Let me start with something I hope we can agree on: A proposal is not a box of chocolates. You should know exactly what you are going to get. In my last post, I argued, not for the first time, … Continue reading 3 tips for successful win themes
A while back, I wrote an article arguing for consistency in proposals as a way to signal the quality of your work. Few will have disagreed with the sentiment, but how do you do it? Here are five practical tips … Continue reading 5 steps towards self-consistent proposals
Everyone seems to be worried that the robots are going to take our jobs tomorrow. But the more I learn and think about the application of Artificial Intelligence tools to my work, the less afraid I get. At least for … Continue reading Why I am not afraid of AI
When I started out with proposal writing, the books by Edward Tufte were the gold standard for developing compelling and honest representations of your data. The classic 1981 “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” should still be required reading for … Continue reading Good figures are hard
I am a planner and a visual thinker, so the traditional approach to proposal development was naturally attractive to me: bulleted outlines of key facts and messages for each section, planning sheets that lay out the space for graphics, tables … Continue reading Many paths lead to the mountain top
Last week, I was reading an early proposal draft and after a few minutes of reading landed, once again, on my favorite recommendation: “This should be a table!” So let me tell you why I say this so often and … Continue reading Tables are your friends
I tend to have one of two reactions to reading a proposal: Sometimes, the opening paragraph grabs my attention and what follows pulls me in and sustains my interest. The authors tell me at the beginning where we are headed … Continue reading Don’t write like a scientist
Internal reviews during the development of a proposal are disruptive to the team and expensive. So you really want to make sure this effort increases the team’s chance of winning by more than it costs. If you are to convene … Continue reading Four tips for running effective reviews
I’m late to picking up the catch phrase: “the horrors persist, but so do I” in response to the daily question: “how are you doing?” But this year has pushed me to move beyond the stock option of “just fine” … Continue reading How I persist
“Don’t forget to have fun.” Have you heard this at the end of a kick-off meeting for a big writing project? Somehow this always sounded wrong to me. I blame it on my formative years in Germany and a career … Continue reading Is fun important?
Rolf Danner 