matt-beedle.com

Sorry for the sensationalist title, but I thought it might grab your attention. I have found myself wondering a great deal recently, whether an internet company really needs so many non-tech staff as the ones I have worked in have had. It seems to me, that the majority of the work is done by web developers, database programmers and search engine experts. Is there really a need for an editorial team, an analytical team, a bunch of product managers and a whole advertising team? The tech staff are outnumbered by non-tech, but produce almost all of the work.

I understand that this is a very black and white way to view things. I know that there is a need to sell advertising on a site to keep revenue coming in. I know that someone needs to provide fresh content to keep the search engines happy. But, surely it is possible to survive as a business with just one person selling advertising space, and just one person writing content. Instead you end up with a whole bunch of people all with different ideas, all trying to take the business in different directions, all fighting for the time of the developers. The developers then end up working on 10 different things at once, getting none of them done fast, or to the quality they could achieve if they were more focused. Which brings me to my next point.

Who should control the direction of the business, tech or editorial?
I’m pretty sure that most of the big successful web sites are run and controlled by IT staff. Google, Yahoo, Digg, Reddit, Plentyoffish (1 guy), and many more. Non-tech staff are ill-equipped to make decisions as they are usually unaware of the possibilities and/or limitations of diffferent languages and technologies. I’m not saying they should not have a say at all. Everyone should be able to come up with ideas, but the nitty-gritty should be handled by IT. Advertising should stick to selling advertising, project management should stick to managing projects, and editorial should be primarily writing content to put on the site.