Change, change everywhere...yet it all remains the same

Change, change everywhere....yet as far as I can tell, most writing practices used to day to create research reports in the life sciences are the same as those deployed in 1928.


I did a workshop the other day for a group of medical writers looking at aspects of managing documentation projects. I started the session with a photograph taken in a newspaper office in 1928. I suggested to the group that other than the typewriters on the desk, the ways they work are essentially the same as the people posing in that 1928 photo. My comment got everyone’s attention, though I am sure some did not receive well the message. I am quite comfortable with my statement as traditional documentation development practices in the realm of medical writing have remained more or less unchanged for decades.


I explained to the group that much of the medical writing work they engage in is played out exactly the same way it was in 1928. Their current writing world remains one that is largely a work platform where they produce drafts in isolation and then send the drafts out to team members (electronically now unlike paper of the past) who then review in isolation and ultimately return the marked up documents to the authors (exactly like they did in 1928.)


My point to the group was if you really want to change outcomes, then you better think about changing your work practices. Doing things largely the same way will continue to yield the same outcomes. Just because you now have the reviewers grab your document from a server file, or you do round table reviews via WebEx, or you author your report in an enhanced electronic template does not mean you have made a radical departure from how people authored research reports or other documents 20-30 years ago. And I do know that the same weaknesses found 50+ years ago in document products and practices remain today.


You want different outcomes? Then change the practices associated with planning, authoring, and reviewing documents, not merely the tools and the processes you lay on top of practice.