Formulating a Proposal

8/1/16 © Copyright 2016 Stevens Institute of Technology, All rights reserved 1

Course Design

8/1/16 2

Deciding What to Build

& Why

Bringing Solutions to Life

Ensuring Systems Work And Are Robust

Managing Evolution…

Deciding What’s Next

Course Design

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Deciding What to Build

& Why

Defining  the  Problem  

Developing  a  Solu5on  

Formula5ng  a  Proposal  

Concept  Review  

Course Design

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Deciding What to Build

& Why

Defining  the  Problem  

Developing  a  Solu5on  

Formula5ng  a  Proposal  

Concept  Review  

Class Schedule (1 of 2)

Date Week Topic

Feb 1 1 •  Thinking in Terms of Systems

Deciding What to Build and Why

Feb 8 2 •  Defining the Problem

Feb 16 3 •  Developing a Solution

Feb 22 4 •  Formulating a Proposal

Feb 29 5 •  Concept Review

Bringing Solutions to Life

Mar 7 6 •  Building a Functional Model

Mar 14 7 •  Implementing the Functions

Mar 28 8 •  Specifying Components

Apr 4 9 •  Design Review 8/1/16 © Copyright 2016 Stevens Institute of

Technology, All rights reserved 5

Class Schedule (2 of 2)

Date Week Topic

Ensuring the System Works and Is Robust

Apr 11 10 •  Integration and Test

Apr 18 11 •  Modeling and Simulation

Apr 25 12 •  Designing for the Lifecycle

May 2 13 •  Test Readiness Review

Managing Evolution…Deciding What’s Next

May 9 14 •  Technology and Innovation

May 16 15 •  No Class – Final Project Submission

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6

What is a proposal?

Why would I need one?

Who would I present it to?

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Why Proposal Writing is Different

•  Most engineers are trained to write technical documents •  Proposals are technical marketing documents

Elements of a Good Proposal

•  Demonstrates your understanding of the customer’s problem or the market opportunity

•  Describes your proposed solution •  Identifies the unique benefits your solution will provide

to the customer

Tips for Proposal Writing

•  Write/speak from the customer’s or stakeholder’s point of view

•  Focus on what makes your proposal different •  Every assertion must be supported with evidence •  Every comparative must include what you are

comparing to •  Superlatives must be avoided at all costs •  Tell a consistent story:

Feature à Benefit à Proof

Application to Proposal “Win Themes”

•  A Win Theme is a high-level feature of your proposed solution that: –  Provides extraordinary benefit to the customer

and –  Differentiates your solution from that of your

competitors

Win Themes

•  Are few in number; 3-5 is reasonable •  Answer the question, “Why you?” •  Are the bullets you hope to see on your

customer’s source selection rationale slide •  Should be woven throughout your entire proposal •  Must be supported with facts and data

Are These Good Win Themes?

•  Our solution: –  Satisfies all customer requirements –  Will be developed by the best team –  Is low cost

Origin of the Storyboard

•  The story board form widely known today was developed at the Walt Disney studio during the early 1930s. Diane Disney explained that the first complete storyboards were created for the 1933 Disney short Three Little Pigs.

•  According to Christopher Finch in The Art of Walt Disney, Disney credited animator Webb Smith with creating the idea of drawing scenes on separate sheets of paper and pinning them up on a bulletin board to tell a story in sequence, thus creating the first storyboard.

•  Storyboarding became popular in live-action film production during the early 1940s, and grew into a standard medium for pre-visualization of films.

Storyboard Example

Application of Storyboards to Proposals

•  Used to sketch out your proposal before committing the time and effort required to prepare a complete draft

•  Encourages graphic-centric rather than a text-centric approach

•  Allows the proposal team and the reviewers to see the “big picture” without getting lost in the details

Elements of a Proposal Storyboard

•  Section Identifier (e.g. number, title)

•  Theme sentence (usually in boldface italics)

•  Summary of Key Points (in bullet or outline form)

•  Graphic (picture, graph, etc. that illustrates the theme)

•  Figure Number •  Action Caption

Elements of a Proposal Storyboard

•  Section Identifier (e.g. number, title)

•  Theme sentence (usually in boldface italics)

•  Summary of Key Points (in bullet or outline form)

•  Graphic (picture, graph, etc. that illustrates the theme)

•  Figure Number •  Action Caption

8/1/16 19

“I made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it short.”

