in a siloed organization

• [27:30] The Times’ internal approach to AI tools and what problems they’re trying to solve

Craving more? You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Evolving Industry on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or here.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.