(5) Establish and enforce ground rules for daily stand-up meetings.
No matter how frequently held (daily or every other day), the Proposal Stand-Up Meeting is a vital forum for exchanging status updates and identifying any issues / risks that have a potential impact to proposal development. In order for each Proposal Stand-Up Meeting to be effective and efficient, the Proposal Manager should establish and enforce ground rules for the team:
• The Proposal Stand-Up Meeting IS NOT a forum for solution development or problem dissection – all problem-solving discussions should be performed off-line (i.e., separate technical and/or pricing meetings).
• The Proposal Stand-Up Meeting IS a forum for identifying issues / risks and the actions required to resolve / mitigate them – each issue / risk will be added to the action item list and tracked to closure but detailed discussions regarding the solution / resolution inhibit the effectiveness of the stand-up meetings.
• Any members of the proposal development team that cannot attend any meeting due to a conflict should provide the Proposal Manager with their status update ahead of time if possible.
Each meeting should adhere to the agenda established by the Proposal Manager. In addition to discussing proposal development task status, issues, and risks, the agenda address any required coordination across the Proposal Development Team. Each meeting should be conducted to provide clarity and team visibility on assignments, deadlines, and action items and confirm that all assignments are understood. At the end of each meeting, the Proposal Manager should focus the Proposal Development Team Members on their next, immediate task. A typical agenda includes:
• Capture Update – Capture Manager
• Customer Procurement Updates
• Competitive Intelligence Updates
• Individual Volume Updates – Book Bosses
• E.g., Technical, Past Performance, Pricing
• Writing Assignment Status
• Contracts Update – Contracts / Subcontracts Manager
• HR/Recruiting Update
• Proposal Development Update – Proposal Manager
• Proposal Development Schedule Updates
• Action Item Review and Status
By establishing Proposal Stand-Up Meeting ground rules up-front, and enforcing these ground rules at each meeting, the Proposal Manager affords the Proposal Development Team with less time in meetings, and more time available to focus on their assigned proposal development tasks. By reporting status at each meeting and identifying any issues or risks for early mitigation, the Proposal Development Team assists the Proposal Manager to successfully develop and submit a winning proposal.