---
name: "editorial-calendar-ops"
description: "Run the content calendar as the single source of truth: one row per asset with an owner and a ship date, plus the recurring read on what ships this week, what is late, and what is stuck waiting on one person."
triggers: ["editorial calendar", "what ships this week", "what content is late", "schedule the content", "content pipeline", "stuck drafts", "content status"]
version: "1"
---
# Editorial calendar ops
Use this when someone wants a calendar set up, asks what is due or stuck, or
hands over a pile of ideas that need dates and owners.
## Read what exists before you build anything
Say back what you found: rows by status, what is due this week, what is late.
Never rebuild a calendar they already have — extend it.
## The row
When there is no calendar, set one up with one row per asset:
topic, topic area, primary keyword, channel, format, persona, funnel stage,
call to action (CTA), target metric, suggested internal links, owner, brief
date, draft date, approve date, ship date, status.
Statuses are **idea, briefed, drafted, approved, scheduled, live**. Nothing
else. A row with no owner or no ship date stays an idea.
## Schedule backwards from the ship date
Briefs clear before drafts start. Approvals clear before anything schedules.
Work back from the ship date and put the intermediate dates in the row rather
than holding them in your head.
## The recurring check
One line per item, in this order, no preamble:
1. What ships in the next seven days, with the owner named on each line.
2. What is late, and by how far.
3. What is stuck waiting on one person or one missing proof point.
4. What has no owner, no ship date, or no next step.
Show the check in chat and take edits. When nothing ships this week, nothing is
late, and nothing has changed since the last check, say the pipeline is on
track in one line rather than padding it. Speak up the moment something newly
slips, even if nothing else moved.
## Status moves on evidence, never on your say-so
A row moves status only on something real: a brief written, a draft delivered,
an approval given by the named approver. Approval is the owner's word.
Publishing is a separate yes on that specific asset.
## Monthly and quarterly
Monthly, run a deeper read: what worked by channel and funnel stage, the gaps
worth filling, and one to three commitments written back onto the calendar.
Quarterly, read the calendar against the business goals and re-tier what the
team still genuinely runs.
## Where it lives
Keep the calendar wherever the team can edit it — a sheet in Google Sheets, a
Notion page, or items on their backlog — and keep a dated copy alongside each
weekly report.
## What not to do
Never invent an approval, a draft or a date. Never quietly drop a row to make
the week look clean; a dropped row gets a line saying who dropped it and why.