The State of Content Operations and an Expensive Way to Be Stupid Episode

This week, Ian and Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear, discuss some research that she’s just published covering the State of Content Operations in 2026.

But first, they discuss Optimizely's recent retirement of the Digital Experience Platform (DXP) label, a prominent vendor in this category, but is the switch to an agent platform any better?

They then dig into Cathy’s research and discuss five key points:

1. Speed went up. ROI did not 

2. AI wins here. Falls flat there

3. Three bottlenecks. None of them AI

4. It was never the AI. 

5. Five reasons. None of them intelligence. 

Then Ian moves to our virtual bar, The Rose and Rockstar, and joins Robert Rose, Chief Trouble Maker at Seventh Bear, to ask about something he heard Dr. Margaret Heffernan on the Uncensored CMO say: “AI is a very expensive way to be stupid.”

This leads them to explore the nuances of AI's impact on decision-making, industry knowledge, and marketing strategies. They discuss how AI can both enhance and hinder critical thinking, the importance of industry expertise, and the risks of over-reliance on technology.

Enjoy!

—

The Links

The people:

• Ian Truscott on LinkedIn 

• Cathy McKnight on LinkedIn

• Robert Rose on LinkedIn

Mentioned this week:

• Brice Dunwoodie’s LinkedIn Post about retiring DXP

• Optimizely Retires DXP Label, Bets Everything on Agent Platform

• State of Content Operations in 2026

• Valuable Friction - Robert Rose

• Uncensored CMO - Dr Margaret Heffernan

• Robert’s article: Why AI Demands That Marketers Have Industry Expertise

• Robert’s newsletter: Lens, his websites, robertrose.net and seventhbear.com

Rockstar CMO:

• The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday

• Rockstar CMO on the web and LinkedIn

• Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM.

Track List:

• We’ll be right back by Stienski & Mass Media on YouTube

• Piano Music is by Johnny Easton, shared under a Creative Commons