The Dumb Things That Kill Good Work
Three separate managers were each making separate promises to the client.
The Writing Sample
Real-world writing. Real-world work.
By Andrew Eroh
In one of my previous roles, I was doing everything right—or at least, I thought I was.
The writing was solid. The process was structured. I was ahead of schedule.
But that didn’t matter.
Because in the background, three separate managers were each making separate promises to the client. No coordination. No documentation. Just handshakes and “we can do that” conversations.
One agreed to additional features.
One agreed to deliverables outside the original scope.
One agreed to a new deadline—shorter, of course.
None of it was in the contract.
Scope Creep Is Quiet Until It Isn’t
At first, you don’t notice the extra weight. It just feels like an “urgent” task or an unexpected meeting.
But then it becomes a pattern.
And before long, your whole team is underwater—working overtime, burning out, trying to hit goals no one agreed to and no one budgeted for.
By the time upper management noticed, the contract was bloated beyond recognition. We couldn’t meet the client’s new expectations and couldn’t support the delivery timeline financially.
Eventually, the program was closed.
The company quit that entire sector of business.
The client lost too—they had no product and no vendor. Everyone lost.
The Real Lesson Isn’t Just for Writers
You can be the best technical writer in the room. You can build the cleanest documents, write the sharpest instructions, and structure everything exactly as it should be.
But if leadership doesn’t protect the scope, if clients aren’t held accountable, and if no one checks the promises being made behind closed doors—your good work won’t matter.
So here’s the real lesson:
For companies:
If you want sustainable delivery, don’t say yes without checking your people, your budget, and your timeline. “Just one more thing” can be the start of a shutdown.
For clients:
If you want the work done right, honor the agreement. Your vendor is not a buffet. More requests mean more scope, more time, more money. Pretending otherwise won’t save you anything.
For writers and builders:
Do the work well, but also watch the system around you. When leadership starts promising deliverables you haven’t seen, it’s not just a “miscommunication.” It’s the start of a collapse.
Thanks for reading.
This newsletter is where I talk about technical writing, yes—but more than that, it’s about the systems around our work. If you’ve ever been asked to hit a moving target, or watched a good project fail for stupid reasons, you’re in the right place.
—Andrew
Writing that works, even when no one’s watching.