Presentation given at the UK-APMP 2008 conference \"Beyond Best Practice\". The Red Team is the most universally regognised Proposal Management best practice, but it is just as universally broken. This workshop looks at how to get more value from the Red Team process and suggests an alternative approach to \'colour teams\' in general.

1. Fixing the Broken Red Team A ‘beyond best practice’ workshop Presented by: David Warley Bid to Win Ltd Michael Forster Nokia Siemens Networks Saibal Sen Zenesys

2. Our thesis: Colour teams are broken; we need to fix them Blue Team Red Team Black Hat Team Pink Team Vision / Value Win Strategy & Themes Publication Standards Responsiveness & Focus Structure & Compliance Winning Proposal Proposal Validation Plan

4. 1. Red Team Simulation Exercise: If a proposal is like a steak then are the Red Team like restaurant critics? 3 mins Document your recommendations 3 mins Identify Improvement Areas 2 mins Review Sample Proposals Provided 2 mins Read Red Team Instructions 5 mins Appointment of Red Teams & Facilitator Briefing

7. 3. A Better Way Taking a leaf out of the project management book

8. A proposal does not emerge from thin air it is derived from many other ‘bid products’ Win Plan Working Paper RFQ Requirements Checklist Outline Storyboard Mock up Used to derive: Examples of: Bid Products Finished Proposal

9. To create quality products you need clear quality criteria Customer Quality Expectations Bid Product Quality Critera Quality Methods Proposal Validation Plan Winning Proposal

11. 4. Exercise Start your Validation Plan

13. You try it! Define the Bid Products and their Quality Criteria for your bid 3 mins Discuss your conclusions 5 mins List the main quality criteria For each bid product: 5 mins List Bid Products used on your bid 2 mins Group Assignments

14. 5. Quality Methods Why use a nutcracker when a sledgehammer will do? (and might be cheaper and faster) Quality methods should be appropriate to the criteria and situation

16. At NSN checklists help ‘non-career’ bid managers assure compliance and completeness of PROCESS: 6 checks for proposal preparation steps 9 frequently forgotten but important topics

18. Criteria based scoring can be used (especially useful for qualification)

22. Checklists are never static: they need to be opportunity specific Generic Quality Expectations Proposal Objectives Specific Quality Criteria Bid Product Quality Method(s) Applied

23. 6. You try it! List the Quality Methods you’d use to test the criteria you already developed In the same groups as before: 3 mins Record your conclusions on the sheet 5 mins Identify who might apply the method 5 mins Identify the Quality Methods you could use 2 mins Review the Quality Criteria you defined For each bid product in your list:

25. It need not be complicated. A single sheet can capture a complete plan

27. Thank you! For more information: Visit www.bid-to-win.eu Come and talk to us in the Exhibition area.