50 Reasons Why Your Red Team is Broken

It was a tremendous step in the evolution of proposals when people began to recognize that every proposal should have a formal review by people other than those who wrote it. This review is almost universally called a "Red Team" review. The only problem is that I can't think of a single instance in several hundred proposals where a Red Team review has made a difference whether a proposal won or lost. This is probably because most Red Team reviews are flawed to the point of being nearly worthless. Your's probably is too. Here are some signs that your Red Team is broken:

1. If you asked all of the participants to define a "Red Team," you'd get a different answer from each
2. The goals for the Red Team are not explicitly defined
3. Participants are not given specific directions regarding what to look for
4. The Red Team does not have any checklists or written guidance to remind them of what to look for
5. The burden of managing Red Team administration and logistics is left to the proposal team instead of being taken off of their hands
6. The Red Team is scheduled too early and the document is not ready
7. The Red Team is scheduled too late and there is not enough time to act on any suggestions
8. The Red Team gives you the guidance you should have had at the start
9. It is not clear who is driving: the Red Team or the proposal team
10. The Red Team shows up without having actually read the proposal, cover to cover
11. The Red Team is allowed to do their reading at their desks
12. The Red Team shows up without having read the RFP
13. Red Team participants have no assignment other than to read the entire proposal, cover to cover
14. The Red Team is the only form of review planned for the proposal
15. You limit the number and types of reviews you do to the number of colors you can name (red team, pink team, green team, blue team, purple team, gold team)
16. You expect the red team to review compliance, accuracy, your approach, the persuasiveness of the writing, the completeness of the document, how you stack up against the evaluation criteria, implementation of win strategies, and incorporation of customer/solution/competitive awareness all at the same time…
17. The same people who wrote the proposal are on the Red Team
18. The Red Team is scheduled for only a couple of hours
19. Participants have to leave early because they have other commitments
20. The Red Team doesn't have an appointed leader, other than the proposal manager
21. The Red Team identifies problems without offering solutions
22. The Red Team does little more than what amounts to proof reading
23. The Red Team wastes valuable time proof reading copy that is going to significantly change or tells you about formatting problems on a document that has yet to go through final production
24. There is no guidance regarding how comments should be made
25. The Red Team examines your strategies instead of the effectiveness of their implementation
26. The Red Team wants to change the outline of the proposal
27. The Red Team is effectively a review by the executive sponsor
28. The Red Team looks at the proposal from their own perspective, instead of the customer's perspective
29. Red Team participants think they need to read every comment they've written on the document while everyone is at the table
30. The Red Team does not consolidate its own comments, but leaves that burden to the proposal team
31. There is no discussion regarding how the Red Team's comments relate to or will impact the evaluation criteria
32. Red Team comments fail to take into consideration the page limitation imposed by the RFP
33. The Red Team expects to see the document again after the changes are made
34. Red Team suggestions are expected to be taken as orders (the proposal team is not free to ignore a Red Team recommendation).
35. If there are holes, the Red Team doesn't recommend any resources capable of filling the holes
36. The proposal is so broken at the time of the Red Team that the Red Team can't do anything to help
37. Participants make comments that are not actionable (generalized statements that don't specify a correction or action to take)
38. The Red Team makes comments that contradict the RFP
39. The Red Team does not result in a set of specific action items that can be worked through a process of elimination
40. The Red Team doesn't take any time to meet as a group and discuss their findings before they debrief the proposal team
41. Some people are on the Red Team simply because they want to see the document -- not because they have anything to contribute
42. The Red Team identifies all of the defects, resulting in a proposal that merely answers the mail because they didn't look at what it takes to win
43. They aren't physically present
44. You haven't validated enough because you tried to do too much in a single review.
45. All of the technical expertise available is on the proposal team, leaving none for an independent assessment
46. The debrief consists only of the participants taking turns sharing their thoughts
47. The Red Team doesn't score the proposal according to the evaluation criteria
48. The Red Team doesn't do anything but score the proposal according to the evaluation criteria
49. The Red Team doesn't offer any useful advice or help (as opposed to criticisms)
50. The Red Team doesn't do anything to help the proposal WIN!