Web developers can affect a newspaper’s operations in ways that you might not initially consider - especially if those code-warriors have the capability and creativity.

If you’re thinking a developer might only create some cool new features for your paper’s Web site, that’s a restriction right from the very start. Consider how many computer applications are now at least partially or entirely Web based, and how the tremendous advantage of near unlimited data flow and integration can affect almost every workflow inside a newsgathering organization. Who has the ability to architect the “valves and levers” that control and throttle that flow? The Web developer.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some great developers, both in-house and freelance. Sometimes, what developers do seems esoteric enough to the outsider that it appears like magic, and someone in management who doesn’t know how to code can have a difficult time knowing what makes a good one.

Different foundation

In many computer-heavy industries, heads of companies started off coding, but that isn’t the case in the newspaper  business.

Our publishers and CEOs tend to come from a financial or editorial background. For example, the head of Id Software (creators of the incredibly popular Doom series) is John Carmack, whose active and tireless coding continues to this day. In fact, he recently turned out several technical innovations that are sure to be seen in the next generation of consoles, the Microsoft Xbox360 and Sony Playstation 3. When Id hires a new developer, you can be sure the top of the company knows exactly what he’s getting.  

Having worked with developers, I’d like to offer some thoughts on points to consider when hiring or contracting these individuals who may be writing code that will affect your operations for years to come: Decide as a company (or at the very least, division) how you want your technology to grow as you replace older systems and processes. Do you want to migrate from Microsoft to Linux? Do you want to move away from dedicated servers in favor of outsourced hosting? Will your reporters work on laptops, and will those be Macs or PCs? All of these factors are going to influence what baseline systems your developers will be coding for, and how they’re going to stay compatible with one another in the future.

Present, future needs

Here’s one example: If you’re going to move your Web site from Microsoft SQL Server to open-source MySQL, it’s just a fact of life that it’s going to be rare to find one developer who’s equally skilled in both. You’ll have to develop for the present, while doing long-term planning for the future.

There are a lot of average developers, and not many who are really, really good. Some of those really good ones don’t work in the newspaper business because it’s not seen as particularly cutting-edge and they can make more money in other industries. So you really have to look. There are many very capable scripters out there, but increasingly, there are also a lot of alternatives to scripting.

Step above

A developer who can construct and register an Internet Server API-based component using .NET (using an example from the Microsoft environment) - and knows when that might prove an advantage and can explain it to you -is one step above the rest.

Some good developers hate commenting code and creating documentation, but that can come back to haunt you. You might have a beautifully running circulation application that now functions 100 percent on the Web, but what happens six months down the road when your developer is out and no one else can make heads or tails of his code and wants to charge you $100 an hour just to try?

It’s a blunt example, but anyone who has been in the business world for a while knows that it happens all the time. People get sick, people get divorced and leave town abruptly, and generally continue to act like messy (and thank goodness, human), human beings.

Review work

If you’re a manager who doesn’t code, find someone who does and have him or her look at your developer’s coding style. Comments (blocks of text that serve no programmatic purpose but are there for humans to read) are frequently gold. This applies mainly to scripted applications. Components like DLLs and compiled code need to be externally documented and versioned.

Quite often, humans as well as machines can interpret XML well enough to get the gist of what’s going on.

Developers vary widely in how they like their style of work and environment to mesh. Some developers prefer to work directly with other staff in tight and interactive settings, such as clusters of workstations where ideas can frequently be exchanged, and file sharing is accompanied by vocal interjections and suggestions outside of planned meetings.

Others would rather code for six hours straight while plugged into their iPods, oblivious to everything but the logical world they get to inhabit. Both can be equally talented, and also have respect for the others’ working habits.

Be specific

You will find developers that have an almost religious devotion to certain technology and will reject on principle anything from “the other side,” which is typically Microsoft. I personally don’t let that get in the way of working with someone, though it mystifies me a little bit. I can’t get past the idea that it’s a slightly more evolved version of the guy who owns a Chevy with that bumper sticker where Calvin is pissing on a Ford.

A developer will almost always have more detail rather than less to begin with.

I suspect a large number of projects are actually launched with a vague set of goals along the lines of, “Well, we want it to do this, and this, and this.” How about asking instead: How many users? Will they be working from high-speed office connections? Will everything be password protected, or just certain parts? Who will administrate the passwords? Will additional tables be added to the database?

In this regard, I recommend reading “Dilbert” regularly, so you can see how NOT to begin these kinds of projects. If your relationship with your developers increasingly resembles that of the pointy-haired boss, it may be time for some self-examination.

Finally, get some developers and Web programmers if you don’t have any. The audience is growing increasingly sophisticated about what it expects from you, because it’s being taught by sites, like Google, which provide practical, useful information.

Don’t just use the Web like another printing press. Ask your developers to try something crazy and new. Then stand back and see what happens.