Proposal Land

Better RFP Responses & Management
 
Proposal Land

Time, Money, Opium and Page Counts

 

Then what is time again?

One of Seth’s recent posts reminded me of this little gem from Volunteers (see the dialogue clip below the fold).

If less is more and more is better then less is better, right? Something about the commutative principle? Actually, that is right, at least in Proposal Land.

The next time you’re trying to stuff 10 pages of response into a 2-page limit (or even just the next time you have 10 pages of response), think of Seth’s rant on lo-fi communication. And then think “better.” Not more.

Because better is better.

As for opium, time, and money, well, you’re going to have to work that one out for yourself.

CHUNG MEE
Opium is my business. The bridge means more traffic. More traffic means more business. More business means more money. More money means more power.

LAWRENCE
Before I commit that to memory, would there be anything in this for me?

CHUNG MEE
Speed is important in business. Time is money.

LAWRENCE
No, you said opium is money.

CHUNG MEE
Money is money. And money is my objective.

LAWRENCE
Then what is time again?

 

Buddy & Me: Get Out of My Closet

 

There’s a strong argument for writing the executive summary just as soon as you have your operations concept figured out:

  • To relieve the time crunch at the end.
  • To serve as a guide to writers.
  • To expose any places where your plan is incomplete or incoherent. Not that I’ve ever seen either of those . . .

But who can forget the joys of writing an executive summary under time pressure? And under a watchful eye? Even better.

 

Buddy & Me: Way Up North

 

Condescension is death to all relationships, I expect. It’s certainly hard on proposal-team coherence.

Diversity is our strength? Well, maybe. But when the teams include retired military and life-long civilians, and technical and seriously non-technical personnel, there are lots of opportunities for disrespect to rear its ugly head. Preventing it (ideally) and dealing with it when it does arise (inevitably) are two tasks they don’t mention when you get press-ganged into proposal management.

On a lighter note, mansplaining *can* be funny, and so it was this time. Right after my blood pressure subsided.

And on a helpful note, here’s a training flowchart on this very subject: BBC Worklife.

 

Lose the Convolutions

 

I still can’t recommend
JoshMBlackman and
RandyEBarnett’s book
enough.
– Seen on Twitter

As RandyEBarnett said wryly on his RT, “I’m glad I read all the way to the end of the sentence.”

Do what you want in Twitter Land — everyone else does — but lose this sort of construction in Proposal Land. No evaluator should have to read to the end of the sentence to get your meaning the right way around.

I don’t know why we sometimes write in this backward way (Does it sound more emphatic? More artistic? More smarter? Dunno.) but when clarity matters, go for the straight declarative, as the original tweeter did in the rest of his recommendation:

It’s very clear,
and the accompanying videos are great.
These are cases everyone should know
and this is a book everyone should own.

All right then.  Just say it.

I highly recommend the Blackman/Barnett book.

We’re not writing literature.

Term: MACA

 

Months after contract award. Almost never used in the expanded form because the acronym is so cool. Who says Proposal Landers are nerds?

Used to identify when milestones will occur and/or when written deliverables are due. Pronounced as “ma-ka,” rather than being spelled out.