Quality control and improvement in document content and design can provide a significant financial benefit to pharmaceutical and medical device organizations. It is our observation that companies must learn that writing is a process open to continuous improvement.
However, I find in my consulting work that many people working in the life sciences question the merits of attempts to improve the communication quality of their technical and scientific documents. Quite a few of these people subscribe to the notion that as long as I get the study design right or have the correct data, then that is good enough. This may be the case for a small subset of documents, but the assumption clearly does not apply to the vast majority of documents produced in the life sciences. It is our observation that an effort to improve document quality generally does pay off for the individual and the organization. Though these pay-offs may not be easily seen unless there is an attempt to capture data regarding the impact of better document quality.
Here's a few examples where organizations instituted quality control programs and measured change in selected outcomes in order to answer questions about their document products and processes. These organizations found document quality by design does pay.
The Motorola Corporation substantially improved its operation after instituting a document quality program. The company made changes in R&D and Finance operation guides. These changes were focused on providing clearer directions and rationales in the guides and an easy-to-use format. These changes have helped streamline processes, and reduced delays from review and rework. The company calculated savings at US$ 20,000,000 per year. Source – Business Week Oct. 25, 1992
The United Kingdom Department of Health and Social Security spent the equivalent of US$ 50,000 to develop and test a series of new forms. They have reported annual savings of over US$ 2.9 million in reduced staff time from the forms being properly completed the first time.
Source – Plain Language Principles and Practice by Erwin R. Steinberg
The United Kingdom Department of Customs and Excise cut a 55% error rate to 3% by revising lost-baggage claim forms used by airline passengers. Source – American Institutes for Research
An aerospace contractor lost 15 consecutive contract proposals over a three year time period before a quality proposal writing group was called in to review the quality of the proposals and to help the proposal development teams institute new work practices and improve writing skills for developing large proposals. After instituting changes in documentation work practices and processes, the contractor “won” 11 of 12 proposals.
Source – Shipley Associates private communication
Originally published on our Knowledge Management blog
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