Before starting any project or document, there is something that you must do. RESEARCH! I can’t stress that enough. There have been all kinds of projects that I have been on, and the one mistake that they usually make is not taking the time to research. It’s something that time should be allocated for during the project planning process. Reading the client’s documentation, interviewing them, and analyzing external resources, you will have a better understanding of the issues that your team and you are trying to solve.
1. Research the Client’s Documentation - When a client hires me to write a proposal, the first thing I do is reading the RFP or proposal guidelines carefully, and I create a requirements matrix. Tip: Placing a proposal requirements matrix at the front of your proposal showing that you have covered all the points that they had already creates a good first impression. After doing that, I begin trying to understand the client’s problem. There have been so many times where companies only rely only on their past performance and their name. Yes, past performance is important, but you have to also consider that every problem is unique. Even if something you have done in the past covers the majority of what they want, it usually won’t satisfy the problem 100%. Research their reports, system documentation, and anything you can get your hands on.
2. Interview Your Clients – Interviewing is also very important. You can do this for gathering requirements. Understanding what clients do every day, and what they want is key to developing a product or service that will better help them. It’s a great way to also build a rapport with them. Whenever you take the time to speak to clients, you are showing them that you are fully invested in helping them do their jobs better.
The best way to do this is create open-ended interview questions that you can further build from. A child learns by asking why after why questions. You have to do the same. Don’t be afraid to ask anything you need to know, even if you feel that it’s a dumb question. This is the only time that I will say that there is no such thing as a stupid question.
3. Look at External Resources - I’ve written many responses to government RFPs, so I usually read what reports the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the agency’s Inspector General has written. These are reports created after months of analysis, so they are extremely useful. There are also reports that non-profit organizations looking for grants can view that are similar to these. Maybe think-tanks, research organizations, and many others have probably done some type of research.
My internship as a Research Assistant at a think tank when I got out of college taught me that. In order to create full-depth analysis reports, we had to research for months. It’s one of the reasons that think tanks are considered experts in their field. Definitely learn to do the same.
Photo Detail: Problem and Solution – Magnifying Glass, originally uploaded by iQoncept. 7JEQ7FG8JA22
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