Project Scope Management: Definition and Control

I have seen amazing ideas fall apart because of a simple thing that a lot of people don't do: define the scope of the project. I once worked with a marketing team that said they were doing a simple update on a website. That "simple' update turned into a complete redesign of their entire website. 6 months down the road, the team had spent 3 times their budget and still did not have a finished project. This nightmare of a situation could have easily been avoided with proper scope management.

The project scope is the outline of the total work necessary to complete your project. Setting the boundaries is knowing what you will complete and what you will not complete. It also includes what you will deliver and what the success criteria will be. If you don't set a proper project scope, it could drift aimlessly, and stakeholders can begin adding requests, which will cause the team to lose sight of the objectives. If you are trying to get your PMP certification, the scope of project management will be the first thing you will need to master. This is the most applicable knowledge that will follow you on every project you manage.

The project scope is the most important thing to define what your project includes and what it does not cover. Defining the Scope means simply drawing a line that separates your project from everything else and defining your objectives, including your deliverables, the tasks that need to be done, the deadline, and the resources available.

The scope addresses the most important questions from stakeholders. What are we building? When will it be done? What are we leaving out? How do we define completion? Projects are often derailed due to this confusion.

The powerful aspect of scope is its effect on the other constraints of the project. Your scope affects your timeline, budget, and quality. If you increase the scope, you need more time and budget. If you decrease the scope, you will deliver more quickly, but with fewer features. Knowing the triple constraints of project management will help you better manage these trade-offs.

There are several important elements that make up every project scope that are all interdependent.

Project goals and objectives set your destination. "Enhancing consumer satisfaction" is an aspiration. "Boost customer satisfaction scores from 72% to 85% in six months" is specific and measurable. Such goals motivate your project.

Deliverables are elements your project must provide. Elements can be documents, products, services, or results. Each deliverable should have clear acceptance criteria in order for stakeholders to agree on completion. This is part of managing deliverables throughout the project management lifecycle.

Exclusions are often overlooked; however, they are crucial. Stating what your project will and won't include can help frame expectations for stakeholders. If your website redesign doesn't include content creation, say so up front. Avoid the 3-month waiting period to discover a misunderstanding.

Step 1: Define the Project Scope

The most definitive way to develop a scope statement is to start with a document that outlines objectives and deliverables. From there, identify the goals and the reason behind the project with the primary stakeholders. This can be a combination of interviews, document reviews, and/or process observations, depending on the scope of the project. Recording these observations will help create a baseline from which to manage project changes. In combination with the objectives and deliverables, recording the project's primary goals will assist as a reference point to drive the project and respond to scope questions.

Step 2: Create a Work Breakdown Structure

Create a Work Breakdown Structure, or WBS, to manage the scope, objectives, and deliverables of the project. The WBS can be thought of as the family tree of the project, allowing you to take the high-level deliverables and decompose them into smaller, measurable work packages that can be executed by a team. In a website project, for example, the work packages can be areas of focus such as design, development, content, and testing.

Step 3: Establish Your Scope Baseline

When stakeholders identify and approve the scope statement, and the WBS is completed, this becomes the project baseline. This approved version will serve as the controlling scope for the project and will dictate any changes that occur from this point on. Change control processes will need to take place that monitor and approve any changes that occur in the project.

Step 4: Scope Validation Continuously

During execution, scope is completed one deliverable at a time, and deliverables are only considered complete when acceptance criteria are met. Continuously validating the scope is important to ensure that the team is building what the stakeholders actually want and not what the team thinks is wanted. These regularly scheduled checkpoints help to clarify the scope before misunderstandings become extensive and difficult to solve.

Step 5: Scope Change Control

Changes will happen. Stakeholders may discover new requests. Technology may change. Conditions in the marketplace may change. The most valuable aspect of the scope change control concept is integrating these changes into the project planning process to prevent scope drifting. Change requests should define the change that is being proposed and the impacts of the change to the project schedule and to the project budget. Then the appropriate level of approvals should be gained before the change is implemented. This aspect of scope control is one of the most important principles that will be tested for those pursuing PMP certification training, as the changes are made this way in a disciplined manner.

Website Development

The company wants to redesign its corporate website. Scope includes fully rredesigning25 website pages, implementing a new content management system, migrating all previously existing content, and training staff. It excludes creating new content beyond the content migration, developing a mobile application, and ongoing website maintenance after launch. The budget for this work is $50,000, with a timeline of 3 months.

Product Launch Project

Developing a new software product entails building the software, preparing collateral, training the sales team, and preparing for the launch. Support after the launch, enhancements to additional features, and expansion to international markets are out of scope. The budget is set to $250,000, and the timeline is 6 months.

Internal Process Improvement

A company seeks to minimize the time spent on invoice processing while aiming for a 40% time reduction and a 60% reduction in mistakes. Deliverables include process mapping, a gap analysis, recommendations, and an implementation roadmap. Exclusions include the replacement of technological systems and changes in other functions. The length of the project is set to 2 months, and the budget is $10,000.

Scope creep is the unplanned addition of features, tasks, or requests into a project. These requests are small, so they are often overlooked, but they collectively cause substantial delays.

Be Thorough and Document Everything

Make your scope statement as unambiguous as possible. Assumptions are often the root of a variety of problems in a project, and if they are as vague as possible, it will invite a great deal of different and competing assumptions that will lead to severe delays. Describe the requirements, such as how many, how good, what the acceptance criteria are, and what the scope boundaries are.

Initiate Formal Change Control

Before work begins, specify the process for requests, evaluation, and approval. Who can authorize what types of changes? What type of impact analysis needs to be done? How will changes be communicated? Defining these processes will keep your project safe from unofficial additions that may lead to bigger problems down the road.

Stakeholder Education on Boundaries of Scope

Stakeholders often do not grasp the basics of project management. They view a request and simply see it as an addition, not taking into consideration the impact it will have on the schedule and budget. Spend time to help them understand these contexts and the importance of change control.

Consistent Communication

Stakeholders will know what is and is not within the scope of the project when they see regular updates that show progress toward the deliverables.

Successful projects are those that clearly define project scope. This process will take time when gathering requirements; however, the dividends that you will receive from the lack of confusion and conflict, as well as the avoidance of budget overruns, will be well worth it.

Explore every assignment by completing the basic framework. What are we attempting to do? What can we provide? What can we leave out? How can we tell we are finished? Answer these questions to the best of your ability before utilizing any resources, and your chances of success will increase greatly.

Always remember that planning is only the first part of your project. Scope management can and will occur at any point along the timeline. Look at your goals often. Manage scope formally. Communicate often. These routines help keep your project on the assigned track.