[consulting] "How to write a RFP"

[Boris Mann]

On 1/17/07, Gerhard Killesreiter <gerhard at killesreiter.de> wrote:

> I was wondering if anybody has, or knows of, a good document that lists
> what points a RFP should contain in order to be useful. Does not need to
> be Drupal specific.

Antinomia has a nice contact form  / RFP that asks a lot of questions:
http://www.antinomia.com/rfp

> It would be nice if we could have such a document on drupal.org.

Don't think it's appropriate. If there is one somewhere that is
CC-licensed, putting it on your own website is probably a good idea.

> Reason: I often get RFPs that aren't remotely useful.

Here's a secret: most RFPs aren't useful. Often times, a client will
actually hire a consultant to help write an RFP. But generally, this
consultant isn't an implementor, so can't actually ask all the right
questions.

So, when answering an RFP, you do what you can, but I usually point
out flaws in the RFP or ask further questions that haven't been
considered. This usually leads to the first part of an engagement
being a requirements gathering excercise, where the *real* goals/needs
get fleshed out.

Hope that helps,

-- 
Boris Mann
Vancouver 778-896-2747
San Francisco 415-367-3595
Skype borismann
http://www.bryght.com