Spotting and eliminating "action bias" - the desire to always publish something

Adrian Imms

Head of Digital Content
University of Sussex

Action bias is a psychological instinct to “do something” rather than “do nothing”. It’s natural and it happens all the time in most walks of life - even when there's no evidence to suggest that action is the best course to take. 

In the world of communications and marketing, it is the essence of the profession. For digital content teams, the bias towards action can be debilitating. It means the constant creation of more noise, marketing messages, news, guides, explainers, FAQs, policies and other “resources”. 

For any big website, such as those run by universities or public authorities, prioritising creation over maintenance or deletion only leads to one outcome: a terrible user experience. 

This talk is for you if you have ever despaired of the ideas of others or the volume of information on the internet – whether you’re a creator, commissioner or manager of content, or a leader of people.

Key takeaways

• How to spot action bias and understand why it’s occurring

• Learn ways to channel the bias for action into activities that are productive, while still giving people meaning in their work

• Understand how to live more comfortably with uncertainty, organisational chaos and competing priorities.

About your speaker

Adrian Imms is Head of Digital Content at the University of Sussex. He started at Sussex in 2017 as a content editor. Before this, Adrian was a journalist and sub-editor for a daily regional newspaper for nine years. He’s also produced live football match content for UEFA, the body responsible for the Champions League. He is currently focused on a large web estate project for Sussex, which aims to revamp the website, centralise governance and ultimately maximise user experience.