Content Operations: The Decisions That Matter
The people, processes and tools that plan, produce, review, publish and maintain content across an organization.
Dana Whitfield
The key figures
- Components
- roles, workflows, tools, standards and measurement
- Ownership
- every content area needs an owner
- Workflow
- defined stages from brief to publication and review
- Tools
- CMS, project management and asset management systems
Why this is worth getting right
Content quality problems are often operational, caused by unclear ownership, slow approvals or tools that do not fit the work.
Do this, not that
Do
- Map the current workflow and its bottlenecks
- Assign owners and reviewers clearly
- Standardize briefs and templates
- Measure time from brief to publication
- Review and retire content regularly
Don’t
- Approvals with no deadlines
- Tools chosen before processes are understood
- Content with no owner
- Measuring only output volume
When to bring in help
Our advice Bring in help when content production is slow, inconsistent or spread across many teams.
Where this comes from
- GOV.UK Service Manual — Content design
- Nielsen Norman Group — Content strategy
The figures and practices above come from the sources listed.
Working on something like this?
We take on Content Strategy work for teams who want it done once, properly. Tell us what you are building and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right studio for it. Start a project.
Where to go next
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