By Corey Vilhauer CHAPTER 10Rethink the editorial Calendar: editorial Triggers
We often think of editorial calendars as tools to help bring new content
to our users. They’re a necessary governance tool that requires the bulk of
our editorial attention. But, let’s be honest, not every company needs an
editorial calendar. Most of our content is not rolled out on a periodic basis,
but as needed.
Enter editorial triggers.
Less editorial calendar and more editorial timeline, editorial triggers
don’t focus on forcing content into a daily or weekly schedule, but instead
create guided paths to getting content completed as necessary. They bor-
row heavily from David Allen’s Getting Things Done^14 methodology, breaking
each project into a series of tasks and assigning them a timeline when
relevant, and they take the editorial strain away from periodic change for
change’s sake.
For example, new product launches for your project may not occur at set
intervals. Instead, they happen when the product is ready to launch — re-
gardless of what the editorial calendar says. In this case, an editorial trigger
for new product content takes us away from the rigidity of a calendar and
into the flow of our product life cycle, using the following steps:
New Product Content — Maximum time: 5 days. Immediate Action.- Gather information on new product based on New Product copy deck
(Web content editor, 2 days) - Upload initial content to website using placeholder images (1 day)
- Approval needed: Initial approval of content required (product managers)
- Take final image for product and create for all sizes (design, 150px,
300px, banner) - Final Approval (product manager/Web content editor, 1 day)