Assorted links and notes on writing proposals, not uncompensated specifications and plans

http://discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware3/default.asp?cmd=show&ixPost=102354&ixReplies=4

Drupal Dojo Session: IT WILL BE OK, PUT DOWN THE RFP AND STEP AWAY
http://groups.drupal.org/node/84939

Don't Do Dead Documents
http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch11_Dont_Do_Dead_Documents.php

I usually include
- Executive Summary (Background, business necessity, our qualifications to meet the needs et al all in less than a page)
- Scope of Work (Functional and Technical Requirements)
- Project Approach (Solution Architecture, Deliverables, Exclusions, Planning & Technical Assumptions, Dependencies, Roles and Responsibilities)
- Commercials (Milestones, Payment Schedules, Terms and Conditions)

comment at http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz.5.96874.4

Previously, when operating my own company, I offered clients the choice: a detailed functional spec billed hourly before the fixed proposal, or a "fast track" proposal that may err in either favor (but always included healthy padding).

Fewer than 5% ever went for the spec, and my actual hourly rate was better for it.

-Matt
http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz.5.391334.5

General fun venting about proposals:
http://discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware/default.asp?cmd=show&ixPost=120589

How to sell a traditional client on an Agile project plan
http://www.slideshare.net/o19s/agile2009

Delivering products in agile projects
http://www.accelerateddeliveryplatform.com/Default.aspx?Page=SmartDeliverables

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FogBugzI.html
Some of our customers still think we're one of those big enterprise software companies where you call them up, negotiate with a salesperson for three months, and, on the last day of the fiscal quarter, force the salesperson to promise a long list of new features in exchange for a half-million dollar contract.

That's nice, but we don't have salespeople and we're not one of those vendors. Our customers are happy that our price point is low but not all of them quite understand the implications. They ask us to fly out to their headquarters to give a demo of the software to their development team. They send us long spreadsheets with lists of features and ask us to check off the features we support. They even send us RFPs (shudder). RFP stands for "Request for Proposal." It's a request by a large company for a custom proposal from a small company. The small company works on the 200 page laser-printed proposal like mad for three weeks and Fedexes it in great expense and at the last minute, where it gets put in the trash because the large company has their favorite vendor who takes them on a helicopter to Atlantic City on junkets involving blackjack and strippers, and who is going to get the contract no matter what, but someone in purchasing for some unexplained reason, maybe he's bucking for a promotion is insisting that the proposal be opened up to "competitive bidding" and the small company has been chosen as a victim to write up a proposal that has no chance of being accepted just to make the process look a little bit less corrupt, and if you're a small company, I would recommend that you don't fall for it and don't spend any time responding to RFPs unless it's already understood that you're going to get the contract.

Interviewing to hire new workers
http://www.cse.unr.edu/~sushil/researchAdvice/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html