Posted by BJ under Word play & writing | 
No, the title of this post doesn’t refer to a guide for those interested in all things metaphysical. It is about a new website, Wordnik.com.
This site, still in beta, provides a dictionary that includes definitions, uses the word in context and provides pictures and even videos of the word. So what’s terribly new about this? It’s that this site allows people to contribute definitions, text containing the word, pictures and even videos. (This reminds me somewhat of how the original Oxford English dictionary was compiled, as for that dictionary, which was inclusive rather than exclusive, the authors attempted to find and include all known uses of a word. You can read about the development of the Oxford English dictionary in “The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary” by Simon Winchester).
Of course, I had to look up a few words. I tried ‘geek’ and found some interesting Pictures of people (ok, that’s an understatement. What I found were pictures of some really strange/scary individuals. All the more so because I think I have worked with a couple of them on proposal efforts!). I then entered the word “proposals”. Interestingly, one of the pictures under proposals was a ‘Wordle’ (Jon spoke about this cool application in a previous post!)
It’s obvious this site is new and it’s difficult to tell if it will last, but, as words are our business, it’s worth checking out and keeping an eye on it.
Posted by Jon under Purchasing insights |
What’s it like being a purchaser? As regular readers will know, I started my career in procurement before moving into the world of proposal management – and I still spent a fair proportion of my time with buyers and evaluators. I thought a few insights into life on the other side might be of interest:
1) The enemy lies within. Somewhat bizarrely, the easiest discussions for a buyer are with their potential suppliers. It’s far tougher trying to align resources, budgets and views internally. Running the procurement process is often a precarious high-wire act.
2) Powerless purchasers. The evaluation team will formulate recommendations as to which supplier to choose – but they’ll rarely sign off the decision. Making the presentation internally to the “great and the good” can be a daunting prospect. And, as a buyer, I’ll probably choose whichever bidder I think I can sell internally most easily.
3) “I’m the buyer. Stupid.” Most procurement people are acutely conscious that they know far less about the subject matter of the bid than their potential suppliers. (If this is what their organisation did, they wouldn’t need to ask you to do it for them!)
4) “Your fate is in my hands.” I have the power of life or death over your bid. Win, and you’ll get the glory and our money. So you bidders had better be grateful, respectful, deferential and nice to me. (After all, my colleagues internally aren’t!).
5) I’ll have to live with the consequences of the decision as to which bidder we choose – and those we reject. Thinking short-term, I’ll select whichever company will make me hit my performance objectives, whatever they may be. And in the medium term, I’ll want the bidder who’ll minimise the risk of things going wrong and maximise the probability of me looking like a hero. (And, incidentally, debriefing unsuccessful suppliers can be a terrifying prospect – especially losing incumbents).
6) Making it up as I go along. Only a small minority of purchasers have ever been trained in writing RFPs and leading evaluation workshops. I’ll copy and paste, I’ll use the last document I wrote; it was probably good enough then, and it’ll probably get me through now.
Cynical and jaded? Moi? No wonder I prefer working in proposals!
Posted by BJ under Musings |
I just came across a fun little segment – “Wait, Wait. Don’t Tell Me. Daily News Quiz*.” – within the National Public Radio (NPR) site and thought I’d share it with those of you who might not be aware of it. (I’m sure it’s been around for a while and that many of you will know about this already. As with many such things, I’ve only just discovered it. By the way, did you know they now have mobile phones with cameras built right into them? Amazing.)
This segment is a quiz that spoofs the news in a very irreverent and humorous way. It is hosted by several comedians, including one of my favorites, Paula Poundstone. I think this is a great way to amuse yourself when you need a break from the current proposal effort.
As an example, today’s quiz question was:
Once again, South Korean scientists are filling a need we didn’t even know we had. Specifically, they recently created the world’s first…what?
→ Invisible cars
→ Sentient houses
→ Electric pants
→ Fluorescent puppies
Clicking on the “hint” icon brings up a clue as to which is the correct answer. In this case, what is offered is, “Perfect for those times when you can’t find the flashlight when taking the dog out.”
Another example, just to whet your appetite is:
From the “Didn’t see that coming.” file. China announced this week that it is taking steps to address what unexpected dilemma?
→ Declining population
→ A surplus of dentists
→ A surplus of money
→ A naval invasion by Canada
The hint? “Hey. If it helps, we can take some of that off your hands. Whatever you need friends.”
