A Project Manager works day in and day out to ensure the stages involved in the project’s completion (i.e. initiation to completion) can be carried out smoothly. The major objective is to ensure that the project doesn’t exceed the allocated budget and specified timeline. However, regardless of proper planning, Project Managers find it daunting to accomplish this goal.
The project’s scope is bound to witness at least a few changes during the project’s lifecycle, even if the plans are discussed in advance with the stakeholders. Approximately 52% of projects are impacted by scope creep, which poses a huge challenge for project managers.
Project scope management is a major factor in preventing problems that occur because of scope creep since it provides a means for documentation of all the elements of the project to reach the end objective.
What is Project Scope Management?
The major elements involved in the project’s planning process, such as project tasks, deadlines, budgets, goals, and deliverables, are documented in the project scope management. During the project’s lifecycle, a large-sized project is bound to undergo several modifications.
When the scope of a project is defined clearly and in detail in the initial phase of the project, it enables Project managers to induce necessary changes and manage project teams easily.
Overview of the Project Scope
According to the PMBOK®, the Project Scope lists down the tasks that should be completed to deliver a service, outcome, or product. The outcome delivered should align with the predefined functions and features. When defining a scope, factors such as the client’s expectations and the project’s requirements are taken into consideration. The scope comprises the following:
- Exclusions
- Project assumptions
- Project constraints
- Project objectives
- Project deliverables
The Project Scope Management involves the three below-mentioned procedures:
Planning
In the planning phase, the project management team has to make a list of all the tasks that should be accomplished in the future.
Controlling
Tasks like tracking documentation, scope creep, and approving or disapproving any modifications in the project are included in the controlling phase.
Closing
Eventually, the final outcome is compared to the original plan to find out any deviations.The project deliverables are audited and assessed in the closing phase.
Why is Project Scope Management Important?
One of the common challenges faced by a Project Manager is to meet the expectations of clients and stakeholders. To ensure the project stays within the budget and deadline throughout its entire life cycle, it’s pivotal to have a well-defined project scope in place.
An appropriate project scope management process helps Project Managers to avoid the following problems:
- Dealing with regular changes or changing requirements
- Reviewing the discussed budget time and again
- Make new changes in the project’s direction after it’s half done
- Failure to deliver outcomes within the specified deadline
- Concluding that the outcome cannot meet the expectations
Scope management is necessary for streamlining the process of project management in the long run. By implementing the scope management process, project teams will be able to estimate the amount of money, labour, and time required to complete the project. Scope is a critical element in project management that helps to control factors that are likely to undergo changes throughout the project life cycle. Lead Scrum teams with confidence- register for the PSM training.
Tips to manage project scope effectively
- It’s important to keep your scope clear, precise, and well-defined. A confusing or ambiguous project scope can increase the burden and stress.
- Make sure to come up with a Work Breakdown Structure. It will divide the scope statement into small and manageable tasks.
- Prevent the scope document from getting altered at the time of project execution. It prevents the scope from exceeding what was initially intended.
- Make sure the scope definition process is carried out through proper collaboration. It mitigates the chances of misinterpretation of project needs. It’s important to foster transparent communication among project teams with the help of project collaboration tools. Master Agile software development with our CSD certification.
- Finally, when defining the project scope, it’s essential to communicate with important stakeholders, as the scope cannot be altered once it’s finalized.
Conclusion
Your team can handle the project’s entire work in an effective way once a defined project scope has been laid down. Although the process of implementing project scope management is not challenging, it requires a great deal of patience, effort, and time.
Investing in proper Scope Management is a game changer for the project team as it will allow them to deliver the final product within the specified budget and time. Most importantly, it helps project teams to meet the user’s expectations.