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Message from discussion Dealing with very large clients
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dasil003  
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 More options Jun 18 2007, 10:29 am
From: dasil003 <gabrie...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:29:07 -0000
Local: Mon, Jun 18 2007 10:29 am
Subject: Re: Dealing with very large clients
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I don't have any experience working on this type of project, but I do
have experience in huge organizations.  And my advice would be to very
very careful about what responsibilities you take on.  When big
projects fail, it's often due to corporate politics, or just a
complete lack of understanding of the business goals or actual needs
being met by the project.

As a developer it will be your job to cut through the bullshit and get
what you need.  But if the project is not well-conceived, or there's
any kind of internal conflict, you may well become the scapegoat for
the whole thing blowing up.

The first order of business is to get some sense of the real people
involved.  If you don't feel comfortable with them then get out now!
It's understandable that they would want risk mitigation on their end,
but also consider risk mitigation from your end.  If they think a 150-
page RFP is enough for you to deliver a successful product, then
that's a big red flag to me.

On Jun 14, 10:59 pm, Nick Coyne <nic.co...@gmail.com> wrote:

> We're pitching on the web and digital marketing for the South African
> division of a Fortune 500 company. The RFP is over 150 pages long and
> the proposal will no doubt take days to complete.

> Almost everything in the RFP points to risk-minimisation, with clauses
> such as a $50,000 penalty should the launch date for the new website
> be missed, for example.

> Now if this was a normal project, the website would probably only cost
> about $50,000, but considering all the overhead that we'd have to
> carry to satisfy their risk aversion (more staff, etc), and also the
> very stiff penalties that delays could incur, I'm thinking that we'll
> have to charge a lot more than we normally would.

> Does anyone have experience dealing with companies like this?


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