@Jon - yes, absolutely, but that's a slightly different point. Finding
out what you want to deliver is hopefully part of the process - and
there's a whole raft of stuff that could be said about funders wanting X
when actually they have no idea that there's an audience / need /
content to support it...
Which is why ~totally gratuitous pimp~ we've just started offering an
"Online Brainstorm" workshop:
"This is a one-day, highly interactive and fun session for anyone who is
at the beginning of a digital project and wondering how to take things
forward. We'll work with you looking at what you're aiming to achieve
and considering examples from others."
http://courses.thirty8.co.uk/our-courses/
Mike
_____________________________
*Mike Ellis *
Thirty8 Digital: a small but perfectly formed digital
agency:http://thirty8.co.uk <http://thirty8.co.uk/>
* My book: http://heritageweb.co.uk <http://heritageweb.co.uk/> *
jon pratty wrote:
> Mike
>
> Your first point is the hardest one. From my recent experience, getting
> clients to that stage of knowing the basic requirements needs a work strand
> all of its own. They frequently don't seem to know why they want an xxx or
> a yyy or who it's for...
>
> JP
> On 12 Mar 2015 09:21, "Mike Ellis"<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Great post, and some useful stuff, thanks Andrew (and Kati!)
>>
>> Can I turn it around though, and also suggest that museums and other
>> people who want work done can make everyone's jobs very much easier by -
>> well, frankly - cutting to the chase in their RFP documents?
>>
>> The main things that every agency I've ever known looks for straight away
>> when they get a document like this is:
>>
>> 1. A SHORT tl;dr version of the thing that is needed. So rather than a
>> 100-page word-fest, something like this:
>>
>> "Our museum is looking to develop an online resource to do X for audience
>> Y using technology Z"
>>
>> 2. A sense of timescales, right up front:
>>
>> "We need X to be delivered by mid-2015, but expect the project to be live
>> for Y years"
>>
>> 3. Budget. Or at least a ballpark sense of budget.
>>
>> This is controversial, and I know some people like agencies to pitch this
>> - BUT I also know that every single agency I know, mine included, prefer to
>> have a sense of what they're working to.
>>
>> Firstly, it gives us some context as to how much effort to put in to the
>> pitch.
>>
>> Secondly it really helps when actually thinking about what to propose -
>> the "how much is a website" question is a non-question, especially in a
>> world in which you can throw something up on WordPress.com for free. So
>> being guided by budget is really helpful.
>>
>> Finally, and most frustratingly - ** Everyone has a budget!! ** - no-one
>> goes to an agency without knowing what they want to spend - so why be so
>> secretive about it? It's much better if a museum comes to you and says
>> "Look, we've got £10,000 put aside for this, but really we're cost
>> sensitive and would rather get it done for £7,000 so we can spend £3,000 on
>> something else - so we will be judging your response partly based on what
>> your estimate is". Or: "We've got a £10,000 grant to spend on this so as
>> long as it hits the budget, that's fine. What we're really looking for is
>> experience in doing X"
>>
>> I'd like to see a template where these three bits of information are on
>> the very front page of any request - rather than having to play the
>> scrolling-through-100-pages game in order to get to the crucial "do we want
>> to pitch for this work?" information.
>>
>> cheers
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>>
>> _____________________________
>>
>>
>> *Mike Ellis *
>>
>> Thirty8 Digital: a small but perfectly formed digital agency:
>> http://thirty8.co.uk<http://thirty8.co.uk/>
>>
>> * My book: http://heritageweb.co.uk<http://heritageweb.co.uk/> *
>>
>>
>>
>> Andrew Lewis wrote:
>>
>>> Dear MCG people,
>>>
>>> Our very own Kati Price here has laid out a lovely summary of what goes
>>> through a client's mind while reviewing tender proposals.
>>> It's a very digestible summary.
>>>
>>> I'd suggest recommended reading for anyone managing a tender or indeed
>>> anyone working in a prospective partner company who has to put a lot of
>>> effort into writing a proposal.
>>>
>>> http://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/digital-media/11-tips-for-
>>> writing-a-killer-proposal-2
>>>
>>> enjoy
>>>
>>> Andrew Lewis
>>> Digital Content Delivery Manager
>>> Digital Media
>>>
>>> Victoria and Albert Museum | South Kensington | London | SW7 2RL
>>> T: +44 (0)20 7942 2373
>>> linkd.in/andrewlewis<http://linkd.in/andrewlewis>
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