As a project manager, you have the responsibility to collaborate with your stakeholders to understand what are the scope and constraints of the project for yourself and your team. Being able to get all the information you need from the stakeholders is important to create clear and concise scopes and constraints for your project. This blog post will be going into the benefits of having a well-defined scopes and constraints for your project and what effective practices will help you accomplish these task.¹

Project Scope Management

Project Scope Management is the multiple processes involved when you meet with stakeholders to define what the project is going to be about, what are the unique features, what should it not include, and other features that the stakeholders would want from the project.

Graphic courtesy of whizlabs

Of the multiple process that are a part of the project scope management, we will be going into the processes involved with the project scope and constraints. Planning scope management which is defining the project scope and requirements. Defining scope is the process of reviewing the documentation such as: scope management plan, project charter, and other relevant documents that are needed to create the scope statement. These are some of the main processes in project scope management when you are defining the scope and constraints of a project.

The Significance of Defining Project Scope and Constraints:

1. Clarity and Alignment: By defining the project scope, you make sure that everyone who is a part of the project are on the same page about the requirements of the project, what is its purpose, what will the project do, the features that make the project unique, among other expectations about the project. This is one of the processes that a project manager will need to go through so the team won’t have misunderstandings or experience scope creep.

2. Risk Mitigation: Projects are constrained by scope, time, and cost and if it is not clearly defined in the beginning it will result in complications further down the road that can result in projects being canceled. Statistically speaking, almost half of all projects made in one year alone was canceled by teams unable to be within the constraints of their projects, sponsors canceling their funding for the project, time constraint was not met, and other reasons.² Given these reasons, it is important to define your constraints so you can develop risk mitigation tactics and develop strategies to keep your project within your constraints.

3. Resource Optimization: Combining these two definitions for your projects allows you to distribute your resources efficiently. This results in personnel used in a optimized fashion to complete their tasks, clear view on the spending for your project, and the correct tools or technology needed for your project goals.³

As you can see, defining the project scope and constraint gives your team and you as a project manager a clear understanding on how you should proceed with the project to complete your stakeholders requirements. Personally, getting the information required to begin the project cannot be done in a day, nor is it recommended, as various amounts of time and effort is required to complete each project. Each projects are unique in their purpose, features, and audience they are trying to reach. Although it may seem efficient to complete your project goals as fast as possible, it will only leave complications in the future if the project constraints and scope are not defined clearly.

The Best Practices for Defining Project Scope and Constraints

1. Engage with Stakeholders: When engaging with stakeholders it is important to take into consideration with the variety of opinions who are a part of the project and make sure that everyone is on the same page to prevent any miscommunication or misunderstanding behind the project scopes and constraints.

Graphic courtesy of ksapa

1. Document Everything: As you progress through your project, you will notice the gradual increase of clarity on your project scope and what you need to do to complete your project goals. It is important that you document every sprint or process that occurs, this will be your reference point throughout your project life cycle.¹

2. Prioritize Requirements: Categorize the requirements based on the stakeholders priorities of what the project should have or what should be the main features for the project. There needs to be some critical elements in the project that gives it meaning or purpose, so you are not distracted with the extra information that could change your project.

3. Set Clear Sprint Goals: While you are scheduling your project and planning out how much time you are going to spend during your project scope management processes, it would be to your benefit that you have goals in place to what you are going to achieve within a given timeframe and what you expect to be completed. Be specific!³

4. Regularly Review and Adjust: The best practice throughout a project life cycle is to regurlarly check with the stakeholders of the project. Project scopes or constraints can change at any stage of the project scope management processes so it is important to make the proper adjustments to the project scope or constraints due to circumstances or stakeholders needs.

5. Communication is Key: Extensive discussion is required during all the processed of project scope management between you and your team with your client, company, or other various organizations that will become a part of your project. The project is for your client and if their needs cannot be met will more often than not result in the contract termination between your company and client.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we talked about the significance of having clear, concise scopes and constraints, for they are the foundation of a good project. Without proper information, the project will not be able to satisfy your client and all parties involved with the project will be left with a sour taste in their mouth. So, project managers by following the six practices you will witness the growing number of projects completed in your portfolios or resumes and all parties involved will be satisfied from your practices.

I hope this blog post was useful and interesting as it was to me to learn more about project scope management.

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