| Print | Back | Close |

Techniques for Defining Scope

The Define Scope process

The Define Scope process is what you use to arrive at a documented agreement about exactly what a project will include. It involves documenting objectives, deliverables, and requirements in enough detail to guide the rest of the project.

The Define Scope process occurs early in the planning stages – after you've developed the project charter and collected requirements, but before you create the WBS and perform processes related to planning the schedule. It involves progressive elaboration. This means refining and expanding on what you know so far, from the information you've gathered and the work you've done on the project.

You can think of the project charter and requirements as road signs pointing in the direction you need to head. Defining scope is more like a detailed map that includes what you'll see and do, what you'll leave out, and the precise coordinates a project must reach. It helps ensure stakeholders and the project team agree on exactly what product, service, or result the project will deliver, and becomes a basis for future decision-making.

The Define Scope process involves defining two types of scope:

1. product scope – Product scope refers to all the required characteristics of the product, service, or result that a project must deliver. It's measured against the requirements stakeholders set out for a product.
2. project scope – Project scope refers to all the work required to meet the project deliverables. It's measured against the project management plan. You can define project scope only once the project deliverables and the product scope are defined.

Product and project scope support each other. Throughout a project, you monitor the work done against the project management plan. This is how you ensure all the work done – the project's scope – stays on track to meet the requirements set out in the product scope.

Defining product scope means moving from requirements to detailed descriptions of a project's deliverables. Project scope is based on product scope. But it also involves examining and recording the assumptions, constraints, and risks that could affect the required work.

A fully defined project scope elaborates on conditions for a project's success. There are several factors that can affect these conditions:

• assumptions – An assumption is any idea held but not proven to be true. Defining scope involves identifying all assumptions and how they could affect a project.
• constraints – A constraint is anything that puts a limit on what can be achieved.
• risks – A risk is any potential circumstance that could affect the success of a project. This ties in with assumptions and constraints.

Techniques for Defining Scope

Before you can define scope, you need the scope management plan, the project charter, and requirements documentation. You also need any organizational process assets that can guide the process.

The Define Scope process has four inputs:

1. project charter – The project charter provides a high-level description of a project and of the product, service, or result it must deliver. It outlines basic requirements and expectations, assumptions, constraints, and risks. Defining scope involves elaborating on what's in the project charter.
2. requirements documentation – Requirements documentation identifies requirements the project must meet to satisfy expectations, and their relative importance. Defining scope involves moving from these requirements to more detailed ones that can guide all steps of a project.
3. organizational process assets – Organizational process assets can make the process of defining scope easier and more accurate.
4. scope management plan – The scope management plan provides guidance on which processes should be used to define the detailed product and project scope.

Tools and techniques for defining scope

Defining scope involves elaborating on what you know so far, to come up with a detailed description of what work a project will include and exactly what product, service, or result it must deliver.

There are four main tools and techniques you use to do this:

1. expert judgment
2. product analysis
3. alternatives generation
4. facilitated workshops

Defining product and project scope requires expert judgment, or judgment based on specialized knowledge. This is because it involves determining the implications of what's in the project charter and requirements documentation for the rest of a project.

Defining scope involves answering two main questions. What must a product or service's exact specifications be to meet all requirements, given constraints and assumptions? And what precisely must be done to deliver this product or service? It takes specialized knowledge to answer these questions. This knowledge can come from a variety of sources.

The next important tool in defining scope is product analysis. It's by analyzing a project's deliverables that you determine exactly what attributes and features they must have – in other words, the required product scope. Two remaining tools and techniques for defining scope are alternatives generation and facilitated workshops. These are related because they both involve encouraging creative thinking about the best ways to meet the requirements for a project and its deliverables.

There are two techniques that help define scope:

1. alternatives generation – Alternatives generation focuses on coming up with alternative ways that work can be done to meet requirements. It involves thinking creatively about different ways to meet the project deliverables.
2. facilitated workshops – An important purpose of the Define Scope process is to make sure all key stakeholders agree on project and product scope. In a facilitated workshop, you bring together cross-functional stakeholders – people whose interests in a project differ. You guide the group to think creatively to come up with solutions and then to reach consensus. You could use this technique to elaborate on what a product must be like or what work a project must include to meet requirements.

The Define Scope process involves defining what specifications a product, service, or result must have and what work must be performed to deliver it. This should be defined in enough detail to guide the rest of the project. Inputs for this process are the scope management plan, project charter, requirements documentation, and organizational process assets. Tools and techniques you use to define scope include expert judgment, product analysis, alternatives generation, and facilitated workshops.