Pulling The Trigger

How does your 'job' become our "JOB!"

So you're interested in 15 letters, we like that! You call us up, ask some questions, and like what you hear -- so what's next? Well, it really does depend; most agencies bid projects out among multiple potential partners and we have a business development team that responds to all requests for proposals we receive. The goal of this team is to figure out what you're looking for and the best way to do it within your timing and cost parameters.

We do a lot of things here at 15 letters, and it's unlikely that you'll need all of the services we provide. We work with you to get an understanding of the goals you have for your business and this particular project to create a plan to help get you there.

Unless your RFP has a highly detailed description of the features and functionality that you would like built we will define a cost range for the different phases of the project with the exception of our first phase -- Discovery. Usually we can tell what's not in the RFP that we need greater clarity on. Based on that assessment we can project how many hours of our team's time it will take to ferret out the undiscovered details of the assignment and document them. Those hours allow us to project a flat fee for the Discovery phase of a project.

Sometimes during our Discovery discussions we will uncover ideas that weren't accounted for in the RFP, after all, that's why it's called Discovery. These new ideas may or may not impact cost or timing, so at the end of Discovery you will get a document detailing the business (and sometimes functional) requirements for the project, a detailed project timeline and a revised estimate that will detail the costs for the job. If after we agree to the requirements and the revised project estimate and begin developing the project, we receive changes to the scope of the project that will adversely affect the budget, we will alert all appropriate parties. We will then issue a change request with the cost and timing implications before we continue working on things. These change requests help us manage the scope and costs of a project and should give you the confidence that you are in control of the budget and the ultimate deliverables.