Creative Ops Teams are losing the Infinite Game –
So here’s your playbook to start winning

Time for a strategic reframe

Creative Ops is increasingly driven by a transactional mindset. Teams invest in technology expecting instant results — a short burst of efficiency, a quick return on investment, a predictable and instant fix. But the reality is far more complex. Technology alone doesn’t deliver long-term value. Execution does. Consistency does. Evolution does.

Drawing inspiration from Simon Sinek’s concept of the Infinite Game, we argue that Creative Ops must shift its approach. Winning isn’t about reaching a defined endpoint. It’s about staying in the game — refining processes, building resilience, and evolving continuously to meet shifting demands. Creative Operations is not a project. It’s a practice.

So, we’ve assembled a strategic playbook about staying in the game to stay competitive. Six core principles designed to help Creative Ops teams break free from the short-term mindset and adopt a sustainable, scalable approach to success.

Core Plays for Creative Ops teams

Play #1 — Condition for Consistency

Stop chasing quick wins. Start building operational fitness.

Many Creative Ops teams fall into the trap of chasing quick wins — deploying new tools to solve immediate pain points or meet short-term KPIs. But rapid implementation without sustained optimisation rarely delivers long-term value. The real challenge is not in adopting technology but in consistently extracting value from it, refining its use, and embedding it into scalable, repeatable processes.

Efficiency, in this context, is not a by-product of speed, but of discipline — operational discipline that enables teams to consistently deliver creative outputs at scale, without compromise. When consistency is prioritised, Creative Ops shifts from reactive problem-solving to proactive value creation.
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Key Moves:

• Audit and refine regularly. Workflow relevance decays over time. Regularly evaluate processes, eliminate inefficiencies, and adapt to evolving demands.
• Track momentum, not just milestones. Move beyond isolated KPIs and assess broader trends in output quality, scalability, and time-to-market.
• Establish a feedback mechanism. Continuous optimisation is driven by structured feedback — across projects, platforms, and teams — to ensure improvements are both systematic and measurable.
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The Payoff:

Consistent execution enables scale. With predictable, repeatable workflows, teams reduce operational friction, elevate creative velocity, and extract maximum value from every tool in the stack. Over time, this consistency becomes a strategic advantage — one that enables organisations to adapt swiftly while delivering sustained performance.
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Play #2 — Train Your Playmakers

Great tools don’t win games. Great teams do.

Technology alone does not deliver value. Success in Creative Operations depends on how effectively your teams utilise the tools at their disposal. The reality is that most failures in Creative Automation are not rooted in technology — they stem from underinvestment in people, inadequate training, and the absence of clear ownership.

Simply put: a well-selected tool without a well-prepared team is a wasted investment. True operational excellence requires organisations to empower their teams — with the knowledge, skills, and responsibility to execute at scale. When your people understand not only how to use a tool, but why it matters and how it drives outcomes, technology becomes an asset, not a barrier.
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Key Moves:

• Commit to comprehensive training. Go beyond basic user onboarding. Deliver role-specific, contextual training that demonstrates how technology enhances workflow efficiency, creative output, and scalability.
• Establish internal ownership. Designate platform champions within your Creative Ops function — individuals responsible for driving adoption, optimising tool use, and ensuring alignment with operational goals.
• Introduce accountability mechanisms. Set clear expectations around usage, track adoption and performance, and establish a system for recognising progress and addressing gaps in execution.
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The Payoff:

When teams are equipped with the right knowledge and a sense of ownership, Creative Ops shifts from reactive execution to proactive enablement. Processes become smoother, outputs scale faster, and the technology stack functions as an integrated engine of delivery — not a fragmented collection of underutilised tools. With empowered people at the helm, Creative Ops becomes a centre of excellence and a source of competitive advantage.

Play #3 — Focus on Fundamentals, Not Fancy Footwork

Forget the shiny new toys. Fix your workflow first.

In the race to modernise Creative Operations, many organisations become distracted by emerging technologies, new AI capabilities, or platforms promising end-to-end solutions. Yet none of these innovations will yield meaningful results if the foundational workflows they are meant to support are inefficient or fragmented.

Technology cannot compensate for broken processes. Without clear, structured, and repeatable workflows, even the most advanced automation tools will simply accelerate inefficiency. Creative Ops teams must resist the urge to solve problems through technology alone and instead focus on operational fundamentals — because scalable, effective automation is only possible when the groundwork is sound.
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Key Moves:

• Conduct a workflow audit. Examine every step in your creative production process to identify friction points, redundant actions, and approval bottlenecks. Resolve these before layering in technology.
• Standardise processes across teams. Consistency enables scalability. Establish shared frameworks for asset creation, review, and delivery to ensure everyone operates from a unified, efficient playbook.
• Fit technology to your workflow. Select automation tools that support your operational needs and align with how your teams work. Avoid reshaping your processes to accommodate the limitations of a platform as far as possible.
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The Payoff:

Organisations that build automation on a foundation of streamlined, standardised workflows unlock far greater value from their technology investments. They experience fewer bottlenecks, improved throughput, and greater alignment across teams — ultimately achieving more consistent creative output at scale. Master the fundamentals first, and automation becomes a force multiplier, not a complication.

Play #4 — Build Your Plays with the Right Partners

Players aren’t meant to play every position. Source the right player for the play.

Creative teams today are being asked to do more than ever — drive content production, manage evolving workflows, master complex MarTech platforms, integrate AI, and meet aggressive delivery timelines. This expectation is unrealistic, unsustainable, and counterproductive. No team, regardless of talent or size, can effectively execute across every technical and strategic domain required in modern Creative Operations.