Blaise Pascal, 1657

“I'm sorry I wrote such a long letter. I did not have the time to write a short one.”

Abraham Lincoln

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Theme Sentence

Exercise: Write a Theme Sentence for a proposal section that demonstrates that you understand the customer strategy described

on the following slide.

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Living  and  working  in  space  require  accep5ng  risk,  and  the  journey  is  worth  the  risk.    Crews  must  be  protected  from  the  unique  hazardous  environments  of  deep  space  and  on  the  Mar5an  surface.      OHen,  systems  will  have  to  operate  autonomously  or  remain  dormant  for  years  in  prepara5on  for  crew.  Overcoming  these  challenges  will  be  essen5al  on  the  journey  to  Mars.      These  technological  and  opera5onal  challenges  fall  into  three  categories:      1.   Transporta+on:    

sending  humans  and  cargo  through  space  efficiently,  safely,  and  reliably;    2.   Working  in  space:  

enabling  produc5ve  opera5ons  for  crew  and  robo5c  systems;    3.   Staying  healthy:    

developing  habita5on  systems  that  provide  safe,  healthy,  and  sustainable  human  explora5on.      

Bridging  these  three  categories  are  the  overarching  logis5cal  challenges  facing  crewed  missions  las5ng  up  to  1,100  days  and  explora5on  campaigns  that  span  decades.      

Once you have your theme sentences…

•  Arrange them in a paragraph •  Adjust them until they tell your story •  This is the first draft of your proposal

Elements of a Proposal Storyboard

•  Section Identifier (e.g. number, title)

•  Theme sentence (usually in boldface italics)

•  Summary of Key Points (in bullet or outline form)

•  Graphic (picture, graph, etc. that illustrates the theme)

•  Figure Number •  Action Caption

Action Caption Example

•  Figure 1: Grizzly bears are large, powerful, fast animals that can cause serious injury and should be avoided whenever possible.

Exercise: Write an Action Caption for this figure.

Concept Review Assignment

1.  Describe your project proposal in a set of storyboards –  One Executive Summary storyboard that summarizes

you proposal –  One additional storyboard for each of the six

questions introduced in the lectures of the past two weeks

2.  Prepare a five-minute presentation that describes your proposal

Defining the Problem Key Questions:

1.  What operational need or market opportunity is your system intended to address? –  Assessment Criteria: The need for the system is well understood, fully

described in the language of the stakeholders and free of solutions. 2.  Who are the most important stakeholders and what are the key requirements

of each? –  Assessment Criteria: The key stakeholders have been identified and their

most important requirements defined, validated and clearly stated. 3.  What are the three to five most important features of your system that

distinguish it from those of your competitors? –  Assessment Criteria: Features are specific, quantifiable (or readily

observable), and important to the customer.

4.  What is your proposed system concept? What alternative concepts did you consider and why did you choose the one you proposed? •  Assessment Criteria: Broad range of concepts defined and systematically

analyzed against criteria linked to key stakeholder needs. 5.  How will your proposed concept operate within the larger context to achieve

its intended purpose? •  Assessment Criteria: The external systems with which the system will

interact have been identified, the system boundary has been clearly defined, and the interactions between the system and the external systems have been specified from a black box perspective.

6.  What are the key specifications that will drive the system’s design and development? •  Assessment Criteria: System requirements a) have been derived from

and are linked to the stakeholder requirements, b) describe what the system shall do but not how, and c) are verifiable and properly written.

Creating an Operational Concept Key Questions:

Concept Review Process February 29, 2016

1.  Teams post their storyboards on the classroom walls 2.  Teams deliver proposal presentations to a panel of

reviewers 3.  Reviewers provide feedback on the presentations 4.  Reviewers post comments on the storyboards 5.  Teams read and discuss storyboard comments 6.  Teams ask questions to clarify reviewer comments 7.  Teams and reviewers jointly discuss the process and

draw conclusions