Dealing with very large clients - Ruby on Rails meets the business world

Message from discussion Dealing with very large clients

keeran

More options Jun 18 2007, 9:45 am

From: keeran <kee...@gmail.com>

Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 13:45:58 -0000

Local: Mon, Jun 18 2007 9:45 am

Subject: Re: Dealing with very large clients

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Have you spoken with the person in charge of the tendering process?
I'm on a mailing list for local public sector notifications, and
almost every alert I see has clauses for delivery guarantees, company
history, professional indemnity etc. Most of them are boiler plate
entries that can be negotiated down/away once you have established a
relationship with a real person handling the project.

Sound advice from Robbie by the way - think about what you want to be
doing in 2-3 years time and ask yourself if this project fits into
those plans.

Also, if they're not willing to pay for your proposal (yet they have
$50K penalty clauses) it makes the whole scenario smell 'off' to me -
be careful!

On Jun 15, 5:13 pm, Robby Russell <r...@planetargon.com> wrote:

> On Jun 15, 2007, at 8:17 AM, Nick Coyne wrote:

> > Thanks for the suggestions.

> > Unfortunately this is one of those where its explicitly mentioned that
> > there's no fee payable for the proposal, and if we don't like it,
> > tough. The detail of the RFP is insane - we are expected to provide
> > costings, staffing, etc, etc, etc for the next 3 years (the duration
> > of the contract). I feel like I'm quoting on redesigning their central
> > database, where the world would end for 100,000 employees if we got it
> > wrong.

> > Half of me is saying "forget it, its too much effort, and we won't get
> > it because we're not corporate enough", and the other half is saying
> > "do it, you might learn something!"

> We've turned away some _really_ large projects because of concerns
> like this. Sometimes it's okay to step back and evaluate the whole
> thing. Do you really want to be working on the same project for three
> years? How does the rest of your team feel about it?

> Good luck with your decision making process!

> Robby

> --
> Robby Russell
> Founder and Executive Director

> PLANET ARGON, LLC
> Ruby on Rails Development, Consulting & Hosting

> www.planetargon.comwww.robbyonrails.com

> +1 503 445 2457
> +1 877 55 ARGON [toll free]
> +1 815 642 4068 [fax]

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