Content · Production · Component
The constraint
Where work actually waits, measured rather than assumed — because it is nearly always approval, and nearly always blamed on the people making the work.
The deliverable
What it is
Throughput is set by one step. Adding capacity anywhere else produces more work waiting at the same place, which is why hiring another writer so often changes nothing that anybody can see.
Queues are invisible unless measured, because waiting leaves no trace in anyone’s calendar. The step that feels busiest is rarely the step things wait at.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
The approvers
Who has to say yes, and how many of them.
3 attributes: Approver · Approvals required · Typical turnaround
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Adding a writer to a workflow constrained by approval produces more work waiting and nothing published.
The other components in production
The cost per format
Fully loaded, from first research to published — including the review cycles that dominate the total and appear in no estimate.
LearnThe capacity
What can genuinely be produced and approved in a normal month, with the buffer that lets a schedule survive an ordinary disruption.
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