Better RFP Responses & Management
 
Term: Rules of Engagement

Term: Rules of Engagement

The expected behaviours within a proposal team setting or meeting; for example:

  • Limiting the scope of a review (for example, “Don’t check spelling; review the content.”)
  • Defining the style of allowable personal interactions (for example, “No yelling. Well, except at Joe.”)
  • Establishing rules for version control

Acronymized as ROE; pronounced by spelling it out. R-O-E.

Comes from military usage, in which application it defines how a fighting force may “contact” the enemy (that is, whether lethal force may be used). Note that proposal ROE never extend to lethal force, although it is often tempting.

2 Comments

  1. Jim Taylor

    Are the ROE formally stated? Or taken for granted (until someone violates them, usually)? And I wonder what would happen if ROE were written into marriage vows.
    Jim T

    1. Isabel Gibson

      Jim – <> Sometimes – but verging on rarely, in my experience. The folks most likely to make them explicit seem to be those with what I call an operational background: Those who have been responsible for managing teams/crowds of employees to deliver something and to manage the associated budget. The least likely? People with sales/marketing backgrounds. As for working them into marriage vows (or even the thinking thereon): It couldn’t hurt. A wise old friend used to say that the things that tripped-up couples weren’t the things they thought to discuss (children yes or no, for example) but the things they took for granted (Of course we have [every!] Sunday dinner at my parents’ house.).

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