Campaign operations workshop / 5 MIN READ
Turn a campaign request into a clear intake decision
Decide what work belongs in the queue before treating a suggested deliverable as an assignment.
AI-assisted research and analysis for the SNS Creative Fieldbook
Sources checked 2026-11-06
An intake process should clarify the need and choose a response. It should not convert every request for a video, event or deck into an automatic production commitment.
What you will leave with: A request record that leads to accept, clarify, redirect or decline.
Use this when
- Campaign work arrives through scattered messages.
- Teams start making assets before understanding the underlying need.
This is not a capacity-planning method or a replacement for the creative brief after a project is accepted.
Capture the need behind the requested format
Atlassian describes a project poster as a document that changes as understanding develops. Use that principle to keep an intake record provisional until the request is understood.
Ask who needs to do or understand what and why the issue matters now. A request for a webinar may really concern unanswered implementation questions; a request for a deck may concern inconsistent sales explanations. Record the proposed format as a suggestion, not the problem itself. Keep the initial form short enough that a colleague can state the need without writing the solution in advance.
Check whether existing work already answers it
Look for an approved asset, service process or planned activity that meets the same need. Ask what is missing before commissioning a duplicate. The answer may be an update, a better distribution route or a nonmarketing action. Do not make the requester defend a new asset if a simpler response would help.
Identify the relevant audience, accountable sponsor and any fixed commitments already made. If someone promised a deliverable externally without authorization, surface that issue rather than silently accepting it as an immovable deadline. Distinguish a genuine event date from a preferred internal date so the decision reflects the real constraint.
Make the intake outcome explicit
Use a small set of outcomes with plain meanings. Accept means the work will enter the approved planning process, not that every requested feature or date is guaranteed. Clarify means a named question prevents a useful decision. Redirect identifies the responsible team or existing resource. Decline gives a concise reason.
Assign one intake owner to communicate the decision and next step. Do not let requests disappear into a form with no response. If an exception is approved, record who made it and which existing commitment it changes. This makes trade-offs visible without turning intake into a contest over who has the most influential sponsor.
Hand accepted work into a proper brief
When a request is accepted, carry forward the problem, audience, constraints and unresolved questions. The creative team can then develop an appropriate solution rather than inheriting an unexplained instruction to make a particular format. Confirm the next decision and who owns it.
Review repeated unclear requests for a process problem. If many colleagues ask for different versions of the same explanation, a shared resource may be needed. If requests routinely arrive after promises are made, clarify the commitment process. Improve the entry point rather than adding more compulsory fields that nobody understands.
Make the reasoning concrete.
A fictional service company receives an urgent request for a new executive video. The requester says buyers keep asking how implementation responsibilities are divided.
Start the video immediately
Opening: Book production around the requested format.
Hypothesis: The requester sees visible activity.
Risk: A video may be unnecessary if the real gap is a clear responsibility guide.
Clarify and inspect existing material
Opening: Check the buyer question and review the current implementation overview.
Hypothesis: The team can choose the smallest useful response.
Risk: The requester may need to reconsider their preferred format.
The intake owner finds an approved guide with an unclear responsibility section. The request is accepted as a targeted clarification project, with format left open until the brief is agreed.
Take the questions into your next brief.
Use these prompts in your own notes. Nothing is submitted from this page.
Need
What should the audience understand or do differently?
Existing answer
Which approved work already addresses part of the need?
Constraint
What deadline or commitment is genuinely fixed?
Outcome
Is the request accepted, awaiting clarification, redirected or declined?
Handoff
What decision and owner come next?
Watch for the wrong conclusion.
- Treating a requested format as the underlying problem.
- Letting intake acceptance imply an unreviewed deadline commitment.
- Collecting requests without communicating a decision.
Your next action
Take one unstarted asset request and write the audience need without naming any format. Use it to choose the intake outcome.
Sources & scope
The workflow, worksheets and hypothetical examples are original editorial analysis. Sources support only the identified principles. No measured business results or named human reviewer are claimed.
- Atlassian Team Playbook: Project Poster →Primary framework-publisher guidance · Supports: A project poster is updated as understanding changes; the intake and scope-control tools are original editorial analysis.