Asset delivery workflow builder

Purpose

Produce a complete, stage-by-stage asset delivery workflow that moves creative from the moment a shoot wraps through retouching, review, and final placement on the site and in each downstream channel — with named owners, file naming conventions, folder structures, and SLA targets at every handoff. Eliminates the "where's the final file?" chaos and the version-control mistakes that cost DTC teams launch dates.

When to Use

Invoke this skill when the user asks to:

• Build or document an asset handoff workflow from shoot to site upload
• Fix a broken or slow post-production process where files get lost or delayed
• Create a file naming convention and folder structure for product/lifestyle assets
• Set up a retouching queue and vendor handoff process
• Standardize asset delivery for a new product launch or seasonal shoot
• Onboard a new retoucher, producer, or agency into an existing pipeline

Inputs Required

Before starting, collect:

• Shoot type(s): Product/PDP, lifestyle, model/on-figure, video, UGC, or a mix
• Destination channels: Where assets end up — Shopify/site PDP, Amazon, Meta/paid social, email, retail partners
• Team & vendors: Who's involved — in-house producer, photographer, retoucher(s), copy/merch, dev/site uploader; internal vs. outsourced retouching
• Volume & cadence: Approximate SKUs or assets per shoot and how often shoots happen
• Tooling: Current stack — DAM, Dropbox/Drive, project tool (Asana/Monday/Airtable), PIM, retouching platform
• Target turnaround: Deadline from shoot wrap to live on site (e.g., 5 business days)
• Existing pain points: What breaks today — lost files, wrong versions, missed SKUs, slow retouching, upload errors

If tooling or SLA targets are missing, assume a Dropbox + Airtable + Shopify stack with a 5-business-day shoot-to-live target and note the assumption.

Instructions

Step 1: Define the Workflow Stages and Handoffs

Map the full pipeline as discrete stages, each with a single accountable owner and a clear "done" definition that triggers the next stage. Use these seven core stages, adjusting for the team's actual roles:

1. Shoot Wrap & Capture Confirmation — every planned shot/SKU accounted for against the shot list before crew leaves
2. Ingest & Backup — raw files offloaded, backed up (3-2-1 rule), and logged
3. Selects & Edit Approval — best frames chosen and approved before retouching begins
4. Retouching Queue — approved selects routed to retouchers with specs
5. Review & QA — retouched files checked against the retouching brief and brand standards
6. Export & Naming — final files rendered per channel specs and named to convention
7. Site Upload & Channel Distribution — assets placed on PDPs and pushed to each channel, then verified live

For each stage produce: Owner, Trigger (what starts it), Action, Deliverable, Handoff to next stage, and SLA.

Step 2: Design the File Naming Convention

Create one convention that survives being sorted, searched, and machine-read. Build it from ordered, delimited components:

[brand]-[sku]-[shot-type]-[sequence]-[status]-[version]

• Brand code: 2–4 char lowercase abbreviation
• SKU / product ID: exact system SKU, never a nickname
• Shot type: controlled vocabulary (e.g., front, back, detail, lifestyle, on-fig, swatch)
• Sequence: zero-padded (01, 02) for multi-shot SKUs
• Status: raw, select, retouch, final
• Version: v1, v2 — never "final-FINAL"

Rules to state explicitly: lowercase only, hyphens as delimiters (no spaces or underscores mixing), no special characters, dates in YYYYMMDD, and a locked controlled vocabulary list so shot-type values never drift. Give 3–4 fully worked example filenames using the buyer's actual channels.

Step 3: Build the Folder / DAM Structure

Provide a nested structure that mirrors the workflow so files physically move as they progress:

/[Shoot-Name-YYYYMMDD]
  /01-RAW
  /02-SELECTS
  /03-RETOUCH-QUEUE
  /04-RETOUCHED
  /05-QA-APPROVED
  /06-FINAL-EXPORTS
    /site
    /amazon
    /social

State the rule: a file exists in exactly one working stage folder at a time; approved exports are the only files that get channel subfolders.

Step 4: Specify the Retouching Queue

Turn retouching from a black box into a managed queue:

• Intake spec sheet each retoucher receives per batch: SKU list, shot count, retouching brief (color accuracy, ghost mannequin, background spec, blemish/dust removal scope, shadow treatment), reference images, and due date
• Priority tiering: rush (launch-critical) / standard / backfill
• Batch sizing: recommend grouping by SKU family or shot type to reduce context-switching
• Round limits: cap at 2 revision rounds; anything beyond triggers a call, not another email
• Tracking: each SKU carries a status (queued → in-progress → submitted → revision → approved) in the project tool

Step 5: Define QA Gates and Channel Specs

Build a QA checklist retouched files must pass before export, plus an export matrix by channel:

Populate real values for the buyer's stated channels. QA checklist covers: correct SKU match, naming convention compliance, color/white balance, crop and alignment consistency across the set, background uniformity, and no dust/artifacts.

Step 6: Assemble the RACI and SLA Table

Produce a single table: rows = the seven stages, columns = Responsible / Accountable / Consulted / Informed, plus an SLA (business days or hours) for each. Sum the SLAs to confirm they fit within the target shoot-to-live turnaround; if they don't, flag the bottleneck stage.

Step 7: Build the Exception & Escalation Plan

Define what happens when the workflow breaks:

• Missing SKU discovered post-shoot → reshoot vs. substitute decision path
• Retouching misses SLA → escalation owner and re-prioritization rule
• File fails QA twice → who owns the reshoot/re-edit call
• Site upload error or wrong asset live → rollback and verification procedure

Output Format

• Structure: A deliverable workflow document organized by the sections below, with the naming convention, folder tree, retouching spec, channel matrix, and RACI/SLA presented as tables or code blocks — not prose paragraphs
• Length: 1,000–1,500 words
• Format: Structured document mixing short instructional prose, tables, and code-block diagrams
• Sections: Workflow Stages (7-stage map) → File Naming Convention (with examples) → Folder/DAM Structure → Retouching Queue Spec → QA Gates & Channel Export Matrix → RACI + SLA Table → Exception & Escalation Plan
• Tone: Creative operations manager — precise, checklist-driven, opinionated about defaults, written to be handed to a team and followed without further explanation

Quality Checklist

Before delivering output, verify:

• [ ] All seven workflow stages are present, each with an owner, trigger, deliverable, handoff, and SLA
• [ ] The naming convention includes at least 3 fully worked example filenames using the buyer's actual channels — not bracket placeholders
• [ ] The folder structure maps one-to-one to the workflow stages so files move as they progress
• [ ] The channel export matrix has populated dimension/format/color values for every channel the buyer named
• [ ] The RACI/SLA table's summed SLAs are checked against the target turnaround, with any bottleneck flagged
• [ ] The retouching queue includes an intake spec, priority tiers, and a capped revision-round rule

Notes

• The single highest-leverage fix for most DTC teams is a locked controlled vocabulary for shot types — value drift ("detail" vs. "close-up" vs. "closeup") is what breaks searchability and downstream automation
• Recommend the one-folder-per-stage rule over tagging-only systems; physical file movement makes bottlenecks visible at a glance
• If the buyer runs high SKU volume (200+ per shoot), push for SKU-family batching in the retouching queue and Airtable/Monday status tracking over spreadsheet tracking, which fails at scale
• Keep raw files immutable — never retouch or rename in /01-RAW; every downstream file is a copy

How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.

Installing in Claude Code:

• ~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)
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1. Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
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