Posted by admin Jul 01th, 2013
Many companies compose RFP (Request for Proposal) documents to find a right vendor for their Drupal development needs. But I think most of these RFP docs are not an appropriate way to find right, highly motivated and experienced company / team.
I will try to explain why do I think so.
Solution: Determine project budget and time frames along with the chosen development team.
Solution: Communicate with the vendor via Skype or telephone if vendor expresses a desire to do it. Client should talk to the project team. Why not? It won't take much time and client will get a chance to tell more about his business/product explain his vision and aims. That's a good opportunity for both parties.
Solution: Client should listen to the experts and rely on them regarding all technical decisions. Trust is a key factor here.
Solution: Allow using Agile.
Choosing a right team is a very challenging task, everybody should realize it. So, maybe RFP is not so good way to find proper development team? Or maybe we need to approach the RFP docs from the another side. Let's think about it.
I will try to explain why do I think so.
1. Wrong budget and timing estimates.
Usually RFP says: "the project budget is...." or "this functionality should be delivered by...." Though people who determine budget, deadlines in a given RFP, usually don't get insights from Drupal professionals at that stage. Time frames, functionality and budget being determined by non-technical management. Such management usually relies on their company's strategy. At the first glance, you might think it's pretty natural and logical. But, to be honest, non-technical management can't know how much time and budget they need for certain functionality. And sometimes they can't predict which features are really needed and which features would be just a waste of money and time. In fact, case studies show, that approximately 80% of functionality in modern software is useless.Solution: Determine project budget and time frames along with the chosen development team.
2. Possibility to communicate with the client via e-mail only.
Usual RFP states: send us all questions via e-mail, we won't provide information over other communication channels. It's hard to get exposed to project details without verbal communication through online calls (Skype, Google hangouts etc.) or face-to-face meetings. It's hard for development team to seize a project philosophy without proper communication. While the client might get a poor understanding of the development process, project team activity being limited to e-mails only.Solution: Communicate with the vendor via Skype or telephone if vendor expresses a desire to do it. Client should talk to the project team. Why not? It won't take much time and client will get a chance to tell more about his business/product explain his vision and aims. That's a good opportunity for both parties.
3. Technical staff in RFP
Sometimes Drupal related RFP says: "We want to use phpBB forum instead of native Drupal forum solution" or "We want to use Sphinx technology for search in that certain case". I think if you're about to choose Drupal experts, you need to listen to them. And they will decide what technology suits best for your project. It's our job to develop Drupal based web applications. We do it every day and we probably have more experience with it.Solution: Client should listen to the experts and rely on them regarding all technical decisions. Trust is a key factor here.
4. Impossibility to adopt Agile.
All RFPs we have worked with demand the development team to provide strict deadlines and budget. In this case drupal development teams can work using waterfall model only. For example, at Drucode we don't use this model. We believe that great software products can be created in Agile way only. Because our modern world is very flexible. World is agile now. To be honest, I don't know any web project which was been delivered on time with fixed budget. Why? Because there are a lot of changes during the development: business objectives, technologies, sometimes even a business model - change.Solution: Allow using Agile.
Choosing a right team is a very challenging task, everybody should realize it. So, maybe RFP is not so good way to find proper development team? Or maybe we need to approach the RFP docs from the another side. Let's think about it.