Project Scope and Context
As you read, consider the importance of a clear scope statement in avoiding scope creep throughout the project.
Summary
- Project initiation is about laying the groundwork for the entire project. Although initiation marks the official beginning of a project, it involves looking into the future, envisioning the project's entire life cycle, which includes the making stage, the operating/using/changing stage, and the retirement/reuse stage. Even in the more traditional way of looking at project management, the phases of project management usually overlap and often entail looking back at the documents compiled during the initiation phase.
- These documents created during initiation typically provide a high-level view of the project. They include the project charter, the scope statement, and the business case. As you create these documents, you should be thinking ahead to creating the following items during the planning phase: work breakdown structure (WBS), organizational breakdown structure (OBS), work package, and the responsibility assignment matrix (RAM).
- Experienced project managers know that you need to start fast by defining what "success" means for your project and determining how to measure it. Success means different things in different industries. For example, in capital projects, the total cost of ownership (the total of direct and indirect costs related to the construction and use of a building) is crucial to determining whether or not a building is a success. Be as specific as possible when defining success for your project, without going into needless detail. Traditional project managers tend to define success in terms of completing a project on time and within budget. But Lean presumes a more expansive definition of success – one that prioritizes eliminating waste and maximizing value, and in the process building customer loyalty that will extend to as yet unforeseen projects. In Agile, success means delivering working software after each sprint, and, ultimately, delivering as much working software as the schedule and budget will allow.
- A well-defined project charter defines the project's goals, which in turn dictate the overall organization, schedule, personnel, and, ultimately, the work that will be accomplished.
- Of the three constraints on project management – scope, budget, and schedule – scope is the most difficult to pin down. Except for the simplest projects, any scope definition will almost certainly evolve as you learn more about the project and the customer's needs. The term scope evolution refers to changes that all stakeholders agree on, and that are accompanied by corresponding changes in budget and schedule. Ultimately, the definition of scope is based on what the customer wants, but sometimes you'll need to guide the customer toward a definition of the project's scope because the customer might not know what is possible. Take the time to articulate the scope carefully in the form of a scope statement. After you create a scope statement, refer to it regularly to avoid the unauthorized changes known as scope creep.
- A project's scope is determined by the kind of problem you're trying to solve. Technical problems have clear-cut solutions – the kind engineers are traditionally trained to provide. With adaptive problems, things are less clear, with no definite consensus on how to proceed, and with any solution guaranteed to challenge stakeholders' values and beliefs. Some problems are a mix of both.
- All projects occur within multiple contexts – within an organizational context (both yours and the customer's), a market context, a technical context, and a social context. All of these can change over the life of a project, and in the permanent whitewater of the modern business world, they probably will. A project will necessarily evolve as the project's context changes. Your job as a project manager is to be on the lookout for externalities that can affect a project's context.