Agile development is good for platform level development, but two week iterations are totally inappropriate for daily editorial output. I have worked with developers who question why editors would want what they have every reason to want journalistically.

Many of the developers who I have worked aren’t completely ignorant of journalism. In the late 1990s, our lead developer was one of those early journalists who taught himself how to code.

There are cultural issues to be sure, and I often sit in between them. But overall, I’ve found that a good development team given a clear direction can do amazing things. I know of an instance where journalista have waved their arms and vaguely exhorted a developer (actually it was Adrian Holovaty) to go create …. er …. something to save journalism.

But, we agree. It cuts both ways.

Understanding cuts both ways. When I put my geek hat on, I usually find that news people are aware of the fact they don’t know enough about how technology is changing publishing. Sometimes they want to know more, sometimes they think it’s irrelevant - but at least they know that they don’t *know*.

When I put my journalist hat on, I’m surprised by how little geeks know about the craft and process of journalism - and, in fact, how many completely wrong assumptions they make about it. In my experience, it’s far more common to find geeks who think they know everything they need to know about journalism than journalists who think they know everything they need to know about technology.

In other words, understanding cuts both ways - and I think that’s another point that it’s important to get across.