How are New Products Created at Upscore?

A look behind the scenes at our product development – and the topics we are currently focusing on: Editorial Intelligence, AI, Bot Detection and Propensity-to-Subscribe.

One of the things I enjoy most about product management is the moment when different perspectives come together. A challenge raised by a customer, an idea from the product team and a conversation with our engineers suddenly connect – and what began as a discussion starts to become a tangible solution.

That is why I always look forward to our workshops with the engineering team in Zagreb.

We work closely together throughout the year, but spending a few days in the same room still makes a real difference. Discussions are more direct, ideas take shape more quickly and decisions are easier to make. A sketch on a whiteboard can lead to a technical discussion, someone opens a laptop and, within minutes, we are already testing a possible solution.

What I particularly value is the openness of those discussions. We challenge one another, question our assumptions and are prepared to discard an approach when someone finds a better one. It is never about whose idea wins. It is about finding the best solution for our customers. And some of the most useful conversations happen outside the workshop itself – over dinner or while walking through the city together.

This time, much of our discussion centred on Editorial Intelligence: how we can combine data, AI and automation to help editorial teams make better decisions. We also worked on topics including Bot Detection, Propensity-to-Subscribe and the next generation of our Paywall. Although these areas address different challenges, they are all driven by the same question: how can we help publishers achieve better results while reducing the burden on their teams?

Our customer visits in Zagreb were every bit as important. There is no substitute for seeing how our products are actually used in the newsroom. Which features have become a natural part of the daily workflow? Where is there still friction? And which new ideas emerge from the way our customers work? These conversations help us sharpen our priorities, develop existing concepts further and, sometimes, reconsider our approach altogether.

I returned home with pages of notes, plenty of new ideas and real excitement about the months ahead. Some of the topics we discussed in Zagreb will soon begin to appear in our products. Others will take more time. But they all have one thing in common: they have grown out of a continuing dialogue between product, engineering and the customers we build our products for.

Nina Berger is Product Manager at Upscore.