3582277191

Developing a Complete Project Scope Statement in 2 Days Paul Burek. CEO, JADCore, LLC

Abstract

Through our cxpcricncc working wilh projcct tcams in many Industries on hundreds of projccts. wc rccognizc that although Project Managcrs and projcct tcams may understand the theory and valuc of dcvcIoping a Project Scope Statement. many do not havc viablc tools. tcchniqucs or proccsscs forcrcating a one. Unfortunatcly. Project Managcrs may attempt to writc the Project Scope Statement on thcir own or assign this effort to a team member. Often. they movc forward with a scope statement complctcd by one person or routc the scope statement to other stakcholdcrs sccking input. buy-in. or approval. This proccss can takc wccks and usually rcsults in missing portions of kcy Information necdcd to cffcctivcly manage scope on the projcct. In this situation. Project Managcrs arc faccd with spending too much time trying to rccognizc and manage scope crccp duc to unclcar projcct boundarics. This paper illustratcs how to build a scope statement whilc gaining alignment from all projcct stakcholdcrs in a matterof days. The alignment gaincd in the scoping effort will carry through the remainder of the projcct. This paper presents corc conccpts to cffectively plan and run a scope statement workshop. using collaborativc JAD tcchniqucs, to build the necdcd scope outputs for a projcct.

Scope Management Overview

Project Scope Management mvo!vcs ensuring all of the rcquircd work and only the rcquircd work ncccssary to complete the projcct is accomplishcd (PMI. 2004. p 103). Any work that docs not support the nccds of the projcct is Out Of Scope and should not be performed. This conccpt sccms obvious. but unfortunatcly only 29% of projccts arc complctcd succcssfully. This mcans 71% of projccts cithcr fail outiight or arc “challcngcd" - complctcd ovcr budget. bchind schcdulc. or dclivcr fcwcr fcaturcs and functions ihan the Customer cxpcctcd (Standish Group. 2004).

The top 4 factors associatcd with projcct failurcs arc:

•    Poor lind-Uscr / Customer lnvolvcmcnt

•    Poor Executive Management Support

•    Improper Planning

•    Unclcar Statements of Rcquircmcnts

Facilitated Workshop Overview

JAD (Joint Application Design) workshops can cffcctivcly address poor lind-Uscr / Customer involvcmcnt. poor cxccutivc management support and unclcar statement of rcquircmcnts by incorporating collaborativc tcchniqucs. JAD workshops arc led by a ncutral Facilitator (i.c.. somconc without a stakc in the projcct) to engage all the appropnatc stakcholdcrs as participants in a workshop to make projcct dccisions and crcatc projcct dclivcrables.

JAD workshops must be fully planncd prior to conducting the workshop. Planning cnablcs the projcct management team and the Facilitator to agrcc on the scope dclivcrablcs and activitics for crcating thesc dclivcrablcs in the workshop. A standard Planning Tcmplatc and Facilitator's Agenda can save time preparing for the workshop and crcatcs consistcncy in the planning effort. The Facilitator conducts the workshop using collaborative tcchmqucs to collcct information. validatc this information and continually adjust it to ensure it is elear, complete and addresses the nccds of the projcct. The rcsults of facilitated JAD workshops arc consensus among workshop participants. ownership. and buy-in on all dccisions madę and all dclivcrablcs produccd.

The Project .Scope Statement Workshop

The Project Scope Statement providcs the documcntcd basis for making all projcct dccisions and is uscd to dircct the projcct effort and communicatc the projcct scope to the projcct team and other projcct stakcholdcrs. Projccts that do not havc a Project Scope Statement arc plagucd with scope crccp issues. When a projcct team crcatcs a Project

© 2006 Paul Burek    1

Originally published as part of 2006 PMI Global Congress Proceedings - Seattle Washington