Mistake: a content calendar with no review buffer

Mistake: a content calendar with no review buffer

Failure mode: you schedule a creator post for launch day and expect the draft the night before. It arrives off-brief, you have no time to fix it, you ship it anyway. Quality collapses at the worst moment.

Fix: backdate every milestone from the live date with fixed buffers.

Working backward from Live (Day 0):
— Day -1: final approval, scheduled in platform
— Day -3: revision round closes
— Day -5: first draft due from creator
— Day -10: brief delivered + assets shipped
— Day -14: deal signed, slot locked

Decision rule: if first draft misses Day -5, the post moves to the next open slot automatically. You never compress the review window to save a date.

Checklist for the calendar:
— Each post has all five dates, not just the live date
— Owner named per milestone (creator vs you)
— A named backup slot exists for every launch

Definition of done: no post ever reaches "live" without a completed -3 revision round.

The buffer is the product. Protect it.