RFI = Ready for Ignition

Thursday, January 12, 2012
And the thing that will be igniting is my peace of mind.

Yesterday I received an RFI from one of my customers. For those of you lucky enough not to be "in the know," RFI means "Request for Information." It's basically a list of esoteric questions about a specific solution type that a customer wants to learn about. They're supposed to be issued so an organization can make an informed decision about which vendors will be invited to submit a proposal.

I'm sure this process started out as having some value for the customers who issued them. But that's really no longer the case, and it seems to me that their primary purpose is to drive vendors clinically insane in an effort to weed out the lightweights.

But they're considered a necessary evil in my professional world, which means I'm going to be heads-down for the next two weeks trying to get this under control.

Which means you won't get to hear about my tentative new philosophy "other people aren't idiots" until I have time to actually, you know, write it.

See you when I come up for air...

10 comments:

Jeri said...

Good luck!
I'll be over here acting like an idiot while you are doing the mad scientist thing. ;)

Megan said...

Too bad. Right about now, I really need some proof that other people aren't idiots.

lisao said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Janiece said...

*TONG!*

Warner said...

I once was told to solve a problem and given a figure to aim for.

Figured out that if I could piggy back current vendor E's data onto current vendor T's data stream my problem would be solved.

Got the two vendors talking and they came back with a price for my solution within my budget.

Sent the POs up to the VP.

WRONG, I hadn't done a RFI, had wasted 6 months, and the project was given to somebody competent to deal with.

A year later somebody competent had gone through channels and came up with Vendor E and Vendor T at my price plus about 10%.

At year end review I got a big 0% for delaying the project. And people wonder why I'm happy to be retired.

(VP owned a small piece of Vendor G, who never was in the running).

Janiece said...

Warner, yes. This is why I hate RFI/RFPs with the heat of a thousand burning suns.

John the Scientist said...

What the blue fuck is the difference between an RFI and an RFP?

I have sent out buttloads of RFPs in my day, none to vendors whom I thought were incapable (but some were a long shot, sometimes to give them a 2nd chance after a screw-up).

An RFI sounds like the idiot's version of an RFP. What am I missing?

Janiece said...

An RFI does not include a requirement for an actual proposal (although we usually include a solution framework). This relieves the customer of the burden of actually having to, you know, scope their needs.

John the Scientist said...

That sounds like a way to plumb for trade secrets. Your management puts up with this why?

Janiece said...

It's considered a necessary evil in Telecom.