Bear Essentials: You don't have a content problem; you have a decision problem.

Perception

You feel overwhelmed by content demands.

You don't have enough content. Or enough people. Or enough time. Ever.

Everything feels slow, overloaded, and harder than it should be.

Reality

You don’t have a content shortage; you have a decision shortage; too many approvers, unclear/undefined ownership, work getting "restarted" midstream ... sound familiar?

The problem isn’t volume or capacity; it’s that the default position to all content requests is “yes”. There is no prioritization model, no mandate to reuse the great content that already exists, no mechanism to limit creation to what actually matters, and no criteria or power to push low/no-value requests out of the content pipeline.

Decisions need clear priorities that are enforced and defended so that you don't get stuck in the endless random content creation loop.

Why It Matters

When decisions aren't clear:

• Time-to-market/publish stretches well beyond what it should be.
• Opportunities are missed in the market because the content isn't ready, and teams focus too much on working through content requests chronologically instead of assessing and prioritizing the most impactful work.
• Teams are too overloaded and lack empowerment, so they miss opportunities
• Teams redo work that is already approved.

What Most Teams Get Wrong

1. They assume the role of task taker instead of content SME by approving everything rather than qualifying the request and saying “no” to low/no value requests.
2. They confuse collaboration with consensus.
3. They use content as a catch-all tactic instead of a strategic lever.
4. They measure output (pieces) not impact (change).

What to Do Instead

1. Define RACI for all content types/processes.
2. Limit approvers to those accountable for outcomes.
3. Build decision-making checkpoints throughout workflows.
4. Establish clear "approval = done" rules.

Seventh Bear’s Take

Stop creating everything.

Start deciding what and what not to create, so you can focus on creating what matters.

Deeper Dive

Want more on this topic? Check out: We Ruined Collaboration and How To Fix It