Project Scope Management Tips

by Project Management Process Group

1. Plan Scope Management

• Measurement of Completion of Scope.
  • Completion of product scope is measured against the product requirement.
  • Completion of project scope is measured against the project management plan.
• Meetings. Meetings are important tools both to gather and distribute technical information and to build a high-performing team.
• Product Scope Vs. Project Scope. Product scope is measured against the product requirements and defined before the project scope. Project scope is measured against the project plan and defined after the product scope.
• Scope Management Plan. The Scope Management Plan documents how scope will be identified, managed, and controlled but it does not contain the project scope itself.

2. Collect Requirements

• Functional Requirements Vs. Nonfunctional Requirements. Functional requirements describe the intended behavior we want from the product – i.e., new features, bug fixes, and new or different behavior.  Nonfunctional requirements refer to elements that are related to the product but do not describe the product directly – e.g., performance, reliability, ease of use, and so forth.
• Joint Application Design (JAD) Sessions. A JAD is a facilitated workshop that brings together end users and development team to define requirements for application design/development.

3. Define Scope

• Iterative Life Cycle. In a project split up into iterations, a detailed scope is developed at the start of every iterative life cycle, not upfront.

4. Create WBS

• Missing WBS. Without WBS, a project manager cannot complete the planning processes of the project. Therefore, if the PMP exam poses a scenario where the WBS is missing and asks what you should do, you must stop and create the WBS. This is the only exception to the general rule that, if something is missing, it is acceptable to continue with the project and fill the void in the interim, to let the project keep going.

5. Validate Scope

• Products, Services, or Results for Inspection. Every completed project deliverable – or group of deliverables – presented to the customer or sponsor should be inspected, including all project management documents and everything produced by the project team.

6. Control Scope

• Project Management Plan. If the PMP exam mentions the project management plan as input for a process, the execution of multiple subsidiary plans is implied.
• Variance Analysis. Whenever the PMP exam mentions variance analysis as a tool in a process, you need to consider the corresponding baseline that is being checked for the variance.

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