Intake
1 Aug – 31 Aug · vs last year: 1 Aug 2025 – 31 Aug 2025
Work from outside the company goes through the same door as work from inside it, and the door keeps a record. This is what the record says: how much arrives, how much of it is right the first time, and how long we take to answer.
Files from outside
The gate61
3 senders: the agency, the label printer and the packaging supplier
Share of everything checked
Computed14.9%
One door, and this much of it is other people's work
Outside, right first time
Computed37.7%
In-house is 67% over the same days
Hours to an answer
Computed14.4 h
Mean, from the file arriving to a person deciding
Open from outside
The gate3
Oldest has waited 23 h 4 m on the brand manager
Everybody, measured the same way
Three of these six are outside the company. They are on the same table because they went through the same gate, which is the whole claim this page is here to back.
| Sender | Files | Right first time | Times through | Hours to an answer | Breaks most often | Open now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The agencyOutsideCampaign work: posters, the launch film, the shop window, the seasonal set. | 28 | 25%▼ 15.6 pt | 1.75 | 11.1 h | Licensed for where it is goingcaught 8 times | 2 |
| The label printerOutsideArtwork it has adjusted to fit a die, and proofs. | 22 | 45%▼ 26.0 pt | 1.55 | 15.6 h | Mandatory text at 1.2 mm x-height or morecaught 9 times | 1 |
| A packaging supplierOutsideBag artwork, sticker sheets and the occasional pallet label. | 11 | 55%▼ 8.0 pt | 1.45 | 20.6 h | Mandatory text at 1.2 mm x-height or morecaught 2 times | 0 |
| Content StudioIn-houseEverything the creative department makes: social cuts, marketplace sets, ad series, catalogue and label artwork. | 253 | 68%▼ 7.0 pt | 1.32 | 1.5 h | Headline clear of the platform's own furniturecaught 22 times | 6 |
| In-house designerIn-houseOne-off pieces: a window card, a wholesale sheet, the cut nobody templated. | 56 | 71%▲ 24.2 pt | 1.29 | 2.5 h | Clear space of one H on every sidecaught 8 times | 1 |
| The web storeIn-housePage art: heroes, banners and the guide illustrations. | 39 | 54%▼ 23.9 pt | 1.46 | 3.6 h | A shape the surface takescaught 9 times | 1 |
Times through is a floor, not a count: every file that broke something comes back at least once more, and some come back twice. A first-try rate is left out entirely where there are too few files behind it to divide. None of this is a ranking of people. An agency is given a brief and a deadline and no access to the type licences, so the licence rule is the one it breaks; a printer is handed finished artwork and asked to make it fit a die, so it breaks the press rules. Everybody is careful about exactly the things they are close to, and the table is the shape of the work rather than a verdict on anyone doing it.
In-house and outside, over the period
Two counts of the same thing — files arriving at one gate — so the total is a real number rather than two unlike figures added up.
Outside work is the smaller line and the slower one. It is also the line where a mistake is printed twenty thousand times, which is why it is on the same chart rather than in a footnote.
At the door this morning
Everything that arrived or was decided today, in the order it happened. Outside work is marked; it is not treated differently.
| File | Sender | State | Arrived |
|---|---|---|---|
| kenya-aa-gallery-2.jpg | Content Studio | Approved | Mon 14 Sep, 10:12 |
| autumn-teaser-9x16.mp4 | Content Studio | Approved | Mon 14 Sep, 09:58 |
| decaf-ad-square-v1.jpg | Content Studio | At the gate | Mon 14 Sep, 09:52 |
| espresso-feed-4x5.jpground 2 | Content Studio | At the gate | Mon 14 Sep, 09:48 |
| wholesale-price-card.pdfbroke 2 rules | In-house designer | Sent back | Mon 14 Sep, 09:41 |
| subscription-banner-web.jpg | The web store | Approved | Mon 14 Sep, 09:22 |
| house-blend-gallery-3.jpgbroke one rule | Content Studio | At the gate | Mon 14 Sep, 09:06 |
| kenya-aa-main-v2.jpground 2 | Content Studio | At the gate | Mon 14 Sep, 09:05 |
| subscription-reel-16s.mp4broke one rule | In-house designer | At the gate | Mon 14 Sep, 08:55 |
| pallet-label-sheet.pdfbroke 2 rules | A supplier | Sent back | Mon 14 Sep, 08:47 |
| decaf-feed-4x5.jpg | Content Studio | Approved | Mon 14 Sep, 08:30 |
| autumn-blend-label-v3.pdfbroke 7 rulesround 3 | Content Studio | At the gate | Mon 14 Sep, 08:12 |
| autumn-launch-poster-a2.pdfbroke 3 rules | The agency · outside | At the gate | Mon 14 Sep, 07:40 |
| brewing-guide-hero.jpg | The web store | At the gate | Sun 13 Sep, 17:45 |
| wholesale-catalogue-spread.pdf | Content Studio | At the gate | Sun 13 Sep, 16:20 |
| seasonal-sticker-die1.airound 2 | The label printer · outside | At the gate | Sun 13 Sep, 14:05 |
| shop-window-a2-v2.pdfround 2 | The agency · outside | At the gate | Sun 13 Sep, 11:30 |
3 of the files still at the gate came from outside, and somebody is waiting on each of them.
How an outside file gets in
Four steps, and none of them is an e-mail somebody has to notice.
- 1A link, not an inboxA supplier or an agency uploads against a purchase order. Nothing arrives as an attachment on a message somebody has to notice.
- 2The same bookThe file goes through the gate every in-house draft goes through. There is no lighter version of the rules for people we are paying.
- 3Back with the reasons, not with a noteA returned file goes back with every finding, the rule behind each one and the suggested fix. The sender sees what we saw.
- 4The record staysEvery round is kept with the version of the book it was measured against, so a disagreement six months later is a matter of reading rather than remembering.
A returned file goes back with every finding, the rule behind each one and the suggested fix. The sender sees exactly what we saw, which is the only version of this that makes the next file better.
From outside
The three senders outside the company, and what the period says about each.The agency
Campaign work: posters, the launch film, the shop window, the seasonal set.
- Files
- 28
- Right first time
- 25%
- ▼ 15.6 pt
- Hours to an answer
- 11.1
- Open now
- 2
Breaks licensed for where it is going more than anything else — 8 times in this period.
The label printer
Artwork it has adjusted to fit a die, and proofs.
- Files
- 22
- Right first time
- 45%
- ▼ 26.0 pt
- Hours to an answer
- 15.6
- Open now
- 1
Breaks mandatory text at 1.2 mm x-height or more more than anything else — 9 times in this period.
A packaging supplier
Bag artwork, sticker sheets and the occasional pallet label.
- Files
- 11
- Right first time
- 55%
- ▼ 8.0 pt
- Hours to an answer
- 20.6
- Open now
- 0
Breaks mandatory text at 1.2 mm x-height or more more than anything else — 2 times in this period.
Figures move with the period above. Sample data throughout: the senders are roles rather than companies, and the volume behind the table is generated from one seed so that no two pages can disagree about the same month.