The characteristics and functions of a product, service or result.
project scope
The work that must be done to deliver a product, service, or result with specified features and functions.
scope creep
gilded
The project activities that project personnel do not solve practical problems and have no application value in order to "please" customers.
range creep
Scope creep refers to the continuous small and imperceptible scope changes proposed by customers. If they are not controlled, the accumulation will cause the project to seriously deviate from the established scope benchmark, leading to the project out of control and failure.
scope creep
Uncontrolled expansion of product or project scope without corresponding adjustments in time, cost, and resources.
Scope creep from within the team is called "gilding"
Scope creep from causes outside the team is called "scope creep"
If scope creep has already occurred, the change process also needs to be followed.
scope management plan
meaning
Describe how the project scope will be defined, developed, monitored, controlled and validated.
Scope Management Plan No Scope
A scope management plan helps reduce the risk of project scope creep (work authorization systems help prevent "gold plating")
Scope management plans (and all other management plans) can be detailed or general, and can be formal or informal.
contains content
Included for guidance:
How to develop a project scope statement;
How to create a WBS based on the scope statement;
Determine how to approve and maintain scope baselines;
How to identify and formally accept completed project deliverables;
Describe how requirements are analyzed, documented and managed throughout the project lifecycle (requirements management plan does not require requirements)
Contains content✅
How to plan, track, and report various demand activities;
demand-related training programs;
Configuration management activities (how to initiate changes; how to analyze their impact; how to trace, track and report; change approval authority);
Requirements prioritization process;
Metrics to be measured and the rationale for using them;
Reflect which requirements attributes will be included in the tracking matrix;
Role (instructable)✅
How to develop a project scope statement;
How to create a WBS based on the scope statement;
Determine how the scope baseline will be approved and maintained;
How to identify and formally accept completed project deliverables;
Gather Requirements—Tools and Techniques
Interview (McKinsey method)
meaning
Gain information by talking directly with stakeholders. Typically, respondents are asked preset and impromptu questions and their responses are recorded.
Classification
Structured
Prepare a series of questions in advance and conduct them in a targeted manner;
unstructured
Only a rough idea is listed, and it will be developed according to the specific situation of the interview.
Key words
Direct chat, preset and off-the-cuff questions, deep dive, one-on-one, one-on-many, access to confidential and sensitive information
focus group
meaning
A trained moderator leads an interactive discussion with pre-selected stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs). Participants in the focus group are often people with the same function, the same field, or people with similar background conditions
Key words
Same function, same field, similar background, subject matter expert (SME), moderator, interactive discussion
guide
meaning
Use in conjunction with keynote workshops to bring key stakeholders together to define product requirements through focused discussions (requires moderator as well)
Key words
Cross-functional, different departments, coordinate stakeholder differences, joint application development JAD, quality function deployment, user stories (agile)
Questionnaire
meaning
Design a series of written questions to quickly gather information from a large number of respondents.
Key words
Diverse audience, fast completion, low cost, geographically dispersed, suitable for statistical analysis
observe
meaning
See directly how individuals perform work and implement processes in their environment.
Key words
Direct observation, difficulty or unwillingness to articulate, dig out hidden needs
prototyping
meaning
Solicit early feedback on requirements by creating a working mockup before actually building the product.
step
1. Model creation; 2. User experience; 3. Feedback collection; 4. Prototype modification;
Comparing actual or planned practices with those of comparable organizations within or outside the industry in order to identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement, and provide a basis for performance review.
Key words
Comparing organizations, internal and external, identifying best practices, forming suggestions for improvement, and providing a basis for performance appraisal
Brainstorming
meaning
(BrainStorming, BS, Intellectual Motivation, Free Thinking, Brainstorming) - Simply collect ideas without analyzing and voting or ranking.
Key words
Speak freely, simply collect, as much as possible, inspire as much as possible
in principle
The principle of out-of-court judgment (no questioning, no analysis, no criticism, no objection), pursuit of quantity, expressing one's own opinions, free expression, exploring ways to learn from each other and improve;
nominal group
meaning
Facilitate brainstorming by voting the most useful ideas for further brainstorming or prioritization.
Nominal group techniques can enable even less vocal participants to fully express themselves.
