How can I evaluate building a website (upgrade) when I don't know all the features of the site?
I know there are a few assessment questions here, and I've read most of them, but it's a little different. If you update the website, this may include usability improvements that increase the hours for production and development of pages. We will never look at a website and tell ourselves how it is now and how it will be in the future. If so, then our clients will not seek our expertise. Should it always be required to brainstorm the team before responding to a request or creating a formal job statement? What if those doing the brainstorming aren't doing the final work? We can only inventory the current site to a certain extent, and I'm starting to think that we should only make estimates for what we know, letting the prospect tell us.where we are losing certain elements.
In your proposal, be specific enough about what you saw on the current website (how many pages / resources? Are they low / honey / complex? What are the high-level features you see already existing (e.g. search, security, AJAX, profiles, etc.) And what would you think of adding? Give ranges, not specific estimates.
The more information you share about what you saw without knowing the requirements, it will help the client believe that you weren't just filing an offer through the RFP tray and that you are serious about the job without tying you to the obligation to deliver more / faster than you can. ... Clients do understand that you cannot make a reliable estimate, but the more they feel that you made a serious attempt, the more they can devote their time to helping you understand the requirements for the final proposal and SOW.
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If you are unsure of what you are evaluating, expect the estimate to be inaccurate (and, at best, approximate).
Indicate your assumptions ("X if we do Foo or Y if we don't").
Indicate what you need to reduce uncertainty ("we need to spend an hour getting the client to collect requirements before we can give any estimate").
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