How to Scope your Projects

How to Scope your Projects

The "project scope" consists of all of the things that must be produced to complete a project. These 'things' are called deliverable and you need to describe them in depth as early in the project as possible, so everyone knows what needs to be produced. Take these 5 Steps to scope your projects:

Step 1: Set the Direction
Start off by setting the direction for the project. Do you have an agreed Project Vision, Objectives and Time frames? Are they specified in depth and has your customer agreed to them? Does everyone in the project team truly understand them and why they are important? Only by fixing the project direction can you truly fix the project scope.

Step 2: Scope Workshops
The best way to get buy-in to your project scope is to get all of the relevant stakeholders to help you define it. So get your project sponsor, customer and other stakeholders in a room and run a workshop to identify the scope. What you want from them is an agreed set of major deliverables to be produced by the project. You also want to know "what's out of scope".

Run the workshop by asking each stakeholder for a list of the deliverable they expect the project team to deliver. Take the full list of deliverable generated in the workshop and get them to agree on what's mandatory and what's optional. Then ask them to prioritize the list, so you know what has to be delivered first.

Step 3: Fleshing it out
You now have an agreed list of deliverable. But it's still not enough. You need to define each deliverable in depth. Work with the relevant people in your business to describe how each deliverable will look and feel, how it would operate and how it would be supported etc. Your goal here is to make it so specific that your customer cannot state later in the project that "when they said this, they really meant that".

Step 4: Assessing Feasibility
So you now have a detailed list and description of every deliverable to be produced by your project, in priority order and separated as mandatory / optional. Great! But is it feasible to achieve within the project end date? Before you confirm the scope, you need to review every deliverable in the list and get a general indication from your team as to whether they can all be completed before your project end date. If they can't, then which deliverables can you remove from the list to make your end date more achievable?

Step 5: Get the thumbs up
Present the prioritized set of deliverable to your Project Sponsor and ask them to approve the list as your project scope. Ask them to agree to the priorities, the deliverable descriptions and the items out of scope.

By getting formal sign-off, you're in a great position to be able to manage the project scope down the track. So when your Sponsor says to you in a few weeks time "Can you please add these deliverable to the list?", you can respond by saying "Yes, but I'll either have to remove some items from the list to do it, or extend the project end date. Which is it to be?". You can easily manage your Sponsors expectations with a detailed scope document at your side.

The scope document is the Project Manager's armor. It protects them from changes and makes them feel invincible!

- Uday Mahajan

How to Write a Project Proposal

How to Write a Project Proposal

1. Start with a Workshop

Start by getting the key sponsors, customers and team members together and running a workshop to identify what the requirements of the project are and the ideal solution is.

By running a workshop, it makes it much easier to set a Vision for the project so that you have a clear direction going forward. Without knowing the project requirements, solution and vision you have no chance of delivering your project successfully.

2. Define the Roadmap

You then need to create a roadmap for the project by creating a generic schedule that must be adhered to. In your schedule, include all of the high-level activities that need to be done as well as any key tasks that are critical to success. Then add due dates to the activities and tasks so that you know roughly what must be completed and by when.

This is a high level roadmap, not a detailed project plan so it should take you no more than a few hours to complete.

Then take the roadmap to your project sponsor or boss and get them to agree to it. Only once they have agreed should you proceed with the next step.

3. It's all about the deliverables:

Then take the solution that was agreed in the workshop and break it down into discrete deliverables with the theory that when all of the deliverables have been produced, your project will be complete.

Define those deliverables in a little depth, so that it's not easy for people to argue what they are, when the project kicks off in full.

Having well defined deliverables will help you manage the scope of the project, as well as introduce change control along the way.

4. Your Resources and Budget

You then need to identify the resources and budget that are needed to produce the deliverables you've identified above.

List all of the people, equipment and materials that you need (at a helicopter level) and once you've identify the cost of those resources, add those costs up to calculate your project "budget".

Most people like to add an extra 10-20% contingency to their budget, to allow for unexpected issues that may arise during the project.

5. Reporting and Ownership

It's critical that you clearly communicate the status of the project in a timely fashion when your project kicks off, so describe how you're going to do that.

Will you have regular team meetings, customer presentations and status reports manually, or will you rely on using an online system for your reporting needs?

And finally, list the key success criteria for the project so that everyone knows how success will be measured when the project is complete.

- Uday Mahajan.

How to Collaborate on Projects

Hi uday

To deliver on time, your team need to collaborate by working together. As the saying goes "No man is an island" so you must work together as a team to achieve a common goal. Read on to learn...

How to Collaborate on Projects

Give them a Common Purpose

The first step is to set the direction for the project by writing a Project Charter. This document describes the scope of the project, the goals to be met and the timeframes for delivery.

Present your Project Charter to your team over lunch, describing what it is that they must deliver and by when. Then you can ensure that "everyone is on the same page". Remember, collaboration is all about bringing individuals together to form a team. By giving them a common direction, you're already on the right track.

Pair them up to Work Together

Then write your Project Plan and assign multiple people to the same tasks where appropriate, pairing them up to work together.

That way, your team are forced to work together on common tasks, helping them to overcome any previous boundaries or communication difficulties.

Make sure people only do work that is "on the plan", so you can stay within scope. That way, your team won't fragment with different directions appearing all over the place. Remember you need to create "one boat, one team, all rowing in the same direction"!

Give them the Right Tools

Incentivize your team to work together by giving them a toolset that allows them to:

• Store all their files online in one place.
• Discuss project tasks, issues and timeframes
• Message one-another when they need to
• See each others activity so they know what's happening
• View tasks, calendars and plans online
  
  Promote Collaboration

Having a great tool set is certainly a step in the right direction. You also need to promote collaboration within your team personally. Reward and recognize great collaboration behavior when you see it. If you see team members communicating effectively online then reward them for it, in front of the team.

By giving your team a solid direction, the right tools at their fingertips and reinforcing great behavior, you can take a defragmented group of individuals and turn them on to the high performing team quickly.

So there you have it.

- Uday Mahajan