Key words
vote, sort
mind Mapping
meaning
The ideas obtained from the brainstorming are integrated into a picture, which reflects the commonalities and differences among the ideas and stimulates new ideas.
Key words
Integrate, reflect commonality and differences, inspire new ideas, pay equal attention to graphics and text
Affinity graph
meaning
(Affinity Diagram, KJ Method): Ideas obtained from brainstorming are grouped according to similarity for further review and analysis.
Key words
Grouping, helpful for WBS formulation
Multicriteria Decision Analysis
meaning
(e.g. priority matrix): With the help of a decision matrix, a system analysis method is used to establish a variety of criteria, which can be used to identify key issues and suitable alternatives, and evaluate and rank many alternatives through a series of decisions.
Key words
Multiple criteria, weighting, evaluation, sorting
Delphi technique
meaning
An information-gathering technique that organizes consensus among experts on a topic.
Experts answer questionnaires and give feedback for each round, with expert responses only given to the moderator to maintain anonymity.
Is a description of the project scope, key deliverables, assumptions, and constraints. The entire scope is documented, including project and product scope.
The project scope statement details the project deliverables and also represents the consensus among project stakeholders on the project scope.
In order to facilitate the management of stakeholder expectations, the project scope statement can clearly indicate which work is not within the scope of the project.
content ✅
Product range description
Gradually refine the characteristics of the product, service, or outcome described in the project charter and requirements document
Deliverables
Any unique and verifiable product, result or service capability that must be produced. Also includes supporting outputs such as project management reports and documents
Acceptance Criteria
A set of conditions that must be met before a deliverable can pass acceptance.
Item Exclusions
Clarifying what is outside the scope of the project helps manage stakeholder expectations and reduces scope creep
WBS decomposition
Steps ✅
1. Identify and analyze deliverables and related work;
2. Determine the structure and layout method of WBS;
3. Decompose layer by layer from top to bottom;
4. Develop and assign identification codes for WBS components;
5. Verify that the degree of decomposition of deliverables is appropriate
Points to note ✅
1. WBS must be deliverable-oriented;
2. WBS must conform to the scope of the project (100% principle);
3. The bottom layer of WBS should support planning and control; (80-hour principle);
4. The elements in the WBS must be responsible for, and only one person is responsible for (the principle of independent responsibility)
5. WBS should be controlled at 4-6 layers ( guidance of 4-6 layers);
6. WBS should include project management work as well as subcontracted work;
7. The preparation of WBS requires the participation of all (main) stakeholders;
8. WBS is not static (rolling decomposition principle);
range benchmark
meaning
The approved project scope statement, WBS, WBS dictionary, which can only be changed through a formal change control procedure, is used as a basis for comparison.
Include
scope statement
Product range description
Acceptance Criteria
Deliverables
Item Exclusions
WBS
work package
planning package
control account
WBS Dictionary
account code identification number;
work description;
responsible organization;
List of progress milestones;
related schedule activities;
resources needed;
Cost Estimate;
Quality requirements;
Acceptance Criteria;
technical references;
protocol information
Confirmation scope
Steps ✅
1. Determine the time when scope confirmation is required;
2. Identify the scope and confirm what inputs are needed;
3. Determine the criteria and elements for the formal acceptance of the scope;
4. Determine the organizational steps of the scope confirmation meeting;
5. Organization scope confirmation meeting;
Questions to check✅
1. Whether the deliverables are definite and verifiable;
2. Whether each deliverable has a clear milestone;
3. Whether there are clear quality standards;
4. Whether the review and commitment are clearly expressed;
5. Does the project scope cover all activities of the product or service that need to be completed;
6. Whether the risk of the project scope is too high;
Stakeholders' concerns✅
1. Management (focusing on the scope of the project) - the impact of the scope on the progress, funds and resources of the project, whether these factors exceed the scope of the organization, and whether the input and output are reasonable;
2. Customer (focus on product scope) - whether the deliverables of the project are sufficient to complete the product or service;
3. Project management personnel (focusing on project constraints)-whether the time and funds are sufficient, and the main potential risks;
4. Project team members (focus on the elements they are involved in and responsible for)-whether there is conflict in the work and whether the time is sufficient;
