Hi Reader,

You receive a client’s draft with clear instructions. As you review it, you notice that the structure is difficult to follow, one claim seems stronger than the evidence, and an important limitation is missing.

Should you follow the instructions exactly, or use your judgment to improve the document?

This is one of the professional skills medical writers need to develop. Following a brief matters. So does recognizing when an instruction needs clarification or a recommendation.

So, where do you draw the line?

Some projects need your interpretation. Others need precision in following an agreed plan

Imagine you are working on an advisory board report.

The client has asked for a concise summary of the discussion and its key insights. You have the transcript, your notes, and the meeting objectives. But as you start writing, you realize the discussion does not fit neatly into the agenda.

One important topic came up several times, under different questions. A few participants disagreed. Another comment sounded like a recommendation, but only one advisor made it.

Now you have decisions to make.

Should you organize the report by agenda item or by emerging theme? How much space should you give the disagreement? Can you describe that recommendation as a group view?

The transcript cannot make those decisions for you. And the instruction to “summarize the discussion” does not answer them either.

This is where medical writing requires judgment.

I am using an advisory board report as an example here because it shows this important distinction. Some projects ask us to interpret and organize information. Others ask us to execute a plan that has already been agreed.

Knowing which kind of assignment you have changes how you work.

When the project needs your judgment

Some projects need your judgment more than other. Back to the previous advisory board example, the report you write is more than a shortened transcript. You need to identify relevant themes, connect related comments, and distinguish agreement from disagreement.

You can recommend organizing the report by theme if you think that helps the client understand the discussion. But you should not turn one person’s opinion into “the advisors agreed,” or make a discussion appear more conclusive than it was. Whether the group reached consensus must come from what the participants actually said.

Some other assignments that can have room for judgment may include:

Developing an educational slide deck: deciding how to sequence the evidence so the audience can follow the explanation.

Writing a summary for HCPs or a plain-language summary for patients: deciding how to explain technical concepts without losing essential meaning. Would a figure help the audience understand the key message more clearly?

Creating a literature review: selecting and organizing relevant evidence within the agreed question and methods.

These decisions are part of developing the content. Use your judgment while staying within the brief, remaining faithful to the evidence, and following the project’s review process.

When the project needs you to follow an agreed plan

Now imagine a different assignment.

The client sends you an approved slide deck and asks you to check references, correct typographical errors, and apply the required formatting.

You think the presentation would flow better with a different opening. Should you rewrite it?

That may be a useful recommendation, but it is outside the task you were given. The content may already have completed several rounds of review. Changing it could create additional work or require another approval cycle.

Projects with less editorial freedom might include:

• Proofreading an approved document,
• Formatting a manuscript for a particular journal,
• Applying agreed reviewer comments,
• Updating specified figures using confirmed source data, and
• Checking references against supplied claims.

These assignments still require attention and judgment. The difference is that your role is mainly to verify and execute, rather than redefine the content.

A question to ask before you start

Then clarify which elements are fixed and which are open to recommendations.

The skill I want to teach here is knowing which decisions you can make independently, which changes you should recommend, and which decisions require someone else’s approval. And, always exercise your judgment within the editorial freedom you have been given.

Now, think about your most recent project. Where did the client need your judgment, and where did they need you to follow the plan precisely?

Guanine Medical Academy