Proposal Writing

Proposal Writing

Provisional pending the first-engagement gate. This wiring is the floor, not the finished standard; refine it after the first real paid engagement is sold and delivered.

Overview

The proposal + SoW is the commercial artefact that converts a qualified prospect into a signed P1 Decision Phase engagement. It frames the offer, draws an explicit scope boundary (in/out), and prices the engagement as a fixed frame — a bounded commitment the prospect can sign without open-ended risk on either side.

This is the entry skill of the consulting front-of-funnel: the common path runs through here. It does the qualify → frame → price → write loop, calling estimation by reference for the numbers (so the flow is one path, but estimation stays independently triggerable for any estimate that does not need a full proposal wrapper).

It composes by reference and restates nothing:

• the offer being framed — the P1 Decision Phase — is defined by decision-package (what P1 delivers) and the engagement model in semantic-consulting-coach (the free→paid boundary and the fixed-frame intent);
• the pricing and effort numbers come from estimation;
• the structure and persuasion come from executive-communication — a proposal is an executive artefact (SCQA + a 3-point pyramid; trade-offs and scope boundaries explicit).

Flow (R2)

Inputs: presale / P0-advisory notes / prospect context (the qualification signals the coach surfaced). Output: a proposal + SoW with an explicit in/out scope boundary, priced as a fixed frame.

1. Qualify the need. Confirm the prospect has crossed the free→paid boundary — they are asking "what do we do first, and why?", not "is this relevant?". If they have not, this is still presale (or, at most, P0-advisory); do not write a paid P1 proposal yet (see the boundary discipline in engagement-model.md). Capture the problem, the deciding persona, the measurable outcome, and the constraints.
2. Frame the Decision Phase offer. State what P1 delivers — the Decision Package (recommendation, in/out scope, pilot→scale roadmap, buy/build/defer, ready-to-contract execution brief; see decision-package). Frame it answer-first as the offer that makes committing safe, not as open-ended discovery.
3. Price it as a fixed frame — via estimation. Hand estimation the work breakdown the offer implies; take back the effort range, the contingency, and the assumptions/exclusions. The SoW scope boundary and the estimate's exclusions are the same list — keep them in lock-step (see the scope-boundary checklist).
4. Write the proposal + SoW. Use the templates in references/proposal-template.md and references/sow-template.md. Write the proposal in the executive voice (executive-communication); write the SoW as the contractual companion that pins scope, deliverables, price, and exclusions.

The scope boundary (in/out) — load-bearing

The explicit in/out scope boundary is the discipline this skill owns. The "out" list is not filler: it protects the boundary with the build tier (P2 Execution is always a separate engagement) and pre-empts scope creep on a fixed-frame price. Two rules:

• The SoW "out of scope" list = the estimate's exclusions. They are one list in two documents. If estimation excluded it from the number, the SoW must exclude it from the commitment.
• Name the clean handover. State that P2 Execution is separately scoped and priced — the proposal earns the right to say "from here, we can execute, or you can take this and execute with someone else."

The full discipline — what must appear in/out, the boundary checks, the handover clause — is in references/scope-boundary-checklist.md.

Pricing as a fixed frame

A fixed frame is a bounded commitment, not an open day-rate. The price comes from estimation (PERT-weighted effort + contingency); this skill wraps it with the stop/extend mechanics so the frame stays honest: if agreed outcomes cannot be reached for reasons outside our control, the SoW already names the option to reduce scope, take a short extension, or stop cleanly with partial delivery — never silent overwork (the boundary safeguard from engagement-model.md).

Boundary & Related Skills

This skill OWNS: producing the proposal + SoW, and the scope-boundary (in/out) discipline — including the fixed-frame framing and the stop/extend mechanics that keep the frame honest.

This skill DELEGATES:

• Pricing / effort / contingency numbers → estimation (the entry flow invokes it; it also stands alone).
• Executive framing and voice (SCQA, Minto pyramid, answer-first) → executive-communication.
• The P1 deliverable definition (what the Decision Phase actually produces) → decision-package.
• Coaching whether/how to run P1 and holding the free→paid boundary → semantic-consulting-coach.

Related: estimation, decision-package, executive-communication, semantic-consulting-coach, writing-antipatterns (Contract/specification genre failure modes for the SoW half of this skill's output).

Tone & style

British English. The proposal is an executive artefact: answer-first, concise, every claim load-bearing; scope boundaries and trade-offs explicit, never hedged. The SoW is its contractual companion: precise, enumerated, no marketing prose. Write the proposal in the engagement's executive voice (see executive-communication), not consultancy-bland.