[Sigia-l] Finding and Choosing a Consultant

[Jacqui Olkin]

Dave,

I agree--an RFP is definitely the best way to be sure to compare apples to 
apples, and to get different ideas about how a project of this type could be 
approached in terms of methodology and emphasis.

Laura, given the unique nature of nonprofits and associations, such as 
yours, I would recommend limiting RFP distribution to companies who have 
significant experience with that industry sector--that would go for an 
IA/usability RFP and an eventual Web redesign RFP. I think that too often, 
vendors who work mostly in other industry sectors can misunderstand or just 
miss some of the important needs and characteristics of 
associations/nonprofits and their constituents.

I have worked in the association/nonprofit arena for 15 years and can refer 
you to other firms and vendors who would be good candidates to receive any 
RFPs you produce.

Jacqui


Jacqui Olkin
Olkin Communications Consulting
jacqui at olkincommunications.com
571-643-6020 ph.
703-834-5653 fax
www.olkincommunications.com

web . print . content . strategy





>From: "David Malouf" <dave.ixd at gmail.com>
>To: "Laura Norvig" <lauran at etr.org>
>CC: sigia-l at asis.org
>Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Finding and Choosing a Consultant
>Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 16:25:24 -0500
>
>Laura, I think the appropriate answer to your question is to write an
>RFP for what you think the project is, and put it out there to people
>like Jacqui and others and see what you get back from them in terms of
>a proposal and there are your answers. Do a small set now and then
>open it up after you get management approval.
>
>-- dave
>
>On 2/1/07, Laura Norvig <lauran at etr.org> wrote:
> > Our organization is planning a major website re-design (and we
> > desperately need it) which will also involve a few iterations of
> > usability studies.
> >
> > Senior management initially tried to task our in-house team with
> > designing the usability study, but we are about to vehemently argue
> > that this is not realistic, nor will it yield the best results. Part
> > of me is thinking that we need not just a usability tester, but an IA
> > to oversee the entire redesign project.
> >
> > Our internal team has great instincts for IA (though you wouldn't
> > know it by viewing our website, which has grown haphazardly and has
> > been subject to many uncontrollable external pressures), but I know
> > from my dabblings into the blogs, books, and postings here of
> > professional IAs, that we could really benefit from a professional
> > project manager - at least to interpret the results of user testing
> > and get on track with an initial re-design.
> >
> > So here, finally, is my question. How do I go about gathering
> > information for senior management on the wide range of costs we could
> > be facing? I know individuals here cannot post their own fee
> > structures, but perhaps you could anser the following
> > -where do we begin looking for consultants?
> > -do some consultants do both IA and usability testing design?
> > -how do we go about getting quotes (or better yet just ballpark
> > figures without taking the time to get quotes)?
> > -what existing literature on finding and choosing IAs/usability study
> > folks do you recommend?
> >
> > Here is our URL, just to give you a sense of the size of the project
> > http://nationalserviceresources.org
> >
> >
> > (In case any of you are wondering who I am, I was an avid reader of
> > this list for many years starting at the beginning of this decade but
> > I had to change my settings to nomail because so much of my business
> > life is consumed by email already. I am a librarian with a passion
> > for quality IA and quality search.)
> > --
> > Laura Norvig, MLIS
> > "Intelligent Human Agent"
> > lauran at etr.org
> > ------------
> > IA Summit 2007:  Enriching IA
> > Rich Information, Rich Interaction, Rich Relationships
> > March 22-26, 2007, Las Vegas, NV
> > www.iasummit.org
> > -----
> > When replying, please *trim your post* as much as possible.
> > *Plain text, please; NO Attachments
> >
> > Searchable Archive at http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________________
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> >
>
>
>--
>David Malouf
>dave.ixd at gmail.com
>http://synapticburn.com/
>------------
>IA Summit 2007:  Enriching IA
>Rich Information, Rich Interaction, Rich Relationships
>March 22-26, 2007, Las Vegas, NV
>www.iasummit.org
>-----
>When replying, please *trim your post* as much as possible.
>*Plain text, please; NO Attachments
>
>Searchable Archive at http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/
>
>
>
>
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