According to Google-based statistics: 

  • 48% of medical writing projects miss delivery dates
  • 43% of medical writing projects miss budget targets
  • 31% of medical writing projects fail to meet the organisation’s goals

If you’re managing a team of medical writers, those words make noise like fingernails on a chalkboard. If you are wearing your yellow hat, you are optimistic and focused on opportunities and benefits. Here are three tips to help you see the sunshine and complete the project life cycle.

Know your client

It’s time to kick off a new project. You’ve defined the project goals, outlined the deliverables, established a budget, and noted all possible costs and DoorDash just dropped off your double meat burrito from Chipotle. There’s just one problem: the client has now emailed a list of requests for their white paper that resembles a woman wearing Air Jordans, a Gucci pencil dress, and a Mexican sombrero. In this case, maybe the client wants to include detailed statistical analyses but expects the white paper to be read by lay audiences. Put simply, the instructions don’t work well together and are almost impossible. Sound familiar?

We love our clients, but sometimes they may have a change of heart or additional requests that don’t always seem convenient. But is the client the problem?

Whether your management style is waterfall, agile, or six sigma, you have to embrace that each client is unique. To create an ecosystem of five-star customer service, learn what makes each client happy. They are not the problem. A lack of upfront understanding of their highest priorities is the problem. 

Some clients like their documents shared via Google Docs, and others via OneDrive. Some clients want to communicate via email, and others prefer a Slack channel. For medical articles, they may require only primary sources to be used. They might request hyperlinks throughout the articles instead of AMA style. Many companies requesting medical writing services prefer gender-neutral language. Let’s meet their goals!

Here’s an action tip💡– Create a spreadsheet, add each client, and make a comprehensive list of the little things that reflect each client’s idea of a 5-star experience.

Know your team

A project manager without a team of expert medical writers is like a gardener without a garden. A team of medical writers is that garden. You will work with PhDs, PharmDs, MDs, NDs, and RNs, all with different personalities. Matching them to your client’s goals and making them feel like they’re using their degree and medical experience to the fullest is the land that requires cultivation.

How else will you know where to plant them? Read the following four examples. Let’s say that in your garden, you have garlic, strawberries, peppers, and tomatoes. What does that have to do with medical writers?

  • Gary Garlic – A writer who sometimes lets life get in the way. With small-budget projects, he goes straight to the moon. If given a big project, he reverses straight to the gates of hell. This writer specializes in a niche field that is extremely useful. He needs regular reminders, but when used correctly he is an excellent asset to the team.
  • Mary Strawberry – The perfect writer for lay audiences. She has a bubbly personality, and carries herself with kindness and professionalism in client meetings. Works well with others and just needs regular words of affirmation.
  • Lester Pepper – This writer has the flavour best used for technical writing. He prefers not to write for lay audiences. He takes work seriously but could take criticism better. His personality isn’t for everyone and he works better alone. However, he turns all assignments in on time, and clients rarely ask for revisions.
  • Tammy Tomato – A writer that will take on any assignment. She is a fast learner, has a very easy-going personality, and is eager to learn. Works well with others and finds a way to make clients happy. If given too much work, though, the overall quality begins to rot. With guidance and kind words, she is all set!

In the same way, a real gardener never blames the soil or the seed, a real project manager doesn’t blame his client or his team. Knowing each writer’s strengths and weaknesses is an act of kindness.

Accept the writers for who they are, and they will grow on their own. If you know your team, you’ll knock out each project and find KPIs that will lead to happy clients and booming profits.

Know yourself

Knowing your client and your team is key, but what about you?

Whether it’s a marketing campaign, journal submission, or web content creation, each project will present a hurdle, each higher than the next. Therefore, ponder this: how can you manage clients and a team of medical writers when you can’t manage yourself?

Stephen Covey, the author of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, teaches that habit number one is being proactive. It is a commitment to focusing and acting on what you can control and influence instead of what you can’t. You may have heard this quote from him: “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”

As a project manager, you need to know how you will respond when scope creep inevitably occurs. Every time you point a finger at a client or “Gary Garlic”, three fingers are pointing back at you. Those three fingers remind you that between the kickoff, launch, and landing of the project, something happened that you are responsible for. 

Medical writing project managers are a product of their decisions, and those decisions reveal how well they know your clients, writers, and — more importantly — themselves. 

If you are wearing your yellow hat, the statistics mentioned at the outset are just another fun challenge on the path to executing medical writing projects.

Are you planning any medical writing projects? Let The Med Writers Help You!

Puzzled about how to execute a medical article, journal submission, ebook, or medical endorsement?

Click here to set up a free consultation. Our medical writing team is ready to meet your needs!