How Do You Put Logistics on Paper?

There's always that one day in the report process — sometimes even that one week — when a cohesive final product feels very far away. Author A calls: "I know the deadline is approaching, but can we revisit the topic once more?" while Author B is already at a completely different point: "What's the marketing plan for the launch?" That moment feels like a connection at a major airport: you're rushing between gates, always watching the clock, with new announcements in your ear. One flight is delayed, another moved up, and somewhere a document is still missing.

After the launch of our third report, I can say that — as the report's coordinator — situations like these don't put me off doing another edition. Quite the opposite: secretly, something would be missing without those days. To frame it in a logistics metaphor: perhaps it's not unlike the annual November peak during Black Week in an e-commerce warehouse? 

This post isn't about the topics covered in the reports themselves, but about what comes before: how do you bring together many different perspectives in a way that results in something readable and genuinely useful for orientation? Presented concisely, step by step.

The Starting Point: Kick-offs, Guardrails, and the Ground Rules for the Report

Those familiar with our reports know that a large portion of the content consists of expert contributions from companies — more specifically, from Solution Vendors. To find the right Vendors, we define the topic and a rough agenda in advance, then approach companies with topic proposals.

Once all Vendors are on board, the editorial process begins. In a kick-off call, we cover everything they need to know about the format and the writing process. While we do address content — aligning on the exact topic of the contribution and discussing a possible outline — a large part of the call focuses on the format and its ground rules.

Although we define the topic framework, the experts from the participating companies are fundamentally expected to write about their own areas of expertise and discuss the points they themselves consider relevant. For us, this is an attempt to reflect the topics that genuinely occupy people within professional circles. There are several reasons for discussing the format in such detail. A specialist report on a selected topic simply wouldn't work for us if the contributions ended up being nothing more than product placements. For promotional content, there are the so-called company profiles — a one-page introduction to the company following the expert contribution. The ground rule for the expert contribution itself is therefore: no sales pitch, plain language, and when in doubt, explain things one more time rather than staying too superficial.

And finally, there are also very practical matters. Our reports are elaborately designed and laid out by our graphic designer. For this to work with around 10 to 15 participating companies per report, we need all content submitted according to specific requirements — from author photos to basic file formats.

The Core Is Set — But What Does the Framework Look Like?

The kick-off phase is characterized by many conversations, introductions, and alignments. After that, things go quiet for a while — at least on the surface. While the external authors are writing their contributions, my attention turns back to the agenda. The central question is: what do readers need in order to find their way into the expert contributions?

Which topics are better contextualized by us as a more neutral party? What questions do logistics decision-makers ask before making a decision?

The editorial portion of the report takes shape from this perspective. Here we try to provide readers with orientation — sometimes at a meta level, sometimes in a very practical way, for example with checklists or reflection questions. So while the Vendors are writing, we are simultaneously working on this framework. The goal is for all content to be ready at roughly the same time.

The Phase When Drafts Come In and the Fine-Tuning Begins

As the first contributions arrive, the entire content of the report gradually comes together in one place. This marks the beginning of a phase where many small things converge: Does the contribution comply with our no-sales-pitch rule? Are all images included? Are any author bios still missing?

Each contribution is reviewed in full, adjusted, and pre-edited. At the same time, the editorial section is reviewed once more. Because now that the expert contributions are available, it becomes clearer what the main body of the report actually looks like. With a project of this scale, you constantly move between two perspectives: the close-up view of an individual contribution and the overall view of the report.

The goal always remains the same: in the best case, readers should not stop after one contribution, but be invited to keep reading within a coherent overall concept. Once the content is prepared, it goes to our graphic designer, who creates a first visual draft of the report.

The Big Picture: When Many Contributions Become a Finished