How Writers Can Manage Contradictory Instructions

By Sean Brenner

There are few things more frustrating for a writer than getting contradictory instructions from a client or boss. Unfortunately, that’s a frustration I’ve gotten very familiar with lately.

For a new client I picked up recently, I answer to two decision-makers: the client himself and the head writer. The head writer gives most of the marching orders and oversees most of the revisions, while the client pops in at the end of the process to do his own revision pass. A lot of the time, they’re on the same page. But not always.

The past month has seen a lot of irritating back-and-forth. The head writer asks for sections to be expanded, and the client comes in and asks for them to be trimmed back down. The client says he doesn’t want a manuscript to focus too heavily on material from a certain source, while the head writer wants as many details from that source as possible. By the time a manuscript is finished, a lot of time and work has been wasted, and I’m left tearing my hair out.

Unfortunately, these sorts of problems crop up frequently when you’re answering to more than one person. For a corporate gig where you’re answering to a whole group of people, these problems are almost inevitable. And there isn’t always a clean solution. For today’s post, though, I offer a few simple methods you can try.

Just Ask About It

Your first recourse should always be to the golden rule of working with other people: “When in doubt, ask.” Don’t just try to figure it out yourself; ask your managers directly which of the contradictory instructions you should follow. Be sure to lay out who told you what so that they get the full picture, and hopefully, they should have an easy answer for you.

This doesn’t always work, though. Sometimes, your different managers will all tell you to follow their specific instructions. Or you could be in a situation like mine, where the contradictory instructions will be cleared up but you’ll keep getting contradictory instructions for every subsequent manuscript. In those cases, there’s usually a deeper problem than miscommunication, like different visions for the project.

Find the Disconnect

In my situation, there’s a fundamental disconnect between my managers about what the project is supposed to be. Figuring out what that disconnect is can help. 

Do you keep getting contradictory instructions about the same sort of thing? Are there patterns to these contradictions? If so, it might be worth asking about that disconnect directly instead of just asking for clarification on one assignment.

If possible, it’s best to ask all the involved parties at once, like on a team call. What you really need is for all the decision-makers to iron out the disconnect for good. You can only try to nudge them into doing so, however. Whether you succeed is, unfortunately, out of your hands.

The Highest Authority Wins

There’s one more easy solution you can try. If there’s a clear chain of command among the people you’re answering to, go with the instructions of whoever’s highest on the ladder, and ignore any instructions that contradict them. If anyone lower down takes issue with it, direct them to the higher-up that contradicted them and let them pick that fight if they want to.

Of course, this isn’t always going to work. In my case, the highest authority is hands-off until the end of the process, which means the contradiction usually comes up after I’ve done the work. In this scenario, you’ll probably start to see the contradictions coming if you stick around long enough—but guessing at what your boss might say doesn’t have the same veto power as something they’ve actually said.

Try Not to Lose Your Mind

Unfortunately, I don’t know any one-size-fits-all solutions to this kind of problem (and if you do, please tell me in the comments). Just resist the urge to get into a shouting match over it; keep your cool while you troubleshoot. And if you’re really at the end of your rope, you just might want to find another client or job.