01
A named editor, a named week
We will not start until one editor owns the briefing and a sample week is agreed. Award weeks and election nights are set aside unless that chaos is the thing you need explained.
How an audit proceeds
How a Toolkitgarden audit proceeds
The flagship measurement audit always runs in the same order. Editors tell us this predictability is the point: nobody likes a surprise in week three.
02
Inventory, not theatre
Week one is a calm list of what the app already records. If the list is empty, we stop. If it is noisy, we mark which events conference has been quoting in error.
03
Reconstruct the news day
Week two reads the sample as a newsroom would: lead story, alerts, meter stops, homepage modules, Bahasa and English where both exist. We write in that order.
04
The briefing, then the argument
Week three delivers the written note, then a walkthrough so the editor can quarrel with us before the wider desk sees it. The quarrel is part of the work.
The method is deliberately unromantic. We do not arrive with a hidden framework. We arrive with a week, a list of events, and a promise to write in the language already spoken at conference.
What we need before day one
A staff-level look at the app (a login or a shared screen is enough). Whatever export currently feeds the Monday email, even if it is a spreadsheet with broken dates. The names of who speaks in conference. A sentence from the editor stating the question — “why did Sunday’s politics piece feel unread?” is better than “please look at everything”.
What we will not add later
Once the sample week is locked, we do not quietly swap in a better-looking week. If a public holiday emptied the cycle, we agree a replacement before reconstruction starts. New events discovered in week two are footnoted; they do not become a second project unless you ask for one.
After the walkthrough
The briefing is yours to take into conference. We can attend once, if the editor wants a witness, but we will not become a regular at the table. Titles that want the shape repeated should look at the monthly editorial briefing, which uses this same order in miniature.
If this order fits the question you have, request an audit and send the masthead, the app name, and that one sentence from the editor.