Here’s the link to “Wait, Wait. Don’t Tell Me”.
Enjoy.
* The subtitle for this is “The online version of the oddly informative weekly radio show.” I think this is a wonderful title for this. Rather than being very direct and obvious, such as “The Daily News Quiz”, this title, for me at least, evokes the spirit, nature and energy of the quiz. (I can easily visualize Paula eagerly pleading, “Wait, wait. Don’t tell me.” In the best cases, the title for the executive summary and the “story” we tell within our proposal will have the same effect, rather than being direct and obvious.
Posted by Jon under Musings |
A participant in a meeting I was running recently picked up a message during a break. She looked excited, and turned to her friend: “We’ve got an extension – until first thing on Monday”.
The slightly scary thing was that this was at 10.30 on the Friday morning. Oh well: there goes the weekend…
The sad thing is that it’s rather presumed by many salespeople that we proposal folks will merrily work 24/7 to get their documents out of the door. And the sadder thing, perhaps, is that many of us do.
Posted by Proposal Panda under Proposal Panda |
Greetings all.
I am SO glad to be out of my box once again. I’ve just arrived in Nashua, NH (that’s where the U.S. offices of Strategic Proposals LLC is located) having travelled (apparently by the slowest means possible!) from Chandler Arizona, where I attended the 20th Annual conference of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP).
The conference was great fun and I enjoyed being part of it. I even got to share the stage with Jon and BJ as they opened the event. I also hung out where the pictures were being taken for the profiles, helping the Dianes take all those pictures and hang up all those profiles.
I really enjoyed seeing and catching up with the folks whom I’d visited over the course of the last 6 months or so. Fortunately, enough time had passed since I’d seen many of these people and, fortunately for me, they seemed to remember only the good parts of my visit with them. I also enjoyed meeting the new folks who stopped by to meet me.
I was brought to the conference by Don Stewart of Honeywell, who lives in Chandler Arizona.
It was so nice traveling in his truck, even if it was just for a short trip, instead of being shipped! That box is getting kind of cramped these days as people keep giving me things to take with me. More on that in a minute. Prior to visiting with Don I was with Joe Villa and the gang at Motorola in Colorado. I think they’re the ones’ that added the Air Force Academy T-shirt to my box.
Those of you who have been following my adventures will know I’ve visited with quite a few proposal groups across the U.S. I’ve visited with the 24 Hour Company in Virginia, with Medical Transportation Management in Missouri, Connexus in Texas, Project Time and Cost in Atlanta and a host of other groups and places. And I’ve got fond memories and mementos from each of my visits. Here’s what’s currently in my box:
• A baseball cap from Leonies
• A leather biker jacket
• Wrap around shades
• Three Hawaiian leis (orange, blue and white)
• A badge for Sanborn (Total Geospatial Solutions)
• A water bottle
• A Motorola luggage tag and badge holder
• An Air Force Academy T-shirt
• Copies of what appear to be some animal’s rear end.
• A folding beach chair
• A photo album
• An empty tequila bottle
It’s been quite an adventure so far. From here I’m headed overseas to meet up with Jon and the Strategic Proposal folks on that side of the Atlantic. I’m told there’s a quite a few proposal groups that have requested I visit them and that I’m going to get to see lots of place in Europe and maybe even the Far East and Australia! (If you’d like me to come visit you and your proposal team, just send a mail to me and we’ll put you on the list.)
But before I get back in my box I’ve asked BJ to take me for a ride on his motorcycle. Got my shades, got my jacket and it’s motorcycle week here in NH (Laconia!). Woo hoo!
Posted by BJ under Musings |
Mike W. recently sent me a link to a site that has several graphics depicting various baseball statistics. I wasn’t real keen to check this out as, unlike Mike who is a huge fan of baseball, I’m not*. However, despite my low expectations, I was quite intrigued by the way the graphics were able to present what would seem to be rather mundane information.
For instance, the site has a graphic that depicts the various locations on a particular team’s schedule for the season. This could have been presented as a simple table which would have been pretty boring. Instead, it is presented on a map, with connecting lines from the home field, in much the same way an airline presents its routes.
The graphics on the site really made me stop and think about how information within a proposal might be presented in a much more relevant, interesting and most importantly, memorable way.
*The picture below of Jon at a Diamondback’s game while in Arizona for the APMP conference is how I typically think of a baseball game. Ok, maybe it was the jet lag.
