Centralized vs. decentralized content planning

Centralized Content Planning:

If you have one person or a small group in charge of determining what everyone else should write, you have a centralized approach to planning.  When planning is centralized, one person creates the Content Plan.  This makes training easier, and makes it easier to use less experienced proposal contributors. But it also creates a bottleneck.  Writing can’t start until the Content Plan is completed and reviewed.  With a centralized approach, the Content Plan becomes the instructions that will be given to the authors.

Decentralized Content Planning:

If you have leaders for each section, or each author is responsible for figuring out how to organize and what should go into their own sections, you have a decentralized approach to planning. When planning is decentralized, each contributor adds to the Content Plan, and the Content Plan becomes a tool for collaboration and coordination. With a decentralized model, all of the contributors have to understand how Proposal Content Planning works.

Which is the right approach for your organization?

This process supports both approaches without preference. The right approach for your organization depends on your resources and corporate culture.  Some companies are authoritarian and some are consensus driven. Some proposals will have contributors who are experienced with proposals, the MustWin Process, and working with each other.  And some won’t.  If you don’t match the approach to the company, you will encounter problems that can result in proposal failure.