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The Scope Checklist: An Innovative Approach to Scoping Your Next Project Presented by Barbara A. Carkenord, CBAP®, PMP®, PMI-ACP®, PMI-PBASM

RMC Project Management, Inc.

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Our Agenda

• What Are the Barriers to Scoping?

• Using the Scope Checklist to Address the Barriers

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Buying a Home

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History of Scope Techniques

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Tools/Techniques

• Business case• Project charter• Statement of work• Change request• Product vision• Product roadmap• Agile charter• Product backlog• Context diagram• Use case diagram

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Context Diagram

Home Buyer Purchase App

MLS(Multiple Listing

Services)

INSURANCE AGENT

BUYING AGENT MORTGAGE ORIGINATOR

CLOSING ATTORNEY

Offe

rResponse to O

ffer Document

Requirements

Documents

Closing Date

and Time

Proof of Insurance

Insuran

ce

Policy

Prop

erty

Ad

dres

s

Homes for Sale

Search Criteria

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Barriers to Scoping

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Why Is Scoping So Difficult?

PEOPLE

PROCESS TOOLS/TECHNIQUES

Tools/Techniques are not easy

Tools/Techniques are expensiveNo standard process

Process is expensive

People don’t know the process

People don’t understand why we do it

People don’t know what “scope” is

Difficult to imaginethe solution

Business stakeholders have to makelots of decisions

People don’t liketheir ideas to be scrutinized

People don’t like to find out they can’t get what they want

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How Can We Improve Scoping?

People• Education: What is it, why should we do it?• Communications: Benefits, process

Process• Collaboration• Checklist

Practice

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1. People Don’t Know the Process

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Scoping = Analysis

• Asking questions

• Envisioning solutions

• Considering costs and impacts

• Evaluating options

• Assessing estimated benefits

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2. People Don’t Know What “Scope” Is

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What Is Scope?

• Product

• Solution

• Context

• ProjectBusiness Context

Solution ScopeProject Scope

Product Scope

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What Type of Scope?

Are you …

• Building a product?

• Creating a new service?

• Changing a business process?

• Changing technology?

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3. Business Stakeholder Haveto Make Lots of Decisions

• Where does the solution end?

• Which needs are most important?

• How should the solution work?

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Solution IdeaSolution Idea

Document vs. Discuss

Cost/Benefit?

Human Impacts?

Risks?Feasibility?

Long Term Implications?

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Facilitating Discussions About Scope

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4. People Don’t Understand Why We Scope

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Why So Many Project Failures?

Many projects fail because:

1. Organization picks the wrong project(s) to fund

2. Project team picks the wrong solution

3. Project team doesn’t get clear agreement on the scope

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How Can the Checklist Help?

• Project selection: Shows quickly which project to fund

• Solution selection: Can help identify unexplored solution issues/ramifications

• Scope creep: Can help the team fill in holes before getting started

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5. People Don’t Like Their Ideas to Be Scrutinized

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Stakeholder Concerns

How does each key stakeholder feel about the idea?

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Asking Questions Can Be Dangerous

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6. People Don’t Want to Find Out They Can’t Have Something They Want

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Dealing with Disappointment or Rejection

• What if the idea is bad?

• What if the product is too costly or complex?

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How Should Projects Get Started?

Request for Work (aka Business Need)

Business Analysis

Solution(Scope, Vision, Business Case)

Prioritize Against Other Requests

Project Approval and Funding

Project Planning

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Project Initiation

Solution Idea (Solution scope)

Project Plans (Project scope)

Business Need (Problem,

opportunity, or constraint)

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Using a Checklist

• Re-use a list of components which have proven useful in the past

• Write specific questions

• Quickly assess how much the team knows about the solution

• Develop a to-do list for needed work

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Business Analysis Core Concepts Model®

Source: BABOK® Guide V3 for Public Review. BABOK guide is a registered mark of the International Institute of Business Analysis

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Solution Scoping Checklist

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Try It

32 Continued on next slide

Try It

Answer: Yes, No, or ?1. Do you understand the problem to be solved?

2. Has a business case been documented?

3. Do you know who will be affected by the change?

4. Do you know who will build or implement the change?

5. Are there technical constraints on the design?

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Try It (Continued)

6. Will the product be provided to external customers?

7. Will business processes be affected?

8. Are current processes well understood?

9. Are there security or safety issues?

10. Are there interfaces to existing systems?

Are you done?

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Try It (Continued)

Answer Count Percentage

Yes 4 40% These items are known

No 4 40% This items may need research

?? 2 20% These items needresearch and discussion

Example Tally

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Using the Checklist

• Answer the questions yourself based on your knowledge to get a baseline

• Conduct a scoping workshop with key stakeholders and discuss key questions

• Answer the checklist again and estimate the work involved to finalize it

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Using the Checklist to Estimate

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It Works!

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Recommendations

• Always indicate the type of scope (project, product, solution, other)

• Research as much as you can before you start asking questions

• Add to the checklist as you use it

• Don’t ask all of the checklist questions at once!

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My Solution Scope

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Questions?

info@rmcproject.com • 952.846.4484 • www.rmcproject.com

Visit Barbara + RMC at Booth #401

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