NYTimes.com runs on an IT infrastructure that is very different from the newspaper's.Building it required developing new expertise.Because our projects are much smaller in terms of capital required than newspaper projects,it would have been difficult to get them prioritized if we were part of the newspaper.Being separate allowed us to move faster.At the same time,being part of The New York Times Company allowed us to take advantage of the better pricing that the corporation is able to get from vendors.
NYTD developed a bottom-up approach to budgeting.Though most solid ideas for new projects were generated by experienced executives and journalists,ideas for new content and new features were encouraged from throughout the organization.To help generate ideas,NYTD constantly reviewed usage data for its website but also encouraged thinking independent of this data.This was meant to ensure ideas were generated that could attract potential customers,not just existing ones.