Project Proposal Writing: How To Write A Winning Project Proposal
Summary
TLDRIn this informative video, Devon Dean from ProjectManager.com emphasizes the critical role of personal interaction in selling a project through a proposal. He advises that a well-crafted proposal must be supported by active lobbying to decision-makers, highlighting the project's alignment with the company's strategy and its tangible benefits. The video outlines key components of a project proposal, including a compelling problem statement, vision, benefits, deliverables, success criteria, project plan, and budget. Dean stresses the importance of an executive summary for decision-makers and the need for a cohesive narrative that demonstrates the project's value and feasibility.
Takeaways
- 🤝 People buy from people - Personal interaction is crucial for selling a project proposal.
- 📄 Project proposals should not be solely relied upon for funding; active lobbying is necessary.
- 🎯 Tailor the proposal to resonate with decision makers by understanding their concerns and needs.
- 💡 Highlight specific missed opportunities or incurred costs that the project could have prevented or gained.
- 🚫 Avoid generic benefits; focus on tangible, measurable outcomes that align with the organization's strategy.
- 📈 Clearly articulate the project's alignment with the company's long-range strategy and goals.
- 🌟 Detail the project's benefits, ensuring they are specific and measurable to build confidence in its success.
- 🛠️ Describe the deliverables and how they will be provided, including any new capabilities or avoided costs.
- 📊 Establish SMART success criteria to provide a clear benchmark for the project's success.
- 🗓️ Outline the project plan, including deadlines, resources (internal or external), and delivery approach (agile or traditional).
- 💰 Present a clear funding plan and budget, demonstrating the value proposition of the project.
Q & A
What is the primary focus of the video?
-The primary focus of the video is to teach how to effectively sell a project using a project proposal and the importance of personal interaction with decision makers in addition to the proposal document.
Why is it crucial to interact with decision makers while preparing a project proposal?
-Interacting with decision makers is crucial because it helps refine the understanding of the organization's problems and benefits that the project can provide, which can resonate with the decision makers and increase the chances of the project getting funded.
How does the first impression of the project proposal impact the decision-making process?
-The first impression is critical because decision makers often make up their minds within the first few minutes of reviewing the proposal. A strong impact at the beginning can significantly influence their decision to fund or reject the project.
What should be included in the problem statement section of the proposal?
-The problem statement should paint a clear picture of the organization's issues, highlighting specific examples where opportunities were missed or risks/costs were incurred that the project could have prevented or mitigated.
How does the vision statement benefit the project proposal?
-The vision statement ties the project to the company's long-term strategy and goals, ensuring that the project is seen as aligned with the organization's direction and reducing the risk of it being perceived as a rogue project.
What should be the characteristics of the benefits mentioned in the proposal?
-The benefits should be specific, measurable, and directly related to the project's deliverables. They should clearly outline the new capabilities or avoided costs that will result from the project's successful completion.
Why is detailing the project's deliverables important?
-Detailing the deliverables helps stakeholders understand what tangible outputs they can expect from the project, which can include software, hardware, or process improvements, and how these will be implemented.
What are SMART success criteria?
-SMART success criteria are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. They provide clear benchmarks for determining the project's success and give decision makers confidence in the project's outcomes.
How should the project plan and approach to delivery be outlined in the proposal?
-The project plan should include deadlines, a clear strategy for meeting the success criteria and deliverables, and details on whether external vendors or internal staff will be used. It should also specify the methodology, such as agile or traditional waterfall, for project delivery.
What is the role of the cost and budget section in the proposal?
-The cost and budget section presents the funding plan, showing how the project will meet its deadlines and deliverables within the allocated budget, and demonstrating the value proposition in monetary terms.
Why is an executive summary necessary in a project proposal?
-An executive summary is necessary to concisely communicate the high-level problem, vision, and benefits of the project. It helps decision makers quickly grasp the key points, especially since they may only spend a few minutes reviewing the proposal.
How should the project proposal be structured to effectively communicate its objectives?
-The project proposal should be structured like a story, with a logical flow from problem identification to cost and benefits. It should introduce key themes at the beginning and expand upon them throughout the document without introducing new topics, ensuring a cohesive and persuasive narrative.
