This week I want to give you some tips on how to write a statement of work, commonly referred to by the acronym SOW.
Statements of Work are commonly used by service organizations to define the work they do on a particular engagement for a particular client. In this respect, they're very useful for professional speakers. The SOW will be an important part of the contract, but isn't all of the contract.
Why have an SOW?
To avoid misunderstandings and control risk.
What's in an SOW?
This is the sort of material you ought to cover in a good Statement of Work:
Scope of Services What you will be doing - what the end result will be - what you won't be doing
Your Responsibilities Specific tasks and activities that you're doing
The Client's Responsibilities Tasks and activities to be performed by the client
Estimated Schedule Start and end dates and milestones
Completion Criteria How you and the client will know the work has been done
Deliverable Materials A description of what "stays behind" with the client, after you have left
Other contractual terms - like promising that you won't steal each other's employees, for example - can be in your main terms and conditions. I like to keep my Statements of Work focused directly on the job in hand.
I hope you've found this useful.
If you have ideas for material you'd like us to cover in the Journal, then please let me know.
Effective Networking
