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Experiment design / Procurement

Three offers. One useful comparison.

An experiment to try with a procurement team: prepare a comparison, keep the evidence visible and see what changes in the work.

This is a proposed experiment. Its results would come from running it with your own examples and team.

Start with one familiar request.

Choose a purchase your team understands. Use three supplier offers, the approved requirements and the date the items are needed. Agree which documents and systems the agent may use.

Ask for a comparison you can inspect.

The draft should bring the agreed criteria together: specification, quantity, quoted price, delivery and relevant terms. Each finding should point back to its source. Missing details should remain visible as questions.

Keep the decision with the buyer. The experiment ends with a reviewed comparison; placing an order is outside its scope.

Include a request with a catch.

Try one straightforward example, then one with an incomplete quote or a different revision. Look at whether the workflow notices the difference and makes it easy for a person to resolve.

The useful question is how it handles the work your team actually sees, including the inconvenient details.

Measure the work around the answer.

Preparation
How long did it take to gather the inputs and produce the comparison?
Quality
Which facts were correct, missing or in need of correction?
Review
How much work did the buyer need to check and finish the draft?
Next step
Would the team use it again, and what would need to improve?

Compare that with the current process using the same requests. The outcome may be a useful workflow, a narrower scope or a clearer view of the information that needs attention first.

Explore an illustrative exampleWatch the procurement workflow