Outlines
📄 Selling Your Project Through a Proposal
The paragraph emphasizes the importance of personal interaction in selling a project through a proposal. It highlights that a well-written proposal alone is not enough to secure funding; active lobbying and communication with decision-makers are crucial. The speaker, Devon Dean, advises involving project sponsors and champions in refining the proposal to resonate with the organization's problems and benefits. The proposal should start with a strong problem statement, illustrating missed opportunities or incurred costs that the project could have prevented. The vision statement should tie the project to the company's long-term strategy, and the benefits section should detail measurable outcomes. The deliverables section outlines specific project outputs, while success criteria should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound).
🛠️ Project Delivery and Budgeting
This paragraph discusses the subsequent sections of a project proposal, focusing on how the project will achieve its deliverables and success criteria. It covers the methodology, whether using external vendors or internal staff, and the approach taken, such as agile or traditional waterfall methods. The cost and budget section is crucial, detailing the funding plan and how it aligns with deadlines and deliverables. The paragraph concludes with the importance of an executive summary, especially if the proposal is lengthy, to quickly communicate the high-level problem, vision, and benefits. The document's flow should be like a story, with a clear progression from problem to cost and benefits. The speaker reiterates that while the proposal is a key communication tool, it is the people behind it that ultimately sell and secure funding for the project.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Project Proposal
💡Decision Makers
💡Problem Statement
💡Vision Statement
💡Benefits
💡Deliverables
💡Success Criteria
💡Project Plan
💡Cost and Budget
💡Executive Summary
💡Lobbying
Highlights
People buy from people, not just a project proposal document.
Project proposals should be accompanied by personal interaction with decision makers.
Lobbying and one-on-one meetings help refine the understanding of organizational problems and project benefits.
Decision makers often make decisions on projects within the first five minutes of reviewing a proposal.
The problem statement should paint a vivid picture of the organization's issues that the project could solve.
Specific examples of missed opportunities or incurred costs should be highlighted in the problem statement.
Avoid generic benefits like efficiency gains; focus on concrete examples relevant to decision makers.
The vision statement should tie the project to the company's long-term strategy and goals.
Benefits should be specific, measurable, and align with the project's vision.
The deliverables section details what the project will produce and how it will be delivered.
Success criteria should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound).
The project plan outlines how the project will achieve deliverables, success criteria, and benefits.
Consider whether external vendors or internal staff will be used, and the project delivery approach.
The cost and budget section shows the funding plan and how it aligns with deadlines and deliverables.
Include an executive summary to concisely communicate high-level problems, visions, and benefits.
The proposal should flow like a fiction book, telling a story from problem to cost and benefits.
Ensure the proposal's flow and cohesion, avoiding introduction of new topics or items later in the document.
A project proposal is key for communicating vision and benefits, but personal lobbying is essential for success.
Transcripts
[Music Intro]
>>Hi.
I’m Devon Dean, content director here at ProjectManager.com.
Today I’m going to teach you how to help sell your project using a project proposal.
A key thing to remember is that people buy from people.
Don’t expect the project proposal document that you put together to be taken up by the
decision makers in an organization in isolation of any communication you’ve had with them
and award funding and resources and mindshare to that project.
It’s important to remember this because you can write the best project proposal document
but without that people interaction you have a slim to no chance of getting your project
funded.
While you’re preparing the project proposal document it’s really important for you,
your project sponsors and the champions of your project to go out there and actively
lobby the decision makers of your organization about your project.
Use those lobbying sessions and those one on one meetings to actually refine and hone
your understanding of what the problems are in your organization and the benefits that
your project can actually realize, that strike a chord with those decision makers.
In developing your project proposal document I highly recommend in tandem going out there
and actively seeking the feedback of those decision makers so that feedback help you
refine and forge the sales pitch you put together in your proposal document.
Your decision makers are going to make the decision whether to thrill or kill that project
within the first five minutes of picking up your project proposal document so it’s really,
really critical that you make a big impact right at the start of that project proposal
document.
The way you do that is in stating that problem statement.
You really need to paint a bleak picture of your organization that shows or depicts the
problems that you’re having in the organization which could be overcome had your project been
in production when those problems occurred.
