Scope Management | A summary based on the lessons in Wrangling Squirrels

Project managers have a responsibility to ensure this because projects are at high risk of failure. Why? A quick search on the reasons projects fail will give you thousands of pieces of literature such as journals, books, blogs and other articles on the many possible reasons. Projects are filled with risk hazards such as incomplete requirements, changing requirements, unclear objectives, inconsistent expectations, and poor management practices.

 Looking at all these can seem overwhelming. But the best project managers know the secret on how to keep all these at a minimum to be successful in the pursuit of the project goal: the best way to do this is effective management of the project scope.

What is Project Scope? Project Scope is the output of the initial phase of the development of your project plan. Project scope is the sum of all the elements required in drafting the framework of your project. This includes goals, tasks, features, functions, deadlines, budget, other requirements, and the expected outcome. The scope is the skeleton of your project and the bones of the skeleton are the elements mentioned. When changes on the requirements of the project such as tasks, features, and other requests are created after the planning phase, they are identified as “out of scope” or cause scope change.

As a project manager, it is your responsibility to make sure that changes are aligned with objectives originally agreed upon in the planning phase and is on par with the expected overall outcome agreed on by the stakeholders.  Should the change requests be accepted and approved, document how resources and other critical elements will be affected. Communicate immediately to stakeholders and clearly define how the changes will be done and who will be doing them. Check if adjustments need to be made on the schedules and work tasks for your project team members. Update the project plan if needed. Be mindful to evaluate how any change in scope will affect the budget and costing aspects of your projects. Address the process for getting an additional payment for scope changes. Remember that scope change can affect almost every aspect of the project, leading to additional work or rework, thus costing additional time and money. Make sure that stakeholders are aware of this and ensure their accountability for additional costs that the change requests entail.

Ensure that communication is a two-way street
In managing scope change, timely and open communication is critical. Timely meaning quick and efficient, and open meaning transparent, accessible, and engaging. This does not involve only your team, but all stakeholders. Everyone involved, from top to bottom, should be informed of the project.

Having a working knowledge of the scope of the project enables everyone to perform his or her tasks with a clear understanding of what’s expected of them and why. However, communication does not stop at delivering and receiving the messages. Communication is most effective when it’s a two-way street. The engagement follows effectivity. Encourage your stakeholders to be as open to you. Give them the same respect you wish to be given when communicating the critical elements of the project.