How do you define project scope in your industry?

Understand how to balance what the client wants and what you feel is the best strategy to help your client achieve their objectives and drive higher impacts that are calculable and can be improved upon. It’s a collaborative process that will demand open mindedness from both parties ensuring that considerations are given to budget and timing.

Hello, I thank LinkedIn team for providing platform for expressing my view on the subject. In any Project we can't define project scope in crustal clear. but definitely, we can specify critical items like Material of Construction (MOC) Buy off Criteria and the process sequence etc can be captured. I always feel any project is a team effort, a person from Client side (buyer) and the Contractor (Supplier) should have a clear purpose of the project with time line and expectation. a better mutual understanding is the best scope declaration. The gap between Intention of supplier and expectation is minimum in such situation. Based on the project Scope defining for everything is almost impossible. but can reduce the gap. Regards

Defining a project's scope is crucial for its success and involves several key steps. Start by creating a scope statement, a focused document outlining the project's main objectives, deliverables, and constraints. Ensure it aligns with the project's vision and effectively communicates the scope to stakeholders. Depending on your industry—software development, construction, or healthcare—incorporate specific methodologies, documents, or regulations that are standard in your field. Once your scope is drafted, review it thoroughly to confirm its accuracy and feasibility, ensuring it meets stakeholder expectations. Finally, set SMART objectives that serve as indicators for evaluating project performance, ensuring they align with defined scope.

In scoping a project, it's not just about filling in the blanks of a template. A well-crafted scope statement is your project's North Star. Make it specific enough to guide the team, yet flexible enough to allow for real-world shifts. And remember, the scope statement isn't just for kicking off the project; refer back to it often to make sure you're still aligned with the original goals as things progress.

The project scope as envisaged in the above contributions, needs to be acknowledged and approved by the major actors in the project and most importantly by the client. The client may have his / her own take on the scope which may be at variance with the Draft scope as presented by the project manager. These gaps would need to be addressed with or without impact on the timeline and project cost. The finalised Project scope with the client’s approval represents an important reference document which will guide the project from its inception to completion.

It can be likened to MS Project software and the tasks that it performs. Major activities to be deployed for a specified period of time are broken down into minor and manageable activities that are associated with the available resources and projected towards the timeline of the project, and they are done in a progressive manner till the entire project is completed

it's like setting the GPS before you hit the road. Miss it and you're in for some detours and unhappy co-travelers. That's where the work breakdown structure (WBS) comes in, your roadmap.

I like to use Kanban boards for this. At the start of the project, create each task needed to complete the project in the kanban board. Sometimes you need to add more or remove some, but this is the most time effective, functional, and productive way to keep track of the WBS. I think there's often too much paperwork and PMs get lost in details and documentation that doesn't correlate to actual work. Using a Kanban board or Jira or another sprint-type software, even for waterfall projects, is a huge help.

In IT infrastructure project delivery, WBS depends on the project model that is being implemented and methodology followed. For example, it is a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to achieve the project objective and create required deliverables in PUMA. It also helps in resource optimization in a waterfall project. In agile environments, this chart of WBS changes more frequently due to complexity & risks. WBS can also be divided into work packages in large IT projects. It aids to simplified estimates and budget.

In my opinion, a well-constructed Work Breakdown Structure is an indispensable tool that influences your work positively by providing structure, clarity, and control in project management. It empowers you to efficiently manage tasks, allocate resources wisely, and adapt to changing circumstances, ultimately contributing to successful project outcomes.

Requirements analysis is like figuring out what a project needs to do and how well it needs to do it. It's about talking to the people involved, understanding what they want, and making sure the project meets those wants and does a good job. It's a way to make sure the project is useful and safe.

Requirements analysis is like ordering coffee. Ever got a latte when you wanted a cappuccino? It's because you weren't clear. Dive into the details, ask questions, and really understand what you're getting into. Trust me, it saves a lot of "I didn't ask for this!" moments down the line. ☕️📝

As far as IT concerned, I've practiced maintaining requirements in a documentation, traceability matrix and requirement management plan as much as possible. This is considering the factors such as clarity in infrastructure, architecture specification, current status and dependencies on any parties, concurrence with stakeholders. In an agile environment, requirements are ideally product goal which is analyzed in during sprint planning keeping in mind the Definition of Done, risks.

Requirements analysis is a critical phase in any project, as it sets the foundation for successful delivery. By systematically assessing stakeholder needs, specifying both functional and non-functional requirements, and establishing quality benchmarks, the process helps align project goals with organizational objectives. Additionally, it enables the identification and mitigation of potential risks, ensuring a more robust and effective final product.

It all starts with elicitation of the requirements. And it is an ongoing process that would continue throughout the analysis of requirements phase and even after feasibility evaluation. In the 21-st century it is important to stay flexible (be agile) and maintain live documentation, adjusting to the current business needs of the client. In a dynamic business environment the scope may change and extend after each phase or sprint, which makes change management just as important. (To avoid repetition, this is simply an addition to what the current article and the contributors already shared.)

Scope verification is like giving a thumbs-up to the plan and what the project will create. It means checking all the project details to make sure they're correct and doable. This step helps prevent problems and arguments later on in the project. Thanks

Exactly , scope verification is where you are confident that the stakeholders have understood, given a nod and a thumbs up to the deliverables, the boundaries , inclusions and exclusions of the project. However prior to this can be a heated argument and misunderstanding.

