Part 5 · Reference
State machines
Content, relationship and LinkedIn, with every allowed transition.
01What it is
Each state, what may follow it, which states need an approval row, and which are terminal.
02Why it exists
Software controls the sequence and the model never decides which step comes next. Printing the whole table is how somebody checks that claim rather than taking it.
03How to use it
- 01Find the state a thing is in and read what may follow.
- 02Note that a state with nothing after it is terminal and never reopens.
- 03Note which content states cannot be occupied without a recorded approval.
04What good looks like
- You give it
- Content sitting in "passed".
- You get
- The table shows it can go to approved, rendered, revising, rejected or archived, and nowhere else.
- Why
- The transition table is the whole contract.
Derived from the rules in the code
05What weak looks like, and what it costs
- You give it
- Expecting a published post to be un-published.
- You get
- Published leads only to measured.
- Why
- It went out into the world. It can be measured and it cannot be recalled.
Derived from the rules in the code
06Read next
LinkedIn cadence
Deliberately conservative. Three messages in a week to somebody you have never spoken to is the behaviour that makes this category disliked.
| Name | Value | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| CADENCE_DAYS.requestExpiry | 21 days | A request unanswered this long will not be answered. |
| CADENCE_DAYS.touch1 | 1 day after acceptance | |
| CADENCE_DAYS.touch2 | 5 days | |
| CADENCE_DAYS.touch3 | 9 days | |
| Terminal states | replied, withdrawn, expired, exhausted | The sequence is over and nothing further is scheduled. |
State machines
Software controls the sequence. The model makes judgements inside a step and never decides which step comes next.
| Name | Value | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| content · idea | drafted, rejected, archived | Idea |
| content · drafted | gated, rejected, archived | Written |
| content · gated | passed, revising, rejected, archived | Being checked |
| content · revising | gated, rejected, archived | Being rewritten |
| content · passed | approved, rendered, revising, rejected, archived | Waiting on you |
| content · rendered | approved, revising, rejected, archived | Ready to look at |
| content · approved | scheduled, published, rejected, archived | Approved |
| content · scheduled | published, rejected, archived | Scheduled |
| content · published | measured | Published |
| content · measured | terminal | Measured |
| content · rejected | terminal | Rejected |
| content · archived | terminal | Archived |
| content · needs an approval row | approved, scheduled, published, measured | |
| content · terminal | rejected, archived, measured | |
| relationship · 1 | identified | Known |
| relationship · 2 | researched | Researched |
| relationship · 3 | first_touch | Written to |
| relationship · 4 | engaged | Replied |
| relationship · 5 | conversation | Talking |
| relationship · 6 | proposal | Proposal out |
| relationship · 7 | won | Won |
| relationship · 8 | nurture | Not now |
| relationship · 9 | ghosted | Went quiet |
| relationship · 10 | lost | Said no |