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A staple of project management the world over, Hofstadter's Law states: “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.”

The law rears its head all over the damn place: rebuilding a website, writing a byline, or building a content team. Whatever operational component you're working with, it always takes longer than you think — even when you know it'll take longer than you think.

(Source: xkcd.com)

I've seen agencies fall prey to Hofstadter's relentless law throughout their content processes. Example:

1. "Our client will send feedback on our article draft in five days."
2. *Seven days pass*
3. "Hey, did Bob at XYZ get us those edits yet? Let's remind him on today's call."
4. *Seven more days pass*
5. "Hi, VP. Can you email Bob about those edits? That'd really help."
6. *Three days pass*
7. "Hey, look, edits! And there's a ton of them. And he didn't like the article's main points. And he wants to start over. Hop on a call?"

A 240% increase in time spent on one content project. An awesome return on a stock; less so on wasting your team's time.

The process I outlined above is pretty much unavoidable (at least when you're starting a client relationship). And some of it is outside your control, yes. However, many agencies skip key project management elements, putting undue performance pressure on teams.

Leaders expect those edits in five days and give their teams inadequate slack if they take longer. The slowdown ripples through more projects, backing up based on dependencies (i.e. needing the right writer for the next piece). Soon, everyone is overwhelmed, and nobody knows how to fix it.

"Great, thanks, Alex. Another problem for me to solve. How do I do that?"

Start small. Pick a few timebound projects and track how long it actually takes you to complete them. And I mean complete them. Drafting the article is one part of the process. How long did interviewing SMEs, researching key questions, and handling feedback and edits take?

You need benchmarks and consistent monitoring against those benchmarks to know:

a) How to account for Hofstadter's Law in your projects

b) Where to adjust the overall process to get ahead of potential slowdowns

Where do you track that data? Some might use massive Kanban boards or detailed tools like Asana or Monday. My go-to rule: The best project management tool is the one people will actually use.

One of my favorite representations of this concept? Costco inventory control:

Use an Excel sheet if that works for you and your teams. Just be consistent in using it.

Lay out your early use cases and see how much of your work matches Hofstadter's Law. By tracking all this information, you'll find operational inefficiencies to tweak or places where new tools can help.

Example: Otter's new interactive AI chat function saves me hours preparing content based on SME interviews. (Sadly, they did not pay me for this shout-out.) I reviewed my time tracking and found that I spent too much time parsing through recorded calls to create thought leadership content. Otter helps me get to the good stuff faster, and I spend more development time writing good copy.

Time will always be a factor in public relations. Trending topics arise, client contacts quit, and business needs change. But you can manage around those challenges (and Hofstadter's Law). It starts with knowing what to manage and committing to measuring those objectives.

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Stellar content about content

AI Content is Short-Term Arbitrage, Not Long-Term Strategy

(Ryan Law, Ahrefs)

You just knew AI would make an appearance. A few months ago, a guy who built an AI content tool tweeted that he'd pulled off an "SEO heist:" he took a competitor's sitemap, turned all their URLs into article titles, and then AI generated 1,800 articles. He bragged on Twitter about how he "stole" (his words) 3.6 million organic impressions from that competitor.

How's that going now?

Ryan's post uses this example to frame a great argument on AI's content-production limitations. Spamming horrible content will, in fact, get you punished. Ryan suggests a few areas where LLMs can help (keywords, title ideas, metadata) while cautioning against slapping the "big red publish button."

Your Action Item: Use ChatGPT or a similar tool to produce a list of targeted keywords for one of your clients. Compare that to the list they gave you. How close is it?

Content from my pocket of the galaxy

🗒️ 3 Internal Content Metrics Worth Tracking

So many things to track, so little time. If you're running a content program, you're no doubt tracking external metrics to justify content's success.

But what's happening inside your operations? How efficiently are you running your content processes?

You should know at least three internal metrics for each client you manage:

1. Time to delivery: How long does it take to deliver a piece?
2. Revision rate: How many times was the piece rewritten?
3. Client satisfaction: How quantifiably happy was your client with the outcome?

Your Action Item: Click here to read more. Then, apply those three metrics to one of your current accounts. That'll set your benchmark. Check it again in 30 days and see how much you have shifted.

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I'll admit: planning and managing data are boring. And really, why should you care about any of this now? Haven't things been running just fine?

If you're operating in the tech sector's orbit, you should be feeling the heat. With over a quarter million workers laid off in 2023 (and 33,000+ in 2024), budgets will get tighter. You'll need to prove your value now and keep proving it should financial contractions continue.

Start by mapping out your account team's next content project. Double the time you think it will take. How does that change your immediate future? How might that ripple through the next quarter? The next year?

Small plans lead to big impacts. You can get rolling now and save yourself a gigantic headache in the future.

Catch you on the flipside,

Alex