Organisations need to stop viewing external support as optional and start seeing it as essential. IT teams have long recognised the value of managed services and specialist partners — Creative Ops must adopt the same mindset. The goal is not to replace internal talent, but to augment it. To bring in strategic partners who provide the depth, expertise, and capacity required to optimise, scale, and future-proof operations.
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Key Moves:

• Engage specialist support where needed. Identify the operational areas — from automation integration to tool optimisation — where external expertise can deliver efficiencies your internal team cannot.
• Choose partners with strategic alignment. Don’t rely solely on vendors with limited scope. Seek partnerships with consultants and service providers who understand the intricacies of Creative Ops and can support both your technology and workflow goals.
• Optimise internal resource allocation. Free your team to focus on high-value, creative, and strategic initiatives by offloading technical, process-driven, or labour-intensive tasks to external specialists.
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The Payoff:

With the right partners, Creative Ops teams gain flexibility, scalability, and resilience. You mitigate resource constraints, improve speed to execution, and gain access to specialist capabilities that might otherwise be out of reach. Most importantly, partnerships allow you to maintain focus on what matters — delivering creative excellence and driving strategic outcomes — while building a scalable operational model designed for long-term success.

Play #5 — Stop Chasing Tools, Start Executing Plays

You don’t always need a miracle play. You always need to start by running the ones you’ve got better.

Prioritise execution over expansion. Getting stuck in a cycle of perpetual procurement distracts from the core issue: underutilisation of existing tools due to weak execution.

Tool proliferation often leads to increased complexity, workflow disruption, and user fatigue — not improved performance. True operational efficiency isn’t achieved through volume of tools, but through mastery of use. It’s not about how many platforms are in your stack — it’s about how effectively those platforms support refined, repeatable, and scalable workflows.

Before considering any new investment, organisations must rigorously evaluate the utilisation, alignment, and ROI of their current stack. More often than not, the opportunity lies not in expansion, but in optimisation.
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Key Moves:

• Conduct a comprehensive stack audit. Identify underutilised tools, overlapping functionalities, and platforms creating operational drag. Rationalise where possible to reduce complexity and cost.
• Enhance process-tool alignment. Ensure existing tools are fully integrated into standardised workflows. Streamline adoption, eliminate workarounds, and increase consistency in use.
• Optimise through iteration. Commit to refining processes and configurations over time, rather than swapping tools prematurely. Effective scaling comes from incremental improvements, not wholesale replacements.
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The Payoff:

Teams that master execution consistently outperform those chasing marginal gains through tool expansion. By focusing on utilisation, process alignment, and continuous refinement, Creative Ops teams unlock real efficiency, maximise existing investments, and establish a sustainable foundation for future growth — without adding unnecessary complexity.

Play #6 — Stay in the Game, Keep Playing to Keep Succeeding

Winning one game doesn’t make you a champion. Nor does deploying one tool.

Deploying a tool, completing an automation rollout, or delivering a high-impact campaign may feel like significant wins — and they are. But true Creative Ops success isn’t measured by isolated achievements. It’s defined by the ability to maintain and scale that success consistently over time.

A win can’t just be a sprint to deployment. It’s a long-term commitment, an iterative process rather than one great play. Short-term thinking like celebrating temporary gains or neglecting post-deployment strategy only leads to stagnation and missed opportunities. Teams that continuously win consistently focus on learning, refinement, and capability-building as part of their core operating model.
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Key Moves:

• Develop a roadmap for continuous optimisation. You can’t stop after implementation. That’s just the kickoff. Set regular cycles for review, iteration, and scaling.
• Keep your team sharp. Invest in persistent internal knowledge building and nurturing both individual and collective expertise. Tools change, but skilled operators are always in play.
• Embed iteration into culture. Make testing, learning, and improving part of the game plan. Every campaign, every asset… ask what worked, what didn’t, and what’s next.
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The Payoff:

Focus on momentum, mastery, and a culture that values progress over perfection. By staying in the game — continuously optimising, iterating, and refining — organisations achieve consistent performance, greater scalability, and long-term competitive advantage. What you want are teams that focus on enduring value rather than momentary wins.

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Final Pep Talk

Creative Ops teams fail because they treat tech like a ticket to victory. But victory isn’t a single game. It’s a season. Then another. Then another.

Tools won’t win it for you. Culture will. Discipline will. Execution will.

Teams that commit to this mindset don’t panic when trends shift. They don’t waste time chasing the next big thing. They treat every setback like a critical half-time regroup. Then go out again and run new strategic plays. They continue show up and compete.

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* Special thanks to Simon Sinek, whose book The Infinite Game inspired the thinking behind this playbook. His work is a reminder that success isn’t about hitting a finish line — it’s about building the mindset, resilience, and adaptability to stay in the game. Creative Ops isn’t a one-time win — it’s a commitment to keep showing up, improving, and playing smarter every day. Thanks for the vision, Coach.

ManMachine: Creative Ops Strategy for the Infinite Game

At ManMachine, we help brands, in-house agencies, and marketing teams move beyond tool deployment and into operational excellence. We don’t just implement creative automation — we embed it into scalable, resilient CreativeOps systems that keep delivering, long after launch.

Here’s how we help you stay in the game:

• Creative Ops Strategy & Execution: We don’t chase quick wins — we design structured roadmaps that align tools, teams, and workflows for long-term impact.
• Continuous Optimisation & Support: From process refinement to team enablement, we help you improve and adapt — ensuring creative automation evolves as your needs do.
• Scalable Expertise On-Demand: We bring the skills, insights, and real-world experience to strengthen your game — without overloading your in-house teams.

CreativeOps success isn’t a project — it’s a practice. If you’re ready to build for the long game and unlock sustained performance, we’re here to help. Let’s talk.

‍Speak to us about how we can empower your business or brand’s creative operations and production.