Welcome to the Product Team
Welcome to the Immediate Media Product Team. Working across multiple offices and even-more-multiple brands, in partnership with the agile development teams, we aim to launch and iterate quality products for all our customers.
More information about Immediate Media’s amazing portfolio of brands can be found on the company’s website. Please note: this is not an official blog intended to represent the company; it’s the thoughts and experiences from within the team.
We thought we’d start with who we are, and how our values underpin our work.
[A word of thanks to the amazing Mary Lojkine, whose team blog for the Trinity Mirror team was the final inspiration to get this out the door. Transparent communication and sharing can only help us all get better; and all our customers will benefit.]
Who are we?
We are a distributed team, located in Immediate Media’s Bristol and London offices, with multiple cross-functional agile teams, each containing specialists in design, UX, front- and back-end development, and QA.
The mega-product
Immediate is currently building a brand new platform, based on a WordPress core, which in the early stages is a new content management system but ultimately will be a far broader platform, integrated throughout our entire operation. Rather than working in brand silos, the teams are focused on creating reusable feature sets for the new platform so that all sites can benefit from any innovation. For the first time, the work of the whole product team is interlinked, and the need for communication and cooperation is greater than ever. We have migrated www.radiotimes.com, www.historyextra.com, www.olivemagazine.com, www.gardenersworld.com, www.cyclingplus.com, www.sciencefocus.com, www.countryfile.com, www.discoverwildlife.com, www.historyrevealed.com, www.gardensillustrated.com, www.homesandantiques.com and www.mbuk.com with lots more to come.
Our values
Underpinning what we do is a set of agreed principles. While brand strategies may vary, our aim is to stay true to these values at all times.
Our aim is to build and continually improve high-quality products, which support, engage and delight our customers and diversify Immediate’s revenue streams.
1. Users are at the heart
- We are the guardians of user experience. All our product developments are built on user insight. Our users are not numbers, they are people, and our products should be a positive step on their journey.
2. We bring emotion to the data, and data to the emotion
- Don’t let product decisions be led only by the numbers, or by the most passionate argument. Bring context to the raw data, and take an evidence-based design approach to development. Take risks, and measure the outcome.
3. Show me the money!
- Our products are commercial and maximizing ROI is key. We are proactive in seeking new revenue streams to ensure the growth and sustainability of our business models and processes. Our commercial options are a key part of the user experience of our products.
4. Advocates of agile
- We are building a product development culture based on collaboration, inspection and adaptability. We want to deliver quickly, fail early and fast, learn and iterate. We start with MLPs (Minimum Lovable Products).
5. Open minds, open communication
- We don’t hide behind closed doors or documents. We share information, learning, ideas and best practice.
6 All for one and one for all
- We work not just with our own product(s) in mind, but with a view to the value for the wider team. We learn, iterate and share (tools, services & skills).
7. Think differently
- We actively seek new ways of working and learning, and share these for the benefit of the team, our products and the wider business.