Highlight some specific examples of where opportunities were missed or where risk or
costs were incurred that your project could have prevented or could have gained access
to in terms of opportunities if your project had delivered by the time of that event.
Efficiency gains or general skills uplift are not the messages you want to communicate
in terms of looking for those problem benefits.
By saying that Sally works 50 hours a week and your project is going to solve that problem
is really not going to strike a chord for those decision makers.
Look for those specific examples of where your company missed an opportunity or incurred
costs because your project wasn’t in place.
Put those in your problem statement.
Now the vision statement is a section that needs to tie your project to the company’s
long range strategy and vision and long range goals.
Without tying your project in to your organizational strategy and vision you run the risk of having
your project being looked upon as a rogue project: it’s out there in the distance,
it really doesn’t fit with what we’re doing so you run a risk of not having your
project being funded because of that reason.
You need to tie your project into your company’s organizational strategies and vision.
Benefits further expand upon the vision that your project will have, that you paint the
picture of that vision.
You’re going into a bit more specific details on what are the things your project will deliver,
what new capabilities or what costs you’re going to avoid by having the project deliverables
in place.
Be very specific about the benefits and make sure they’re things that are measurable.
The deliverables section further goes into another level of decomposition about what
your project is going to deliver.
It talks about the artefacts which your projects will deliver and how those will be delivered
in terms of what the users can expect.
A deliverable might be, for example, for a call center project you’re delivering new
computer telephony integration.
That would be a deliverable when that call center has that equipment.
Success criteria are very important to outline in that project proposal.
You need to be able to have smart success criteria which mean it’s specific, measurable,
achievable, realistic and time bound.
These success criteria, once they’re met, give the project owners, the decision makers
and the stakeholders 100% confidence that your project has achieved success.
It’s important that you list out those criteria which everyone is looking at your project
to deliver.
The next section is talking about how your project is going to achieve the deliverables
and success criteria and benefits.
In here is where your deadlines are listed, where the project plan comes together and
what the approach to delivery might be for your project.
Are you going to use external vendors?
Are you going to use internal staff?
Are you going to use an agile approach to delivering that project or are you going to
use a more traditional waterfall method to enable your project to deliver on its deliverables?
Lastly, of course, the cost and the budget.
Here’s where you pull it together and you show the funding plan for that project and
how it’s going to achieve its deadlines against those deliverables and for the dollar
value.
Now if you find in the first section that you’re getting into quite a lot of detail
that runs past, let’s say, two pages I think it’s really important to take the time and
consolidate all the high points from these into an executive summary for that document.
Put the high level problem, visions and benefits in that exec summary.
As I mentioned before, decision makers will take about five minutes looking at your proposal
to make sure that it’s something they’re going to fund or decide that they’re not
going to fund it in this year.
Ensuring those messages are concise is really critical and by putting these elements into
executive summary if you find them going long is a really important way for you to quickly
communicate those ideas.
It’s important to remember the flow of the document in the proposal.
You need it to flow like a fiction book.
You need to tell a story and paint a picture and leave no stone unturned for your decision
makers to ponder.
Everything needs to flow from the start of the problem down to the cost and benefits
in terms of the key themes of your project need to be expounded upon, need to be mentioned
at the start and then further drilled down upon throughout the rest of your project proposal.
If you have items that you’re introducing in your deliverables, for example, that don’t
fit in with solving the problems you’ve identified up here or fit in with the benefits
that you’re going to realize your decision makers will look at that and it will cause
them to think a little bit more about your proposal in terms of does this proposal really
communicate in a tight way the objectives that it’s going to achieve for the organization.
It needs to flow.
All the items here need to mesh with one another and not introduce any new topics or any new
items as you go along in the project document.
Your project proposal is one key way for you to communicate your project’s vision and
benefits to the organization but a project proposal in itself is not going to sell your
project and get it funded and resourced.
Only you can do that.
Only your champions and your sponsor can do that.
Like I said in the start, the proposal will help you sell your project and get it funded
and resourced but really you need to be there actively lobbying for that project and getting
it off the ground.
For more project management tips and tricks and to try out our software come join us at
ProjectManager.com.
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