Compliance does not work without a clear distribution of roles. If the same person writes, checks, and publishes the material, that is not a process — it is self-approval.
In our model, we use one main pool, “Content Production and Management,” with separate lanes inside it:
| Lane | Role | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Product | Product owner | Why we create the content and what problem it solves |
| Content | Content manager | Brief, planning, task setting |
| Author | Author / expert | Research and content creation |
| QA | Fact-checker | Verification of accuracy |
| Ethics | Ethics reviewer | Manipulation, transparency, conflicts of interest |
| Editor | Editor | Structure, language, logic |
| Legal | Lawyer, when required | Advertising and copyright |
| Design | Designer | Illustrations and infographics |
| Publisher | Content operator | Publication |
| Analytics | Analyst | Metrics and evaluation |
| Customer | Customer | Use and feedback |
💡 Principle: Creation ≠ approval. The author should not give their own work the final “OK.” After a draft is saved, the system should automatically check required fields and pass the material to QA.
In a small team, one person may cover several lanes — that is normal. What matters is that the roles remain logically separated.
This is what makes compliance real rather than formal. If the author and approver are the same person, control does not work.
Continue the series:
How Compliance Works: Ethics as a Process, Not a Slogan
How Compliance Works: Decision Points and Control Points
