BBC #01 - Scoping (Part I)

I would like to start this newsletter by saying that what you are about to read is not my original newsletter.

I had a 2-page piece of content that looked like it was taken from Wikipedia.

But that simply wasn’t me.

So, instead of creating one newsletter about scoping, I will create a series of pieces (maybe 3 or 4) about it.

Always trying to talk about it so everyone can understand. That’s just how I like to do things.

This first part is a personal story. Something that happened to me and made me realize the importance of scoping and expectations alignment.

Here we go!

THE KICKOFF

This last Saturday my wife went to the market and asked me to clean the house while she was out.

It was 9am and she would be back at 11am so we could cook something for lunch together.

As a good soldier, I didn't ask questions, just obeyed the CEO of the house.

1. Bedroom
2. Bathroom
3. Office
4. Kitchen
5. Living room
6. Yard

That's my scope. No thinking, just hard work.

THE OPERATION

Fast forward 10am:

1. Bedroom DONE
2. Bathroom DONE
3. Office DONE
4. Living-room
5. Kitchen
6. Yard

50% done in half of the time... So far, so good.

I started the living room and remembered that it's been a while since we cleaned behind the couch for the last time.

And I know the CEO has strict policies about cleaning good practices.

So off I went.

Put the couch aside, vacuum cleaner, water, squeegee... full service.

Great! She will be amazed! I will get a promotion this year, I know it!

Enough with celebrations... Kitchen!

Almost there. Look at the clock: "Sh*t! 10:45 and I'm still in the kitchen"

THE DELIVERY

11am... She arrived.

Kitchen not 100%, still a few bugs.

Yard 0%, uninhabitable place (thanks to my dogs).

She opened the door and asked how everything went.

I lied. Said that I was able to finish everything, but the yard.

"Maybe she won't find the bugs in the kitchen", I kept telling myself.

So there she was, the big boss, room by room, QAing everything.

Didn't notice I cleaned behind the couch, but, of course, I told her.

She answered "oh, no need for that. I was thinking about doing it next week." ...??

She saw the yard!

She looked at me!

She stared at me!????

Faking a smile, she "calmly" said that we would receive some friends for a coffee after lunch and the yard was a priority.

I had forgotten that! How could I forget that?

Ok, she let that pass. Said we could do it together now and delay our lunch a little bit.

So she went to the kitchen to get the cleaning stuff and...

She noticed the oven was not cleaned, a few things out of the spot, the fridge not organized,...

She looked at me.

She stared at me.

The smile went off...????????????

Final Message

From this story we can see a few mistakes made during the scoping phase:

• Boundaries: Time vs Budget vs Scope
• Definition of Done
• Prioritization
• Communication
• ...

As I said before, I had a completely different newsletter to share today.

But it was getting so big, with so many details that even I was getting bored when reading it.

So yesterday I decided to change.

This story is a kickoff of a series of newsletters about scoping projects/products.

I will write about:

• Communication
• Expectations alignment
• The psychology behind scoping processes
• Real-life examples (how No Code agencies currently scope)
• What I think is the best approach given some situations.
• Maybe some more topics I can’t remember now

Hope you had some fun reading it!

If you liked it, please, like, comment, DM me, share with your friends!

I would love to know if you had any experiences like this one!

P.S.: My wife didn’t read this story yet. If I miss the deadline for Part II, you know what happened…

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