♾️ The Frankenstein Project Manager
✅ Summary
A client who insisted on merging suggestions from multiple people in their organization—often contradictory ones.
📜 Full Story
As a veteran copywriter with fifteen years of experience, Jake Reeves had weathered his share of challenging clients. But nothing quite prepared him for his encounter with XYZ Solutions, a mid-sized software company attempting to revamp their entire marketing collateral.
The project started promisingly enough. The initial brief from Marketing Director Jennifer Jones seemed straightforward: create compelling copy for their suite of cloud security products. The timeline was reasonable, the budget fair, and the objectives clear—at least initially.
When Collaboration Becomes Chaos
Three days after submitting the first draft, Jake's inbox exploded. Instead of receiving consolidated feedback from Jennifer, he found himself bombarded with separate emails from the CEO, the head of sales, three product managers, the UX team lead, and surprisingly, the company's HR director. Each stakeholder had their own vision, preferred terminology, and conflicting priorities.
The CEO insisted on aggressive, market-disrupting language. The sales team wanted more technical specifications. The product managers each pushed for their features to receive top billing. The UX team advocated for simpler language, while HR worried about maintaining their "friendly, approachable" brand voice.
The Descent into Document Chaos
What followed was a six-week ordeal of attempting to incorporate everyone's feedback. The original 2,000-word product overview morphed into a 4,500-word behemoth. Some sections read like technical documentation, others like motivational speeches. The tone ping-ponged between corporate formality and casual conversation, sometimes within the same paragraph.
Jake recalls one particularly painful section: "The document had three different value propositions on the same page. One emphasized cost savings, another focused on innovation, and the third stressed security. It was like reading three different companies' marketing materials stitched together."
Breaking Point and Resolution
The breaking point came when Jennifer requested a seventh revision incorporating yet another round of contradictory feedback. Jake knew he had to intervene to salvage both the project and his sanity.
He drafted a diplomatic but firm email to Jennifer, outlining the specific challenges and proposing a structured solution. His key recommendations included:
- Establishing a single point of contact for feedback coordination
- Implementing a feedback hierarchy system
- Setting up a stakeholder review meeting to align on key messages
- Creating a clear approval process with designated decision-makers
This is a fictitious case study developed for educational purposes only. Any resemblance to actual people or organizations is purely coincidental.
🛠️ How to Fix This
Preventive Measures for Future Projects
This experience led Jake to develop a comprehensive "Feedback Management Protocol" for all future projects. The protocol includes:
- A mandatory kickoff meeting with all stakeholders to establish roles and responsibilities
- Written documentation of the feedback process and timeline
- Templates for consolidated feedback submission
- Clear escalation procedures for resolving conflicting feedback
Today, Jake includes these guidelines in his project contracts, helping clients understand the importance of streamlined communication from the outset. "It's not about limiting input," he explains, "but rather about ensuring that input is structured, organized, and ultimately beneficial to the project's success."
The Takeaway
The XYZ Solutions project, while challenging, ultimately led to better processes and clearer expectations for future collaborations. Jennifer Whitman later admitted that the experience helped her organization develop better internal communication protocols for all their creative projects.
For copywriters and creative professionals, the lesson is clear: establishing strong project management boundaries isn't just about maintaining sanity—it's essential for delivering cohesive, effective work that serves the client's best interests.