Project Scope Management

See Chapter 5 in the PMBOK ® Guide.

Many students find this chapter boring but it is important to follow its recommendations before proceeding to the more exciting stuff in Time, etc. The Scope WBS is on Page 52.

1. Initiation
2. Scope Planning
3. Scope Definition
4. Scope Verification
5. Scope Change Control

Comments:

1. Note the definition of Initiation on page 53, the importance of getting authorization to proceed with a project or to continue to the next phase and of choosing the best projects. We believe that success often starts with killing or postponing less important projects to free up resources and float for the most important projects.
2. Note the outputs of Scope Planning in the PMBOK ® Guide, page 56.
3. The material in Section 5.3.2 is particularly valuable. We always try to break out by phase and deliverable as shown in Fig-3. We assign project management to each of the other phases to keep the whole team focused on the next deliverable and to get a good water-fall from left to right in the schedule. It is really important to avoid breaking out by functional groups, at least until you get down to lower levels in the WBS.
4. We put the scope statements and assumptions in the notes field of the project management software and cross reference to other documents.
5. We put new impact and change activities into our schedules to demonstrate any impacts, scope changes, etc. See bullets on PMBOK ® Guide, page 63. We are also great believers in performance reporting. See our PMMP Checklist and TWG Templates.