A fixed-scope proposal template you can steal

Every HOLORAI project starts from the same one-page proposal, refined across 120-plus engagements since 2020. Since the current version stabilised in 2022, we have had exactly zero formal scope disputes, and the median project sees two change orders — both priced calmly instead of argued about. The template is below, free to steal. First, why each section exists, because the structure is the product.

1. Problem restatement — in the client's words

The proposal opens with the client’s problem, in their vocabulary, with their numbers: “Order entry takes the morning shift three hours a day and produced 41 keying errors last quarter.” Two sentences, no adjectives, at least one number that hurts. If we restated the problem wrong, we want to be corrected before code exists, when correction is free. About one proposal in six comes back with the restatement corrected — each of those corrections was a dispute we did not have later.

2. “Done means” — the section that kills disputes

This is a list of five to nine statements, each checkable by a non-technical person, each written so it is either true or false on handover day. Not “a fast, reliable intake system” but: “an emailed PDF order appears in the system within five minutes with all six fields populated, or in the review queue with a reason.”

Why does this kill disputes? Because scope disputes are almost never about dishonesty — they are about two people who each assumed something so obvious it never got written down. “Done means” forces every assumption through a checkable sentence. When a request arrives mid-project, the question is no longer “is this reasonable?” (unwinnable) but “is this on the list?” (a lookup). The argument dissolves into arithmetic: if it is not on the list, it is a change order, and nobody is the villain.

3. Out of scope — the assumptions, surfaced

The out-of-scope list is not everything we will not do — that list is infinite. It is the four to six adjacent things someone would plausibly assume are included: historical data cleanup, single sign-on, the mobile version, migrating the old archive. We read this list aloud on the proposal call, and about a third of the time one item earns a “wait, that is not included?” — which is the sentence you want to hear now, at zero cost, instead of in month two at full price.

4. Staged milestones — nothing invoices without something running

Two to four stages, each ending in a demo of working software on real data, each tied to an invoice percentage. No milestone is “design complete” or “architecture finalised” — paper does not count. This keeps our incentives honest (we get paid by shipping) and gives the client a natural exit ramp at every stage, which paradoxically is why they stay.

5. The change-order rule — no verbal yeses

Anything outside “done means” gets a written half-page: what it costs, how many days it adds, and what it pushes back. Especially the third item — clients accept prices easily and schedule slips badly, so the slip goes in writing before the yes. The rule protects both sides from the most expensive word in software, which is a hallway “sure”.

The skeleton

PROJECT: [name]      CLIENT: [name]      DATE: [date]

1. THE PROBLEM (your words, your numbers)
   [Two sentences. Include the number that hurts.]

2. WHAT WE WILL BUILD
   [One paragraph. No adjectives.]

3. DONE MEANS
   [ ] Statement a non-technical person can check.
   [ ] e.g. "An emailed PDF order appears in the system
       within 5 minutes, all six fields populated."
   [ ] ...five to nine lines total.

4. OUT OF SCOPE (available later, priced separately)
   - [adjacent thing people will assume is included]
   - [second adjacent thing]

5. MILESTONES
   M1  [date]  Working pilot on real data          [30%]
   M2  [date]  Pilot survives two weeks of use     [40%]
   M3  [date]  Handover: docs + training complete  [30%]

6. CHANGES
   Anything not in section 3 is a written change order:
   price, days added, and what it pushes back.

7. PRICE: [fixed amount]      VALID UNTIL: [date]

What we'd tell you to do

• Steal the skeleton as-is; the section order matters more than the wording.
• Write “done means” together with the client, on a call, editing live. Co-authored lists get honoured; delivered lists get lawyered.
• Read the out-of-scope list aloud and watch faces. Silence is agreement; a frown is a change order you just avoided.
• Hold the no-verbal-yes line even when it feels bureaucratic — especially then. The half-page takes ten minutes; the undocumented favour takes a relationship.