Why This? Why Now? Optimizing the Medical Writing Project Brief
A strong project brief is the foundation of a successful medical writing project. With smart planning, you can avoid misunderstandings, delays, and other common pitfalls over the course of a project.
Here is a peek at our project briefing checklist, which will help you ensure all elements are included in your brief and your agency partner can hit the ground running with their work.
Starting with a thoughtful project brief helps to avoid pitfalls later.
Why this? Why now? This is the most important item, and it is often overlooked. Provide background and context to your writing partner by explaining why this deliverable is needed, and why it is needed now. Is there a gap you need to address? Is there a perspective you are trying to shift? It may be obvious to you, but it’s always worth taking time to cover this.
Audience. Who will be reading or using this material, and in what circumstances? Is the audience made up of internal team members or external stakeholders (eg, doctors)? Will they be using it in a digital or print format? Be sure to explain not only who will use the material, but also how and when you expect them to engage with it.
Referencing requirements. Does the material need to be annotated in a specific way? Is there a platform where annotated references will need to be uploaded? This is difficult and time consuming for a medical writing team to reverse-engineer if it comes up as an afterthought later in the project.
Review. What will the review process be to approve the content? Will there be reviews from the medical, legal, regulatory, or compliance perspectives? The review process can inform the project timeline and will help set expectations with the writer so they can prepare a draft that avoids any “red flags” to the reviewers.
Timeline. How urgent is the project? Is there any flexibility? Will any team members be unavailable for any part of the project?
Administrative details. Provide a project code, PO, or other administrative items so the agency will not need to follow up later.
Spending time on a strong project brief is essential to ensure the project runs smoothly. An optimal brief will make sure everyone involved knows what is expected of them and how they can best work together to successfully complete the project. By contrast, a poor (or non-existent) brief will lead to misunderstandings, delays, and duplication of effort.
Med Ink Consulting is more than a medical communications partner. We think through projects from beginning to end to ensure a smooth process. Contact us to learn how we can help.