How To Survive Editing By Committee: Part I - Heading Up That Committee
Once you have been writing professionally for any length of time, you’ll run into a situation where two or more people need to sign off on a project before it is finalized. The first time I encountered this was on a newsletter I was writing for a healthcare department. I received the topic list, did the research and interviews, wrote the articles, and sent them to all six of the people who needed to review.
Somewhere in the middle of reconciling four different, simultaneous opinions for changes to the same paragraph, I figured there must be a better way…
In fact there are several tips and tricks you can use to avoid this situation, and survive the whole editing-by-committee process. Not only will you save your sanity, but you will also make the project go a little smoother.
In the coming series of posts, I’ll discuss some of the strategies that have worked for me over the years. But first things first…
Do I Want To Become the “Project Manager”?
This is the first question you need to ask yourself. No matter who is “in charge” at your client’s organization, you can usually work your way in as the de facto project manager.
I find that this is a good thing. Some companies have not gone down the road of writing and creating content, so it is natural that your contacts will look to you for some guidance anyway. Taking charge gives you an opportunity to set the timelines, describe the process to all those involved in the process, and generally manage the project. Not only are you able to create a system that works best for you, but in many cases you are also helping your client.
For example, say you are hired to produce a white paper for a client. Perhaps they have never put together a white paper before, and they have lots of questions about the process. What you can do is send them an email or a one-pager describing step-by-step the best way to produce a white paper. Talk about the initial meeting, finding out what the exact topic will be, creating an outline for the white paper, setting up contact people inside and outside the company to interview, creating a timeline, etc. Then, as you reach each step in the process, you tell the client what you need: list of contacts, a sign-off on the outline, etc.
The client stops worrying about the project (the day-to-day aspects anyway) because he or she knows that you will let them know what the next step is. And don’t look now, but you’re managing the project! It’s not as scary as it sounds, is it?
There is a lot to be said though for letting your contact in the organization be the point-person for the project. In some ways you avoid some of the stress that comes with the position (more on that in later posts). But you may also be creating stress in other ways, allowing someone who has no experience working on a writing project to set unrealistic deadlines or miss important steps in the process.
By subtly taking the reigns and gently directing the project, you can make the ride smoother for you and your client.
Now don’t think that suddenly everyone answers to you — as an outside contractor you are still the lowest person on this totem pole. Major issues or contacts within the company who just don’t want to play ball with you will still need to be dealt with by someone in the organization. But it does give you a little more leverage since you have the project schedule (that ostensibly everyone agreed with) to back you up. It is like your bookkeeper who offers “soft collections” services: your gentle reminder is usually all it takes to get that review or information back from tardy (usually busy) contact people, and get the project back on track.
To review then, by becoming the project manager, you:
- Can set realistic timeline goals and project objectives
- Relieve your client/contact of some of the hassle involving this project
- Apply your own knowledge and experience in developing these projects to create a smoother ride for you and your client
It is all about making things easier for your client. Not only will they appreciate your efforts, but the more invaluable you make yourself to a company, the more likely they’ll be picking up that phone to call you again.
~Graham
Tags: customer service, editing by committee, project management, white paper writing
