Proposal Land

“Mind your language.”
Rhys Newman and Luke Johnson

Newman and Johnson make the case for standardizing terminology for design teams, and you won’t get any argument from me about that for proposal teams.  My book even includes a checklist of categories of terminology to be standardized.

But here, I’d like to address a different point they make about the language we use and its effect on proposal teamwork, using the specific (and extreme) case of profanity to illustrate the general point.   Continue reading“How to Foster Teamwork: Rule #5”

“Design the designing.”
Rhys Newman and Luke Johnson

Huh?  Well, sometimes “catchy” isn’t “clearest” – at least not across industries.  So instead, try this quote from the same section:

“There’s one very simple rule when innovating:
Design the process to fit the project.”

Design the Process to Fit the Project

Yes, of course.  Yet for something so obvious, it’s surprising how often it isn’t done:

• Big companies try to apply their standard, thousand-step project management methodology and multi-level work breakdown structures – suitable for designing and building nuclear power plants – to a two-month RFP-response schedule.
• Managers try to save money by using a distributed model where everyone works in their own office/city/country, without providing the necessary tools for communication and control.
• Marketers try to achieve production standards worthy of coffee-table books, sucking time desperately needed for conceptualizing, articulating, and costing the business offering.

How Does This Affect Teamwork?

Most people who work on proposals don’t mind working hard – they understand and accept that it’s part of the deal.  Heck, they might even enjoy it.  What they resent is working stupid:

• Using processes that are over-engineered for the task at hand, wasting time they need for productive work
• Using tools that are under-engineered for the task at hand, creating version-control problems (among others)
• Meeting standards that exceed what the client expects for the task at hand, while not giving them what they need

What’s the Solution?

If you “design the designing” – if you design the process to fit the project – you will be focusing everything on the desired outcome: the on-time submission of a compliant, complete, clear, compelling, and well-costed response.  This, in turn, will foster teamwork:

• By establishing sensible and sustainable work parameters based on proposal-specific answers to these key questions:
  • Why are we here?
  • What are we supposed to be doing?
  • What really matters?
• By showing that you value and respect your team’s work ethic, not requiring adherence to irrelevant processes or to excessive standards

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Proposals are schedule-driven projects that require a strict project management discipline. Right? Partly right. In proposal terminology, I’d call that answer incomplete.  Proposals are projects, for sure, but they’re also the output of teamwork. I’ve recently been learning how much the design business has in common with proposals.

This post is one of a series on proposal teamwork, inspired by a fabulous article on Medium on design teams:
“No Dickheads! A Guide to Building Happy, Healthy, and Creative Teams.”

 “Good studios build good walls.”
Rhys Newman and Luke Johnson

At first glance, this rule for fostering teamwork is perversely reminiscent of one of the more famous quotes of a former Poet Laureate of the United States.  You know the one I mean.

“Good fences make good neighbours.”
Robert Frost

But this is not about building walls between people.  Instead, it’s about using walls to connect them.

What are Walls in Proposal Land?

Walls – whether actual or virtual – are places where the big points about an RFP response are posted, in a format big enough and simple enough to be seen and taken in at a glance:

• The response schedule
• The selling themes
• The control sheet that identifies the status of each of 37 sections in the final multi-stage process of review, revision, editing, revision, proofing, revision, printing, proofing, revision . . .

Walls as Passive Information Radiators

As you’ll see from the external links below, “passive information radiators” are important for all teams – indeed, for all organizations.  For proposal teams, they’re especially important:

• Saving time, an obvious bonus in this deadline-driven activity
• Improving communication both within the team and with executives
• Limiting disruptions to team members who already have more work than time
• Keeping the team focused on what matters, and helping to ensure that they know the same things about what matters
• Reducing anxiety, especially on ad hoc teams where members don’t know who they can trust to meet their commitments, and who they have to keep an eye on

It’s easy to get swamped by the detail.  Using a wall makes the big pieces visible, a crucial first step to managing them.

External Links

Information Radiators – Agile Tools

Information Radiators – Element #2 of the Personal Kanban

 

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Proposals are schedule-driven projects that require a strict project management discipline. Right? Partly right. In proposal terminology, I’d call that answer incomplete.  Proposals are projects, for sure, but they’re also the output of teamwork. I’ve recently been learning how much the design business has in common with proposals.

This post is one of a series on proposal teamwork, inspired by a fabulous article on Medium on design teams:
“No Dickheads! A Guide to Building Happy, Healthy, and Creative Teams.”