Managing the scope of a project is a vital and fundamental aspect of project management. However, I have observed numerous instances over the years where project scopes were either inadequately defined or poorly managed.
If the scope is not clearly defined during the initiation phase, it can lead to scope creep, negatively impacting the project during delivery. This can cause disagreements between stakeholders, delay the project schedule, and result in going over budget.
What is the Meaning of Scope in Project Management?
The scope defines the project work and its final deliverables, including the specifications and quality standards governing the project execution.
In other words, the scope is the requirement the client passes on to the delivery organization.
Similarly, the scope is what the delivery organization passes on to its supply chain, consultant, or sub-contractors.
Simply, it is what your organization is contracted to deliver or what you require a third party to deliver back to you.
Why is Project Scope Definition Critical?
To answer this question, let’s have a look at the impact of a poorly defined scope from the perspectives of the project stakeholders:
The Client / Project Owner
The most apparent problem is missing requirements that didn’t initially form part of the scope. Adding new requirements can dramatically impact the budget and schedule depending on the project phase.
For example, adding a room to a building already under construction, changing equipment specifications while in transit, or adding lines of code to software at the testing stage of development.
The Delivery Organization
Similarly, missing scope items by the delivery organization would result in the management plans, including the budget, schedule, and risk not reflecting the full scope of the work. This could result in an eroding profit margin or a financial loss.
Imagine discovering during the delivery phase that the scope includes testing and commissioning a facility, which was initially assumed to be completed by the client. This is not good news to bring to the manager!
What Defines the Project Scope?
Different documents can be used to define the scope depending on the industry, the project size, and the level of contractual engagement.
Some of the key documents used to define the scope are:
- Project scope statement
- Project specifications
- List of deliverables
- Scope inclusions
- Scope exclusions
- Design Brief
- Design documents
- Battery limits
- Request for Information (RFI) documents
Sometimes there may be conflicting information within these documents. For instance, an item could be displayed on the design drawings but not mentioned in the scope statement.
These conflicts must be clarified and agreed upon during the contract agreement stage.
A project charter is a good starting point for defining the scope, as it provides details on the project’s scope of work.
How to Manage Scope Creep?
The documents in the previous section are used as input to develop the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), which feeds into the other project plans, including the schedule and cost plans, or you can also use this AI-powered tool to generate the WBS.
During the execution phase of the work, the scope might increase (scope creep) to include additional scope items that were not initially planned for or agreed on.
The process involved in controlling scope creep is Change Management.
I’ve laid out the general steps that could be taken in response to a client-initiated scope change below from my personal experience:
- Verify the additional scope aligns with the delivery organization’s expertise.
- Estimate the additional scope’s resources, cost, and duration.
- Perform risk analysis.
- Check the impact of the additional scope on the current budget and schedule by performing a critical path analysis.
- Provide a cost and time variation proposal.
- Formalize the variation approval.
- Update the project plans, including schedule baseline, budget baseline, and risk register.
- Deliver the additional scope.
- Monitor and control.
If you want to learn more about managing scope creep in your upcoming project effectively, check out this informative article: “How to Control Scope Creep In Your Next Project?“
Conclusion
Defining and agreeing on the project scope is the first step to successful delivery. The delivery team should invest ample time and effort during the scope definition stage.
They should also collaborate with the client and inform them of any missing scope that may not be directly related to their work, but is necessary for the project to achieve its objectives.
The goal is to ensure all project stakeholders work together to capture the complete project scope.
