What is the project scope?
Scope is the work required - and only the work required - to complete the project successfully.
Scope is the work required – and only the work required – to complete the project successfully as defined by the Project Management Institute. Scope is also the product or service offered by the contractor and accepted in writing by the owner. The same applies for internal clients or business improvement projects within the same organization.
Performing poor work or less than required to complete the project is a unsuccessful project, and performing more or significantly better than required is “gold plating”. One way to look at this is to consider to scope everything that is required to achieve the project’s final purpose or objective as originally envisioned or required by the owner.
Scope must be clearly understood
Project scope often goes through many changes
Because the scope often goes through many changes before consolidated and awarded, it is even more important to confirm the final scope in any contract. After the contract is awarded, the scope can be added or removed by means of written change requests. But it is essential for managers and supervisors in the field to clearly understand the scope.
Project Scope vs Product Scope
Delivery of result (project) vs features and functions of the delivered result (product).
From a project management perspective, scope can be referred to as product scope or project scope as defined below:
Project Scope
Project scope is the work required to deliver a product, a specific service, or any deliverable result with specific features or functions. Usually the project scope is an all encompassing definition and includes the product scope.
Product Scope
Product scope encompasses specific features and functions that characterize a product, service or result. Examples are: product paint specifications, minimum and maximum capacity of equipment, required point of efficiency, etc.
Some projects can become extremely challenging when the owner, engineering and prime contractor do not have a clear understanding of the project nor the product scope. This scenario can lead to a particularly common situation where a project is being awarded based on minimal information, but once started the project, the scope keeps continuously expanding and creeping beyond any expectations to such a point where the awarded contract no longer reflects the original conception of the project.
In the lessons learned section I will expand on some of the most common issues leading to possible catastrophic project outcomes due to insufficient or ineffective project scope management.
