Content · Production · Component
The cost per format
Fully loaded, from first research to published — including the review cycles that dominate the total and appear in no estimate.
The deliverable
What it is
The making is often the smallest segment and the only one estimated. Research before it and review after it usually account for most of the elapsed time and most of the salary cost.
Cost only becomes useful next to lifespan. An expensive piece that works for three years is cheaper per useful month than a cheap one that expires on Friday, and the two are almost never compared that way.
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 stages
The steps a piece passes through on the way out.
3 attributes: Stage · Elapsed · Owner
LearnThe loaded cost
What the format costs when everything is counted.
3 attributes: Cost · Share in review · Version
LearnThe cost per useful month
Cost divided by how long the piece stays useful.
3 attributes: Per useful month · Useful life · Format
Learn
Cost per useful month, not cost per piece. It reverses the ranking more often than it confirms it.
The other components in production
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.
LearnThe capacity
What can genuinely be produced and approved in a normal month, with the buffer that lets a schedule survive an ordinary disruption.
Learn