Project scope statements: 4 steps to set your project up for success

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In today's issue, I'm going to show you how you can create a project scope statement in 4 simple steps.

An effective scope statement explains how the requirements of the project will be met. It translates benefits into deliverables and explains what is considered in and out of scope.

Unfortunately, most scope statements contain one or more of these 3 common mistakes:

1. Include too much details

2. Too vague and/or technical

3. Don't identify what is out of scope

The result?

Stakeholders with different expectations, scope creep, and a failed project.

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Bad scope statements kill projects & careers.

How do you make a project manager shiver?

2 words: scope creep.

Scope creep is when your project's requirements slowly expand during execution, without a matching change in schedule and budget. According to the Project Management Institute, over 50% of all projects experience scope creep.

Fortunately, scope creep can be prevented with a clear scope statement that explains what will be delivered, and what is not included in the project. Let's build one step by step:

Step 1: Start with the project purpose and benefits

As we discussed last week, everything starts with why.

Take the purpose, your project benefits, and high-level requirements from your project initiation document (PID).

Combined, these three parts describe what your end product should look like, what it needs to be capable of, and what its characteristics are.

Your project scope describes what work you will perform to meet those requirements.

Work backward to determine what the deliverables (outcomes) of your project have to be. Remember:

• Output: work done

• Outcome: result of the output

• Benefit: the advantage or improvement

Once you have a good idea of the deliverables, move on to step 2.

Step 2: Build the scope with your team

Now it's time to include your broader team. With your high-level deliverables identified, go through them one by one with your team and list what elements the deliverable consists of. These are the steps you'll take to get to each deliverable.

This does not mean that you have to know every design detail yet. The elements you list here will form the basis for making your budget & timeline, and you'll do the actual design as part of the execution.

The level of detail depends on the complexity and size of your project. As a rule of thumb, each element of a deliverable should be simple enough to estimate cost and time spent, be completed by one party (person, team, subcontractor, etc.), and take 2 weeks or less.

Make sure to write down your scope in plain English. This is not the place for technical language and design details - every stakeholder should clearly understand what you mean. Use visuals, schemes, or tables when necessary.

Simplify without dumbing down.

Let's say your mom's flower shop needs a new website. She doesn't care about technology, but has given you clear benefits and she's explained why she needs a new website. You translate that into the following deliverables, which you can plan and make a budget for:

Step 3: State what's out of scope

Just as important as defining what you're going to build, is clearly describing what you will not deliver. This may seem obvious, but it's often overlooked.

Involve your team, and use these two prompts to start the conversation:

1. What will directly touch (physically or digitally) your deliverables? Are you providing this, or will someone else do this? Top tip for IT: who sets up integrations and interfaces?

2. Put yourself in the shoes of the end user: what will they expect to be there based on the benefits that you will not provide? From content on a website to carpets in an office building - use your imagination.

Back to your mom's flower shop website. Will you build an interface with her POS system? Provide the copywriting & photos? Establish SEO ranking?

Top tip: out-of-scope elements leads to assumptions, which form a starting point for your risk identification later on in the project plan!

Step 4: Test with your stakeholders

Next up, you need to present your scope of work to your stakeholders. Start with the executive sponsor, and slowly expand your circle. Expect some back & forth here - everyone has a different perception of what you'll deliver.

Don't rush this part. Every small thing you can iron out in an hour now will save you weeks down the road. Getting everyone aligned on the deliverables and the definition of done is setting yourself up for success.

In conclusion

Every project deserves a good scope statement that sets your team up for execution success. It aligns stakeholders and provides a north star for your decision-making and change requests.

Your job as project manager is to bridge the gap between high-level benefits & requirements for the board room, and the technical detail that your team requires to get started.

Take these steps and remember: when in doubt, simpler is better. For smaller projects, this should be a few pages at most, while for billion-dollar infrastructure projects it can be thousands of pages. Your mileage will (hopefully) vary!

Thanks for reading!

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That's it for this week - until next Tuesday!

Cheers,Jasper