The way things are supposed to work
In the past several days, we've launched two new discussion forums, two new blogs and a podcast. And this was a week that started off with me thinking not much new would happen until our new Web publishing system arrived.
But the newsroom's main online guy, Mike Fuchs, fired up the forums without consulting me. And once Charlie and Stephen got the new blogs ready to go, they just notified those blogs' owners, who started posting; no one checked with me first.
I was involved with planning for the podcast -- it actually began almost two weeks ago -- although I spent way more time listening than talking during those discussions. And when Jeri and Nicole were ready to record it, they just did. And when it was ready to be posted, someone posted it. Again, without checking with me.
My immediate reaction was to think, "Hey, shouldn't they have checked with me? It's not supposed to work like this!"
But then I thought: No, it's supposed to work exactly like this -- ideas bubble up, they're acted on, and we move on to other things, all the while drawing more people in the newsroom into the effort. And very soon, we'll be drawing more people in the community into the effort, as well. We've already thrown some gates open, and there will be more.
If we had one, I would say that everything is proceeding according to plan.
