Advice on specifications and tenders for IT projects

Would you like to commission an agency or service provider and are struggling with writing specifications or functional specifications? We will be happy to advise you - because we know the other side.

You may be familiar with this situation: you are looking for a service provider and need to define your requirements so that you can obtain quotes. For example, for IT projects or design services. However, you would actually also need a service provider for this. A chicken and egg problem, so to speak. Thanks to our many years of experience, we know exactly what is important here - and what is not.

Specifications: Legal and practical aspects

Of course, it is important that you protect your company or organization and that you are not faced with unexpected costs afterwards. However, flexibility in execution is just as important, as the situation is rarely completely clear at the start of a project. In many cases, the development of a concept is an important service provided by the agency or service provider. Of course, the contractor is also usually much more familiar with the possibilities of new IT approaches than the client - the latter may not even know what is possible and what goals can be achieved. Quite apart from the fact that "specifications" and "agile working" are two words that almost contradict each other.

This is also in line with our experience: the customer comes to us with a task and a specification sheet that has already contained countless hours of work. We then hold a workshop and it quickly becomes apparent that we actually have to almost completely rewrite the specifications. A lot of effort was therefore wasted. This is because we contribute ideas, point out new solutions and possibilities and recommend a procedure that promotes synergy effects, efficiency and sustainability. This often results in an "aha effect" for the customer.

Our recommendation for writing specifications: Define general requirements

In our experience, it has proven to be a good idea to define general requirements and objectives instead of writing detailed specifications. This has several advantages:

Potential partners can already point out creative solutions in the offer and make recommendations that may convince you.
You pave the way for agile working.
You don't have to spend many working hours on a document that will hardly last in the end.

An alternative is to book a consulting workshop first. This will give you a feel for current technologies and approaches at an early stage, give you recommendations and you can then decide how to proceed. For example, you can create a specification sheet or a tender based on the consultation, which is flexible and at the same time ensures comparability of offers. Or you can use the results to explore completely new avenues that you hadn't even considered before.