Could you make me something like that?

In the process of hiring a Service provider, there are some preliminary introductory stages before development works start. The creation of a Statement of Work where all necessary requirements of the future project are stated is one of them. What are the requirements for this document to be clear and comprehensive?

 Before sending your statement, simply ask two questions to avoid future misunderstanding and complicated situations with your developers’ team. 

Do you think that to compose a Statement of Work (SOW) is a 1-hr-thing?

Do you expect that starting a project with the 1 paragraph of text generated over the weekend is easy? 

If you have two positive answers, sorry, but you are wrong.

It is easy to evade the difficulties with documentation conclusion if to gather all this information before moving forward:

• Title and Overview;
• Purpose and Need;
• Business plan;
• Time and materials;
• Method of implementation;
• Timeline;
• Requirements;
• Estimated Outcomes.

Take your time and dive deeper with your project’s or business assessment.  Find out all the pitfalls that you can encounter on your path. Try to foresee all outs. Forecast all in-s in any step of the SOW, so you can avoid risks of failure. Ensure the success of efforts by developing simple, laconic, thoroughgoing and viable documentation.

• Make hard simple, generally accepted with simple words to describe the key point. You're to use special terms or definitions if the project requires that.  It is best to avoid using special terms and definitions in SOW.
• Be laconic and describe things with no reference to not related information. Try not to mention something that linked to your project and its context. Otherwise, you’re likely to confuse the reader on the key points of your project.
• Although you must keep the text 100% thoroughgoing for the intended audience. Cover every critical aspect for the reader to understand the project’s context.
• Viable means - the project description is up-to-date with relevant information. You should never use data that is not related to the matter or does not support the idea of your project.

When you are through - give it another one read to some friend of yours and ask for their honest opinion. And only after you’re given a green light, you can congratulate yourself, cause you’ve done a great job! Now you can share it with any candidate who will take part in the post of your Service provider.

Hold! Definitely, the more detailed SOW you have -  the more time and effort you save. Even though, not everyone can fall in love with the project as you are. Always be ready to state one’s points of view with arguments in your SOW.