Alex Hardiman is Chief Product Officer at the New York Times, where she oversees the company’s news, cooking, games, audio and advertising products. Previously, Alex was Chief Business & Product Officer at The Atlantic, and before that she was Head of News Products at Facebook. We discuss how engineers and product people work with writers to create impactful stories, how teams build the incredible visualizations and experiences for NYTimes.com, how product teams are structured within the New York Times, and the good and bad about working at a company like the New York Times versus a FAANG tech company. We also talk about the details behind the New York Times’s acquisition of Wordle and uncover what the Times is dreaming up for its product over the next 10 years.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-inside-look-at-how-the-new-york—Where to find Alex Hardiman:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/alex_hardiman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrahardiman/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Miro: https://miro.com/lenny• Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lenny• Vanta: https://vanta.com/lenny—Referenced:• Jodi Kantor: https://www.nytimes.com/by/jodi-kantor• Wordle: https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/• Wordle Is a Love Story: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/technology/wordle-word-game-creator.html• Josh Wardle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/powerlanguish• Eric Kim’s recipes: https://cooking.nytimes.com/ourcooks/eric-kim/• Wirecutter: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/• Framing Britney Spears: https://www.nytimes.com/article/framing-britney-spears.html• Hard Fork podcast: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/04/podcasts/hard-fork-technology.html• High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People: https://www.amazon.com/High-Growth-Handbook-Elad-Gil/dp/1732265100• An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management: https://www.amazon.com/Elegant-Puzzle-Systems-Engineering-Management/dp/1732265186• The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium: https://www.amazon.com/Revolt-Public-Crisis-Authority-Millennium/dp/1732265143• Giovanni’s Room: https://www.amazon.com/Giovannis-Room-James-Baldwin/dp/0345806565/r• The Daily podcast: https://www.nytimes.com/column/the-daily• The Wire on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-wire• Google Workspace: https://workspace.google.com/• Slack: slack.com• Figma: figma.com• Mode: https://mode.com/• GitHub: https://github.com/• Fidji Simo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fidjisimo/—In this episode, we cover:(04:48) Alex’s background(07:37) How Alex fought disinformation on the news team at Facebook (11:11) How some product people thrive in chaos(14:13) Alex’s return to the New York Times(16:22) What product means at the New York Times(20:42) How the product team at the New York Times is structured(26:20) How the New York Times makes stories come alive with balanced creative and technical teams(33:15) The acquisition of Wordle (42:00) What it was like to work at the New York Times during the onset of Covid(47:11) How to avoid burnout on a product team(49:26) How the New York Times has set itself apart with its subscription package(52:21) How the New York Times’s products are rooted in helping in the real world(52:54) Lenny’s tips for improving Wirecutter(53:36) The differences and similarities on product teams in a news organization(59:58) Lightning round—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Wordle went from a personal game, created by a developer for his girlfriend, to a global phenomenon with two million users in just a few months. Then The New York Times made an unexpected bid to acquire it. But will Wordle outlast other pandemic pastimes? Harvard Business School senior lecturer Christina Wallace discusses the journey of software engineer and accidental entrepreneur Josh Wardle in the case, “Wordle.”

Samsung Unpacked happened this week and have the phones in hand! Marques and Andrew go over the S22 and the S22 Ultra before having a chat with Josh Wardle. You may have heard of the viral game Wordle that he created but you might not know that he was also one of the minds behind a few popular April Fool's day experiments at Reddit too. Whether you're interested in the new phones or what went into the making of this viral hit, this episode is a good one.Links:Samsung Galaxy S22 Impressions: https://bit.ly/3Bf7feFSamsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Impressions: https://bit.ly/3Lkd4w9Wordle: https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/Twitters:https://twitter.com/wvfrmhttps://twitter.com/mkbhdhttps://twitter.com/andymanganellihttps://twitter.com/adamlukas17https://twitter.com/powerlanguishInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/wvfrmpodcast/Shop the merch:shop.mkbhd.comJoin the Discord:https://discord.gg/mkbhdMusic by 20syl:https://bit.ly/2S53xlCWaveform is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Josh Wardle, creator of Wordle, discusses the process of creating the game, filtering the word list, and the controversy over UK or US spelling. They also explore the nostalgia of childhood and online gaming, reflect on working at Reddit, and delve into the history and difficulty of the New York Times crossword.

Josh Wardle, creator of Wordle, joins the hosts to talk about the tech stack for Wordle, its viral rise, the origin of the idea, and selling the game. They also discuss web components used in building the game, the connotations of words, frustrations with clones and legal issues, and the challenges of the deal-making process.