[TeMPOraL]

Having a chance to peek at a tiny area in manufacturing process, I can sort of imagine software replacing a more manual process by something faster, but much more messy and generally worse. It starts with three layers of corporate management above a subcontractor hired to write the software. Of course all requirements go through the entire chain, in what resembles and adult version of the game of telephone (aka. "deaf phone" or "Chinese whispers", the latter being particularly appropriate since what I saw, I saw in China...).

Somebody could probably sit down with the journalists for few weeks and come up with a software package that would fit their needs perfectly - if the development consisted of direct communication between the developers and journalists/editorial staff, without any management middlemen in between. Alas, that's not how software is procured in large organizations.

But I'm also skeptical. It could explain NYT's problems, but it doesn't explain the even worse problems every other news outlet has.