After leading Postmedia’s Digital Applications team in various forms (including Canwest, Hollinger, and Southam) for what seems to be forever, I have decided to hand off my responsibilities to another and head down a different path.  As of last Friday, the new Digital Innovation team officially exists and I am it’s Dictator, errr… Director.  We’ve actually been up and running somewhat covertly for about a month now and I was itching to tell everyone,  but alas I decided it was best to wait for the paperwork to be finalized.

Joining me on this team are three wonderfully talented individuals that I would like to introduce to you at this time:

Keith Benedict – Keith hails from a strong mixed platform support environment working in both Unix and Windows systems over 15+ years, he came to Postmedia 2 and a half years ago in the role of Systems Integrator supporting Postmedia’s public web sites. This summer Keith takes on the challenging and exciting role as Integrator on the new Digital Innovation Team where he can continue his passion for all things Linux via the Mac, open source projects and get back to some programming in the very latest bleeding edge technologies. When not at the keyboard, Keith enjoys short bike rides (30 miles is short), Catan, strange new languages, reading comics, and generally is a card carrying member of geekdom with all the strange hobbies and passions entitled therein.

Steve Veerman – Since March of 2009, Steve has worked on various pieces of software for the canada.com network. Most recently he helped implement our new single sign-on membership system. Steve is a recent graduate of the B.Tech. program in Computing & Information Technology at McMaster University. He is a technology enthusiast and has a passion for all things web, with a focus on .NET, PHP, and javascript. When he’s not hacking code, Steve enjoys the three ‘r’s: running, redditing, and riding his motorcycle. In joining the Digital Innovation Team, Steve hopes to improve content delivery and accessibility across all platforms.

Kevin Gamble – Hailing from Hamilton, Ontario (aka. “The Hammer”), Kevin is a Web Designer with ten-plus years experience in the industry. Recently removed from The Weather Network, Kevin is a self-proclaimed “Awesomologist”, as well as an Android fan, a sports fanatic (go Habs!) and a fiercly proud Canadian. His skill set includes HTML, CSS, Photoshop and karaoke.

So what is this new team about?  In true Canadian fashion, let me first define it by telling you what it’s not.

We are not Research and Development.

We will be researching new technologies and how we can incorporate them where appropriate.  But that is not our primary focus.

We are not Software Development.

Yes, we will be developing software, but I didn’t leave my last role to create a new team that would do the same thing as the old team.  This is not a newer Applications team with less legacy and baggage.  More importantly, we are not a fast track or overflow to handle projects when other existing teams are too busy.

So, what ARE we then?

First and foremost, we are about sales and revenue.  At the end of the day, that is the most pressing issue facing our industry.  How do traditional media companies both sustain existing revenue sources and, more importantly, generate new sources of revenue.  In particular, what role does technology play in those solutions?  That’s one of the reasons I shy away from calling us an R&D group.  R&D has traditionally been seen as purely a cost centre.   It’s not that we aren’t paying attention to what’s needed ten or twenty years from now, but with the state of our industry the issues are much more pressing and require attention today.  We are all about generating and prototyping new ideas for today and tomorrow.

Second, we are also about community.  My goal is to fully engage the various groups and communities this company needs to be successful, and build positive and lasting relationships with them.  This includes the user community, the various digital media properties both within this company and outside of it, and the software development community.

Given the immediacy of this situation, we are also about rapid development.  One key phrase I’ve been impressing upon the team is that I want us to deliver solutions in hours and days, not weeks and months.  That’s not to say we won’t be following proper protocols and processes.  Far from it.  We will be refining those protocols and processes when and where necessary.  If someone has a great idea, we want to be able to present a working prototype as quickly as possible and then refine it along the way.  As we do that, our intent to so assist the other teams within this company in adopting these new (and sometimes not so new) models, methods and procedures.

Things progress and change quickly, and as best as some may try, most people are very unsuccessful in predicting what new technologies, fads, or consumer habits will be prominent even a year from now.  Aside from doing our best to help influence those areas, the next best thing we can do is ensure we are in a position to quickly adapt to those changes when they come.  That in itself will help ensure our long term success.  For too long many people in the traditional media industry have had their heads in the sand (or elsewhere), convinced or hoping this internet fad would pass.  We need to move swiftly.  Time IS running out, and our team is meant to help.

Now, I don’t want to give anyone the sense that any of this is new to either the Digital Media group or Postmedia as a whole.  Far from it!  I’ve been working on these key elements for as long as I’ve been here, as have many others.  Revenue, community, and rapid development have been and should continue to be a key focus for most people within this organization.  Now we have a team that will focus on these matters without the distractions of the hundreds of other projects on the go at any given time.

So wish us luck as we head down this new path.  I know I speak for the team when I say that we are all very excited about this new endeavour.  For those of you within the Postmedia organization, I’m looking forward to meeting with a number of you shortly as I join a cross-country tour of the various papers.  Until then, you can always reach me by phone, email, twitter, carrier pigeon, or whatever method you find most convenient.