Lenny's Podcast

An inside look at how CNN builds product | Upasna Gautam

Upasna Gautam is a product manager at CNN Digital, where she works closely with editorial staff and journalists to build their internal content management system. She is also a longtime meditation coach and a board member of the News Product Alliance. In today’s episode, we delve into how product teams are structured and operate at CNN, how CNN uses OKRs and roadmaps, and the unique challenges and opportunities in designing a digital product for journalists. Upasna also shares a story about her team's product saving the day during the 2020 elections and gives listeners a free mini lesson on meditation. — Brought to you by Amplitude—Build better products: https://amplitude.com/ | OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster: https://oneschema.co/lenny | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/an-inside-look-at-how-cnn-builds-product-upasna-gautam/#transcription Where to find Upasna Gautam: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/UpasnaGautam • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/upasnagautam/ • Website: https://linktr.ee/upasnagautam Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ Referenced: • Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/ • News Product Alliance: https://newsproduct.org/ • Mindfulness in Plain English: https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-English-Bhante-Henepola-Gunaratana/dp/0861719069 • How to Win Friends & Influence People: https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034/ • The New Product Development Game: https://hbr.org/1986/01/the-new-new-product-development-game • The Mandalorian on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/series/the-mandalorian/3jLIGMDYINqD • Ted Lasso on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso/umc.cmc.vtoh0mn0xn7t3c643xqonfzy • Everything Everywhere All at Once on Showtime: https://www.sho.com/titles/3493875/everything-everywhere-all-at-once • Andor on Disney+: https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/show/andor In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Upasna’s background (03:13) How Upasna’s meditation background helps her thrive in the chaotic world of product at CNN (08:55) How PMs at CNN build in buffer time and create backup plans when breaking news hits (10:26) How the product team works with editorial staff and journalists at CNN (15:22) The product org structure at CNN Digital (19:02) OKRs at CNN (20:10) How CNN’s product teams do long-term planning (21:37) Why Upasna involves the tech lead in all product discovery/product review meetings (23:51) How to boost morale with remote teams (27:39) Balancing maintenance with building new stuff (29:21) The time CNN.com went down in 2020 and the new platform saved the day (31:21) How the product team rehearses breaking news (34:22) The superpowers Upasna and her team have cultivated (35:50) Why meditation and honing your communication skills help you excel as a PM (42:01) How to get started on the path of meditation (44:39) The work News Product Alliance is doing and how to get involved (51:54) Lightning round Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

Upasna GautamguestLenny Rachitskyhost

Feb 22, 202358mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Inside CNN’s Product Playbook: Chaos, CMS, and Mindful Leadership

Product manager Upasna Gautam shares how CNN Digital builds and operates its core content management platform, which powers journalists’ daily work and breaking news coverage.
She explains how mindfulness and equanimity enable her to lead calmly through constant chaos, manage unpredictable newsroom schedules, and make rapid, high-stakes decisions.
The conversation dives into CNN’s product rituals—demo days, working sessions, breaking news dress rehearsals, and office hours—and how deeply embedded collaboration with journalists drives product discovery.
Upasna also describes the emerging discipline of news product management, her work with the News Product Alliance, and simple, practical ways PMs can build mindfulness and become better communicators.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Equanimity is a superpower for product leaders in chaotic environments.

Cultivating mental calmness and the ability to pause before reacting helps PMs navigate constant change, manage stakeholders, and make better decisions under intense pressure—especially in breaking news contexts.

Design product processes around your users’ reality, not your ideal schedule.

Because journalists must drop everything for breaking news, CNN bakes buffers and contingency plans into onboarding, research, and testing cycles, accepting frequent cancellations as a feature of the environment, not a bug.

Embed engineers directly into product discovery to accelerate delivery and quality.

Having tech leads and engineers join user sessions, design reviews, and editorial conversations makes them experts in the ‘why,’ improving feasibility decisions, solution design, and overall development speed.

Create structured, recurring touchpoints to channel stakeholder input effectively.

CNN uses weekly demo days, deep working sessions, breaking news simulations, and open office hours to gather feedback, educate stakeholders, and build trust—turning a noisy environment into a manageable intake system.

Stress-test critical systems with realistic simulations before the stakes are real.

Breaking news dress rehearsals, complete with scripts and cross-functional participation, expose failure modes, validate scalability, and ensure the CMS can keep up with the speed and complexity of actual news events.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

To be a successful product manager in news, you have to be able to thrive in chaos.

— Upasna Gautam

Real power, to me, comes from equanimity—that comes from managing your emotional reactions and not trying to control others.

— Upasna Gautam

Our editors and journalists are our customers. We're there to serve their needs, but they are not here to serve our needs.

— Upasna Gautam

If it cannot serve the needs of breaking news, then it’s useless.

— Upasna Gautam

There is no substitution for meditation. You don’t need anything—you need five minutes and yourself.

— Upasna Gautam

Role of mindfulness and equanimity in high-pressure product environmentsHow CNN Digital’s product org and core platform team are structuredCollaboration models between product teams and journalists/editorsOperational rituals: demo days, working sessions, dress rehearsals, and office hoursBalancing new feature development, maintenance, and incident responseStress-testing for breaking news and election scenariosThe rise of product thinking in newsrooms and the News Product Alliance

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