GOTO - The Brightest Minds in Tech Tech Leadership Challenges: Communication & AI at Financial Times • Alice Bartlett & Charles Humble
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Oct 14, 2025 Alice Bartlett, Tech Director for Customer Products at the Financial Times, shares her insights from leading a 70-person team and navigating the balance between technology and editorial priorities. She discusses the challenges of managing legacy code, the evolution of tech roles, and effective communication strategies in her leadership journey. Bartlett also addresses the impact of AI on software engineering, expressing concerns about quality and over-reliance among junior developers, while highlighting practical applications for testing and data.
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Editorial Views Vary Widely
- Alice describes editorial staff with mixed views: long-tenured editors often prioritise print while others embrace digital storytelling.
- The FT has progressive journalists who think in terms of storytelling capabilities across mediums, not just channels.
Organize Teams Around Stakeholder Goals
- Customer-facing product teams focus on editorial experiences while lifecycle teams focus on acquisition and retention.
- Splitting by stakeholder intent keeps product goals clear and reduces role confusion across engineering teams.
Legacy Varies By Component
- The FT app codebase is roughly 15 years old while the website was rebuilt in 2016 using Node and microservices.
- Some parts remain legacy, particularly the publishing API, but are being modernized gradually.