After scope verification, there should be a scope approval phase which helps to baseline the same and get the required approvals from stakeholders. This helps in having a shared understanding and commitment to the scope.

In IT industry, I have practiced scope verification as a sub-phase in project lifecycle. It starts with requirement gathering, analysis, plan, scope statement and ends with sign-off documents that contains scope statement. The sign-off ideally is from project owner or sponsor after consultation or discussion. The document that contains scope statement serves as the concurrence of project team. It could be project plan, business case, epic depending on project approach adapted. Aim of the project manager is to ensure scope verification is completed with scope statement defined with utmost clarity. Scope verification is an overlapping phase intertwined with scope statement. Some environments use term scope validation interchangeably.

Scope verification also requires obtaining a clear formal agreement from the relevant parties to avoid misunderstanding and moreover conflict about what is expected to be done/delivered.

Scope control is the project's bouncer at the door of the party. It's the guy with a checklist making sure only the sound people get in. When someone tries to sneak in with a crazy idea, scope control steps in and asks, "Are you on the list?" If the idea isn't on the list (the project plan), it better be good or it's out! And if it does get in, scope control keeps an eye on it, making sure it doesn't trash the party by making it run late, costing too much, or turning it into a snooze-fest lol. So, in short, scope control is like the project's superhero, keeping things on track and saving the day from scope disasters!

Think of scope control as the bouncer at your project's party. Without it, your project might get overwhelmed with uninvited changes, kinda like a BBQ running out of food because of crashers. Scope control keeps things in check, ensuring everyone gets their burger without burning your resources. Party on and stay in control!

Scope control can be rough in a fast-evolving industry. The project goals established to achieve the customer's vision initially might be quickly overshadowed by some new trend, or a vulnerability, that will end up costing the customer time and money if ignored or if the project doesn't evolve too. This is why I recommend agile method or small timeline projects. The last thing you want is a 2 year timeline to implement technology that is obsolete or bought out before project completion

In IT, I've tried practicing to maintain scope management plan in order to maintain scope baseline and avoid scope creep. Scope control gets ensured by the scope management plan. Although change control process gives a holistic view to the project owner & stakeholders avoiding scope creep, schedule & budget issue are considerable factors for any change. Scope control is inversely proportional to change control in an IT project, irrespective of approach & methodology. Project approach being predictive or adaptive depends on the scope control. In development approach, product scope control can be practiced ensuring minimal change.

We were working on a campaign to promote a product. During the campaign, the marketing manager suggests adding a live webinar to engage with potential customers directly. Scope verification ensures that this new webinar idea is properly documented and communicated to all team members. Scope control then steps in to evaluate the impact of this change. This could involve considering factors like setting up the webinar platform, preparing content, and coordinating the logistics. Once everyone agrees on the adjustments and understands the implications, the team can proceed with adding the live webinar to the campaign. This way, the project stays on track and any changes are managed effectively.

Health, Safety, and Environmental Considerations: Outline safety protocols, environmental protection measures, and any community engagement efforts.

In my experience in construction, project scope include the sustainability and net zero requirements for the project, how green is the building to build / and operate - embodied and operational carbon requirements. In addition to social value targets.

Scope change management helps to manage the scope changes by properly evaluating and approving the same. This enforcement leads to proper approvals and documentation of the changes done. There by less chances of scope creep to happen.

In the manufacturing industry; depending on the sector, precise industry standards as well as custom customer requirements must be understood. A project once cost us six figures in rework because we neglected to review the customer’s specifications that went over and beyond industry standards. While building a couple of pumps for a particularly strict customer, the wear rings required three tack welds per standard. The customer required four tacks. When the customer arrived to inspect, they saw the the missing tacks and proceeded to do an unnecessary and expensive strip inspection of the pumps. It turned a routine wear ring inspection into a two week long fiasco!

The article rightly underscores the need to tailor project scope to specific industry demands. In Managed Cybersecurity and cloud migration, precision and adaptability are most critical. Aligning scope with compliance standards and addressing industry-specific threats is crucial in Managed Cybersecurity, while in cloud migration, assessing risks is key. Customizing scope to industry nuances, ensuring clear and crisp communication, and staying adaptable are fundamental for project success.

Its equally important to define and align on scope exclusion. This manages expectations and going through the exercise of listing out exclusions can help identify gaps in the scope statement, which now becomes relatively easier to rectify.

Beware the "unknown unknown." These are severely hidden problems usually exposed in the field after traditional development is completed. How can one find unknown unknowns? I recommend going early to the field with pre-development models specifically to uncover these types of unknowns while there is still time left in the development schedule to correct the problem. If you don't carefully look for unknown unknowns, I guarantee you won't find them!

It is crucial to learn from previous projects: History is the best teacher, and you can learn many insights and best practices from past assignments hiccups and successes. Make sure you do a retrospective on all of your projects and records your findings.

It is important to also define what is out of scope and not only what is in scope. This helps to achieve a common understanding.

Scope changes are as constant as the sun coming up the next day. Any project requiring discovery yields data that changes future work. Better to define (like a lawyer) the scope one level of abstraction above and structure your budgets accordingly.