Together we'll build the schedule for SRCCON:PRODUCT. (Photo: Alyson McClaran for Colorado Media Project)

Next February we are back in Philadelphia for SRCCON:PRODUCT, a day-long discussion about the role of product management in news media organizations.

Product managers play a key role in bridging the gap between executives, newsrooms, revenue teams, and the audience each serves. And “product thinking” is a skill practiced by many within today’s news organizations, regardless of job title.

So on February 8, 2020, 150 product thinkers—including product managers, designers, reporters, audience engagement managers, developers, strategists, editors, entrepreneurs, and others—will gather on the campus of Temple University for the first conference by, for, and about product and news.

Tickets will go on sale later this year for $125, plus ticketing fees. An application for travel support scholarships will also be available.

We’ll have more details about SRCCON:PRODUCT in October. Sign up for the Product Thinking mailing list to get updates about the call for proposals and tickets or follow @SRCCON.

This will be the fourth topic-focused SRCCON conference—smaller convenings built on the SRCCON model of deep conversation and community connection. At prior events in this series, participants examined how we support each other and collaborate within newsrooms, the dynamics that underlie those relationships, and how power informs decision-making within design and development processes. The third topical event, SRCCON:LEAD will happen a few months before this product event on November 19-20 also in Philadelphia.

For SRCCON:PRODUCT, OpenNews is partnering with a newly formed “Product Thinking” initiative supported by Temple University Klein College of Media and Communication, The Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and the Missouri School of Journalism.

You can join this effort by signing up for the Product Thinking email list for updates and discussion.

SRCCON:PRODUCT will focus on the question, “How do we make news media organizations more audience-oriented, data-driven and product-focused?” We’ll host multiple sessions over the course of that day to dive into the many facets of that question: The business of journalism is at a tipping point. Is scale dead? Can advertising support aggressive local news-gathering efforts? Is reader revenue the future? How prepared are our organizations to adapt and survive? And how can we be and do better?

The day after the Philadelphia conference, organizers of the Product Thinking initiative will meet with a newly formed advisory panel representing a diverse cross section of the industry. The group was assembled this month to help develop the SRCCON:PRODUCT program. Our February 9 meeting will focus on how an ongoing organization might provide long-term support for the work of product thinkers.

The future of journalism is digital-first, reader-focused, community-oriented, informed by data, highly collaborative internally and externally and supported by diverse revenue sources and strategies. Product thinking is a key to how we transform our organizations to meet those challenges. We hope you will join us in Philadelphia in February to kick off an important new effort to support journalists and journalism.