 |
 |
|
Gurudutt
Kamath
|
Some
of the biggest opportunities in technical writing are in proposal
and grant writing. In fact, an American company wanted me to write
proposals for them. But I refused saying that I had no experience.
Of course, I lost money and a “golden opportunity”. You
need not miss out on such an opportunity. If you know English and
have some report writing skills, you can become a proposal writer.
In India, grant writing or writing reports for grants or funding
is not very popular. But in the US grant writing is big business.
Technical writers are making big money writing grants and proposals.
Typically, departments in universities want funding for their projects.
These could come from corporations, trusts, and individuals. How
do you convince them to fund your projects? That is what grant writing
is about.
Software
proposals
Before
software companies can develop software for a client, they need
to make a proposal outlining how the project will benefit the client,
and how much the project will cost. Proposal writing is nothing
but report writing. Every corporation and organisation has dealt
with proposals. In India, if there is no big demand for technical
writers to write proposals, it is because of the superb English
that we all speak and write. In every company, there are enough
persons who can create good reports. Another reason perhaps is that
here we are not talking of big money. So most of the time we make
do with face-to-face communication. A proposal is more of a formality
sometimes. The deal has been concluded and it is only being legalised
through the proposal. Whereas in the US, the proposal is a marketing
tool. In many companies, there are full-fledged marketing departments
having plenty of technical writing skills to create hundreds of
proposals.
Bidding
for projects, or the tender process, also keeps many technical writers
busy. When there are big requirements for hardware or software development,
the requirements are frozen and then bids or tenders are called.
For example, the income tax department may want to computerise certain
portions of their work. The government may want to put all its information
on the Web so that it is accessible to the public. Banks may want
a solution for Internet banking. Tender documents can be just a
few pages or could be hundreds of pages. Mercifully, thanks to e-mail,
word processors and the PDF format, most of the document templates
and formats are easily available. Technical writers can concentrate
on filling in the content and not on typing the document.
Contents
A
proposal should contain these elements:
-
Cover or title page
-
Contents page
-
Executive summary (if the proposal is more than 10 pages)
-
Introduction (this typically gives a background of the project)
-
Project description (what the project is about) or the actual
proposal (the various options or paths available to the client)
-
Financials (how much the project will cost or how much each option
will cost)
-
Conclusion (which option or path you are recommending)
-
Appendices.
If
you remember that your proposal has an aim, purpose or objective—to
sell your company’s product or project or skills—creating
a proposal becomes easy. You just need to write so that you convince
the audience to meet the proposal’s objective.
Audience
The
tricky part about software proposals is that it is read by several
different people—management, technical staff, and the finance
department. When you write the proposal, you should address the
needs of this broad audience. When you break the chapters effectively,
it becomes easy for the audience to read the information that they
want. If your chapters are well structured with good headings and
paragraphs, it is easy to find information and to understand it.
Matters that will interrupt the flow of reading are put in the appendix.
Those who would like to read more can go to that section.
Gloss
sells
Proposal
writing is about writing good marketing material. It is about writing
a winning proposal. There are hundreds of books that tell you about
writing a winning proposal. When the client accepts your bids, your
proposal has won. Your writing skills worked. Gloss sells. Proposals
should be well written. Use of graphs, charts, pictures and colour
is important. If these are effectively used, it makes for a compelling
proposal. Proposals should be printed and bound well. Your project
may be technically brilliant, but if the document outlining it is
not shining and attractive, it may be dumped. First impressions
count.
Timely
Sending
the proposal on time is very important. Usually, a date and time
is mentioned before which the proposal is to be submitted. You need
to meet this deadline. There could be other requirements that you
may need to meet. You need to read the bid or tender document carefully.
In most cases, clarifications are possible. You can always ask for
clarifications through phone, fax, or e-mail as set out in the bid
terms and conditions.
A
good way to start writing proposals is to first study a few proposals.
You can see the proposals that your company has sent or those that
your company has received. Your company may already have a standard
template. All you need to do is fill in the template with information.
We
have to depend on the technical team for the inputs. The technical
staff will provide the technical solutions and schedules. The marketing
staff will provide the money and deliverables information. The writer
has to bring all this information together into a compelling proposal
to bring business for the company.
Gurudutt
Kamath is a technical writer based in Mumbai. Feedback on the column
may be sent to
documentor@vsnl.com
|
