Interestingly, one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of project management, the "scope of project management," is sometimes defined as the area of activity of certain procedures and techniques to achieve the set goals of a project. This definition holds forth an interesting thought: Scope has never been treated as a variable element allowing any amount of modification, since doing so would destroy the very purpose of project management to bring the desired results
Naturally, scope management is an important area of project management and there’s a lot to learn about it. But before we jump into that, let’s start with the definition of project scope.
What is scope in project managment?
In project management, the term scope implies the limits and boundaries of any project. It defines what is actually included in the project and what is excluded. The Statement of Scope in project management is a document that describes the goals, objectives, deliverables, tasks, and scheduling of the project. It serves as a means of informing all players in the venture about what they can expect. The scope of a project must be defined before the project is undertaken since it will provide the base of the project plan and help avoid scope creep.
Defining the project scope is an integral part of the project planning process because based on the scope, project managers will assemble their teams, estimate what project resources are needed and determine what the project plan, schedule and budget will be.
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What Makes Project Scope Management Worthy?
Project scope management is one of the most significant areas of project management because it considers the management of schedule and budget too. Because scope management is about delivering the desired outcome within a defined time and cost approved by the stakeholders. Effective scope management can ensure project managers could achieve the following goals.
Realistic plans for projectsAvoiding such issues as cost overrun and scope creepExpectations clear cut for project stakeholdersHaving the right skills and qualifications for the project: the hiring of individualsMeeting P.m. deadlinesProducing high-quality project deliverablesEstablishing change management proceduresEffective project scope management tips
Here are some project scope management tips
Create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the scope statement to break it down into small pieces that can be managed easily.Define it precisely; do leave no grey areas. An ambiguity in the scope means unnecessary work will be done and excessive tension.Make the definition a participatory process in order to eliminate the misinterpretations of requirements. Leverage the significant project collaboration tools for the improvement of communication within the teams.As a key oversight material, the scope document should be constant, meaning that there will be no more tweaking, fine tuning or enlarging while running the project.
Ultimately, one must exigently liaise with any stakeholders, real ones or imaginary patrons, in order to define the project scope to the fullest possible extent. Once that is finalised, well, no mo' talk.
What is project scope management?
A project scope statement (also known as the scope document or statement of work) does the following:
Describes the boundaries of the entire project and sets out the responsibilities of the team. Defines all the processes that need to be followed to ensure and validate the acceptance of the completed project work. Provides team members with clear instructions guiding their decision making process in relation to project activities.
In writing the project scope, team members and stakeholders must also be as specific as possible in order to avoid scope creep. The project manager would manage the project such that all the deadline requirements could be met with an adequate level of communications during the project and that the final product would match the original requirements.
Project Scope Management Steps
Scope Management indubitably begins with the idea that one has constant communication with stakeholders. It is paramount you understand the stakeholders' vision to understand their expectations from the project. This way, when changes occur, you can shepherd them toward the project goal while keeping the project on course. But this is only the beginning.
Five things have to be done for scope management for the project:
Define the Project Scope
The definition of project scope is the identification of all work out of which a project is to be developed. It implies bringing out the goals and objectives of the project. Next, one looks at the activities required to achieve them. Once one gets a vision for what the project should be achieving, a work breakdown structure can be used to break down the project into a set of tasks. The work breakdown structure (WBS) assists the project manager to visualize and set tasks necessary for completion of a project and prioritize them with deliverables and dependencies.
With the scope defined, it is important to manage it by a process called project scope management. Project management software allows one to do full scope management. That includes Project Manager, award winning project management software with advanced Gantt charts. With Project Manager course, you create your project plan with all scoped tasks scheduled, assignees, and deadlines. In addition, our Gantt charts are updated in real time with progress bars that show the progress of tasks as your team members work. So, transparency is the name of the game. You can also set a baseline and track your planned effort against your real effort right away to avoid any scope creep.
Write the Project Scope Statement
A project scope statement goes into writing only after the definition of the project scope, which encompasses the following elements:
Goals and objectives of the project: The project requirements or acceptance criteria.Project deliverables: The results of project activities.Exclusions and constraints related to anything that cannot happen and why, which must be explained by you as a project manager. Project assumptions: Some preliminary assumptions that the project management team has made before executing the work. Project milestones: Important moments in the project lifecycle, including the conclusion of a phase. Scope baseline: The original scope as you originally planned to compare against actual results.
The scope statement also serves as a guideline for the project manager in decisions regarding change requests for the duration of the project. Change is an inevitable part of project work, no matter how well planned; therefore, anticipation of change should be included in the scope statement to support effective future management.
Create a scope management plan
Here are points to create scope management plan
It must address the basic procedures by which scope will be defined, tracked, and modified. It is an important part of the overall project plan. There can be no absolute "one way" method to write a management plan; it should, however:Include the scope statementShow the work breakdown structure that was used to define the project scopeDescribe the scope baselineElucidate team members, roles, and responsibilitiesSet acceptance criteria for project deliverablesDescribe what are the major milestones and project phases Deliberate on change control procedures which will be adopted to change the project scopeScope Baseline Definition for Scope Control
A scope baseline contains the project scope endorsed by the project stakeholders and the project management team. The primary purpose during the project execution phase is to ensure that the project scope is performed according to the approved document.
Monitor and Control Your Project Scope Throughout Project Life Cycle
Apart from project documentation, other tools, such as Gantt charts, kanban boards, and project dashboards, become handy for project managers in tracking project scope. Taking Gantt charts as an instance.