Proposals
Please don’t pass/outsource my work for others to do, be original, and cite anyone you quote or paraphase please. Label your sections also and which student post you reply to (the response should sound like you are responding to that specific person or post).
Part 1:
“Proposals” Please respond to the following:
Assess what makes a proposal more challenging to write than other forms of technical writing covered in this course.
Determine when you might present an informal proposal as an email. Provide an example to illustrate your point.
Part 2:
In a separate post, follow up on one of your fellow students in substantive post of up to 150 words that further the discussion. For example, you may support or politely challenge a post with your own insights or experience, make a suggestion, or ask probing follow-up questions. (choose one)
a.
Assess what makes a proposal more challenging to write than other forms of technical writing covered in this course.
Writing a proposal is challenging for a number a reasons.
1 – Before you even get to the proposal stage, there is a lot of research that is done before hand. Typically you would want to do to a site assessments / discovery. This is where you meet with the client and discuss their wants, business needs, legal needs. It also where you learn the location and status of the equipment on site.
2 – There are typically additional documents you may wan to create that go along with the proposal. A scope of work might be one such document.
Determine when you might present an informal proposal as an email. Provide an example to illustrate your point.
Company executives often have fiery personalities. they might demand and push for a quick answer. It this situation, I can see where an informal proposal via email might be written.
Example – Darth Vader writes to you asking for a proposal to build 50 Tie Fighters. You have done big projects like this before and just finished one similar last week that needed 30 Bespin fighters. So you have somewhat of an idea of what a real proposal might include. You know a Sith will not wait patiently. So you send a message giving a very basic outline of cost and time line of when the Tie fighters can be delivered to the nearest Star Destroyer.
b.
A proposal is more challenging because it is an extensive document. It can be much longer and contain more sections than other document types. Formal proposals can be as large as a book. They try to reach a wide audience with various needs. This translates into more required sections and details to meet the various needs and topics, for example, executive summary, glossary, etc. Conducting the research and then organizing it in a proposal format can take significant time and effort. Another point to consider is that the proposals are usually conducted during a limited time window and are due on a tight deadline. This adds more pressure to complete the research and the proposal without investing enough time. As noted in APTAC article (n. d.), proposals would need more planning. For example, a schedule needs to be created as part of the proposal inception.
Informal proposals are typically targeting internal audience. That means that they are more suitable for brief communications. I would expect that most of the informal proposals are in memo or letter format, which translates easily into an email. The Informal Proposals typically don’t require a lot of background information and detail, which makes them brief and to the point. Also, using email as a mode of delivery ensures that the recipients are reached instantaneously.
An example of an informal proposal is a proposal to change to the telework policy. Current policy mandates only one core in-office day – Tuesday. The management is instituting two core day mandate starting in May and asking the employees to select Wednesday or Thursday as the second core in-office work day.
Reference
APTAC staff article. (n. d.). Government Contract Proposals. Tips and Best Practices, Part 3. Retrieved from: http://www.aptac-us.org/government-contract-proposals-tips-and-best-practices-part-3/
c.
Assess what makes a proposal more challenging to write than other forms of technical writing covered in this course.
A proposal would be more challenging to write than other forms of technical writing because it may involve collaborating with other team members as research is gathered. Additionally a proposal is presented in front of an audience with visual aids and verbal persuasion. So although a proposal is similar to other forms of technical writing in that you need to analyze who your target audience will be and write the introduction, body, and conclusion, the proposal additionally involves the following:
Presenting your ideas verbally.
Graphic aids to best illustrate key points while presenting.
Consideration of location including the seating, lighting, and temperature.
Rehearsing your presentation to lessen stage fright.
Dividing the presentation among fellow presenters.
Setting time limits for each presenter.
Determine when you might present an informal proposal as an email. Provide an example to illustrate your point.
I would present an informal proposal in an email when asked by management to research a specific application and what it has to offer. This can be done by answering key questions like the following:
What was the application developed to achieve?
How could this application be used in our organization to resolve a given number of issues?
What is the cost of implementation?
What will be the level of effort from development to production as this new application is adapted to meet current needs and phased into use?
How much money will be saved and over what time span due to the implementation of this application?
Reference:
Smith-Worthington, Darlene. Technical Writing for Success, 3rd Edition. Cengage Learning, 2011. [Strayer University Bookshelf].
