PM Tip #9: Define Your Project Scope

Welcome to #9 on my top 10 list of tips I've learned during my career in Project Management.?In my experience, the best tips you can get are learned through doing - not through books.?Take it from someone who's been there.?(That's the next best thing)?Stay tuned as I count down my Top 10.

?"If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time." –Zig Ziglar

There are three constraints in Project Management according to most sources: Scope, Timeline and Cost.?Each of three affects each other but I would argue nothing is more important than well defined project scope.

Definition of Scope in Project Management

There are many definitions of scope, but for the purposes of the work we do as Project Managers it is this: The range of activities that will be done on the project.?If we can't answer the question "What are we actually doing to accomplish our goals on the project?" then it will cause several issues:

• ?The PM will have no idea which stakeholders to include on the project team. Meetings are fruitless if the right people aren't present to move the project forward.
• The members of the project team will have no idea what actions need to be completed to achieve the project objectives.
• The range of activities being done on the project will become broad and disorganized leading to ballooning budget timeline and muddled messaging.

The scope is like a roadmap which will lead to achieving the project goals.?We don't want our team wasting their time floundering in the wilderness.?

So, I need a Well-Defined Scope.?How Do I Get There?

Here are some basic tips on properly defining project scope:

1. Know your project's objectives.?Why does this project exist and what is it trying to accomplish??If you don't have this, you might as well stop before you start.
2. Know what resources you will need to make your project a success.?Doing this will give you an idea of the budget required for the project as well as the difficulty level.?It will give you insight into whether your project scope is too broad or too narrow and/or if it needs adjustment.
3. Collect requirements from key stakeholders.?There's nothing like starting a project and then determining at your kickoff meeting that the scope is incorrect.?Get feedback from key people who the project will impact to gain an understanding.
4. Draft the Project Scope Statement.?This should contain the project's objectives, resource requirements and deliverbables.?It may also include timeline information.?Although some would argue that timeline and scope are separate in project management, they inter-relate and one cannot exist without the other.
5. Circulate the scope statement.?This can be done as part of a draft project charter, or in less formal environments, separately.?Everyone on the key project team who is an approver or director should agree on what the project is about.?This does two things: It gets key players on board and it informs everyone on where this project is going.
6. Revise the project scope if necessary during the project, ensuring to get buy-in from the stakeholders who signed off originally.
7. During the project, refer back to your project scope in order to set boundaries on activities and avoid "scope creep"

Preventing "Scope Creep"

"Scope Creep" is a common problem on projects.?It refers to?changes or expansion of the scope of a project after the project begins.?"Scope Creep" results in busted budgets, exhausted project team members and potential loss of buy-in among the original stakeholders.

Caveat: It can't always be avoided.?It's nearly impossible to think of everything when a project starts, but due diligence is called for.

The most common causes of "Scope Creep" are:

1. Poorly defined project requirements.?During the early requirements gathering phase of the project, it's important to identify the resources required to complete a project. It's like the old adage about cooking: Gather your ingredients before you start making a recpe to ensure you have everything you need. You have to understand the project recipe in order to grasp the task at hand.
2. Unincluded stakeholders.?There's nothing like not having the right experts at the table to not get a question answered. There's also nothing worse for buy-in than not having people who have a high interest in an initiative in the know. Having a solid analysis of which people have "skin in the game" is a critical piece of the puzzle.
3. Unexpected project barriers arise.?WHAM! The cost of materials went up. WHAM! You need an outside consultant because your organization does not have the right internal expertise. WHAM! You need a board approval to proceed. Identifying all potential barriers would require a crystal ball.?You can mitigate against unexpected barriers, however, by adhering to #1 and #2
4. An inability to say NO!?Project Managers have to be able to control meeting agenda to keep activities within the constraints of the project.?Often, stakeholders want to initiate other activities which are not in the scope of the current project.?My favorite statement to use in this instance is "That sounds like another project proposal.?Why don't we address that separately later??It's outside the scope of what we are doing here." (Refer to project charter)

Conclusions

Project Managers have to be experts on controlling the agenda.?It starts at the beginning, by clearly defining what the project is about and ensuring all needed players are involved.?They then have to control the boundaries of the project to make sure that things don't go off the rails.?

Have a clearly defined scope on every project and stick to it.?You'll get more done, be more efficient and protect stakeholder interests.

Until next time!