What should be in a small press production meeting?
- A production meeting keeps every active title moving on schedule.
- Five agenda items: status, blockers, deadlines, assets, decisions.
- Blockers get surfaced and assigned an owner in the meeting.
- Decisions are made in the room, not deferred indefinitely.
- A short, fixed agenda keeps the meeting from sprawling.
A small-press production meeting should run a tight, fixed agenda: status for each active title, current blockers (with an owner assigned to each), upcoming deadlines, asset readiness (covers, metadata, files, copy), and the decisions that need making in the room. The goal is to surface and clear obstacles, not to admire progress. A short standing agenda keeps it focused and makes the meeting a place where books actually advance.
Chapter i·Why it matters
Without a structured production meeting, small presses discover blockers late — a missing cover, a stalled edit, an undecided title — when they have already cost a deadline. A standing agenda forces each title's status and obstacles into the open weekly, assigns owners to blockers, and makes pending decisions on the spot. It converts the meeting from a status recital into the place where the catalog stays on schedule.
Chapter ii·What to include
- Status for each active title.
- Blockers, each with an assigned owner.
- Upcoming deadlines across the catalog.
- Asset readiness: covers, metadata, files, copy.
- Decisions that must be made in the meeting.
- A fixed, short agenda repeated every session.
Chapter iii·Example
A small press runs a 30-minute weekly production meeting on a fixed agenda. Each title gets a one-line status; blockers are named and assigned ("cover stalled — owner: design, due Friday"); deadlines and asset gaps are reviewed; and two pending title decisions are settled on the spot. Because the meeting clears obstacles rather than just reports them, the press rarely misses a pub date.
WriteLoom gives every production meeting a live view of status, blockers, deadlines, and assets across the whole catalog.
See WriteLoom for teams