The folks over at 37signals have put out a request for firms to apply to redesign their blog. This is a simple request with everything I need to evaluate the project: budget, timeline, scope, deliverable, and expectations. All of this is brilliantly captured within 324 words. Every day I wade through 30-slide PowerPoints and 12-page RFPs I truly wish more people were this straightforward. Frankly, in my experience, some of the simplest project requests work out the best.
Here here. Awhile back, I actually took at shot at reading/responding to a 56 page RFP. At about page 20, gave up thinking there was no possible way there was a job on earth that would have repaid preparing a proposal that responded to 56 pages of meaningless bullshit.
Possible corollary rule? “The more information there is in an RFP, the less likely the potential client actually knows what they want.”
Only a handful of potential clients really know what they want before hand. In those cases, the extra detail does help, no doubt.
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