An inside look at how CNN builds product | Upasna Gautam

Upasna Gautam, VP of Product at CNN, shares how the company structures product teams, prioritizes features, and navigates tradeoffs in a news media environment shifting toward digital subscriptions and personalization.

Product Organization and Team Structure

CNN organizes product into cross-functional squads aligned to key business areas like consumer apps, advertising, and enterprise tools. Each squad includes product managers, engineers, designers, and data scientists, with PMs owning the full lifecycle from ideation to launch. Gautam emphasizes small, autonomous teams of 6-8 people to enable quick iteration, drawing from agile practices but adapted for news cycles where speed trumps perfection.

Prioritization and Decision Frameworks

Decisions use a RICE scoring system (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) combined with qualitative input from editorial stakeholders. For high-stakes features like personalized homepages, they run A/B tests and monitor metrics such as session time, engagement depth, and subscription conversion. Gautam notes avoiding "shiny object syndrome" by tying every initiative to one of three north stars: audience growth, retention, or monetization.