project management triangle illustration on a colorful notesAs quoted in the PMBOK, project scope is the portion of project planning that requires determining “the work that needs to be accomplished to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions.” Scope Management consists of 3 different processes: planning, controlling and closing. To understand how to successfully manage scope, you must have a detailed understanding of these 3 facets:

Planning

This is the first step. It requires you to define and document a list of all of the work that needs to be completed.

 

Controlling

Once you know what needs to be done, you’ll have to monitor scope creep, approve and disapprove project changes and track all processes. If you’re unfamiliar with the term scope creep it is also commonly known as function or feature creep. Scope creep refers to all of the continuous growth of a project’s scope or the unforeseen and uncontrollable changes that may occur.

Closing

This is the final process, it requires an audit of the deliverables where you will have to assess the outcome and compare it to what you originally envisioned the final product to be like.

As a project manager you understand that you’ll often bounce back and fourth between different project methodologies. However, regardless of which you choose to use, you’ll need to define the project scope. Make sure you are able to identify all of the following:

  • Project goals

  • Working schedule

  • Project phases and sub-phases

  • Budget

Once this is done, you should move onto completing the following 2 steps:

Step 1: Know what you need

You want to be able to develop a project timeline and get all of the resources you’ll need. To do so you should first start off by defining these needs- in other words the scope. Once you have completed this, you’ll be able to allocate tasks to specific team members.

Step 2: Understand what your objectives are

If you want to have a well-defined scope, you’ll need to have a clear understanding of what you wish to achieve through the completion of this project. For instance, you may want to develop an enhanced product or a new service. Regardless, you’ll need to outline all of the central objectives you have for your project. And as a project manager, it will become your goal and role to make sure that team members continuously aim to achieve these objectives.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

The WBS is a very important component of Scope Management, however many project managers don’t realize this and choose to skip the step.  This can lead to developing inaccurate plans that create complications for the completion of the project. WBS is extremely useful because it allows project managers to break down their scope statements into small units of work that are much easier to manage. These units are frequently known as packages and the result of following the WBS is that you’ll have a list of all the work packages necessary to complete your project.

Advantage point

Being familiar with Scope Management and all of the concepts previously listed will absolutely provide you with numerous benefits. You’ll be able to manage your projects more successfully and with less uncertainty and risk of failure. However, even with the knowledge you’ve just attained, there is always the chance you’ll come across unexpected circumstances. While you can’t prevent this from occurring, you can prevent your business from crashing by depending on a strong project management tool like ITM Platform. ITM Platform has an abundance PM tools which will help you manage scope and decrease ambiguity, relieving you from unnecessary work and confusion. ITM Platform continuously guides you in the right direction by requiring you to follow the proper steps of establishing a scope: completely defining your scope, finalizing and distributing it to all team members with the help of an integrated communication system.

Scope Management is easy to implement but does require time and effort. The reason why ITM Platform would be so useful is because it aids in extending past human thinking and defining scope with little granularity.

Go to http://www.itmplatform.com to learn more and see how you can sign up for a free demo.

Top 5 most read blogs on ITM Platform:

The Monte Carlo Method in Project Management

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Three disastrous project management failures

The project in the face of adversity: what should a project manager do?

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Isidora Roskic-Blogger ITM Platform

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businessman running, clock, time, late“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”

The famous words spoken by Benjamin Franklin should be those which all project managers live by.  What’s the point of trying to exercise proper project management if you aren’t capable of finding the time needed to do so?  This is where time management comes into play.

Start off by assessing yourself before you do anything else. This will give you a good sense of whether or not you will need to change your current time management methods and what you can do to improve. Ask yourself how often you complete tasks before deadlines? Are you normally punctual or late? Do you ever leave things to last minute or feel as though you are running out of time?

The truth of the matter is that time is an extremely valuable resource to all project managers and is a terrible thing to waste. You want to be able to develop a strong reputation for yourself and never let down clients. As a project manager you aren’t only required to manage your own time but also the time of the entire team. Start off by creating a schedule that everyone can follow on a day-to-day basis. A simple scribble on a paper won’t do. Implement a project management software, such as ITM Platform, into the business. Great tools such as those provided by ITM Platform will assist you creating calendars with important deadlines and setting time limits for tasks. Furthermore, you can set reminders and check on the progress of your co-workers. This will help everyone maintain their focus and complete work on time.

Time management is best done when each of the following things are completed:

Defined Activities

Depending on the level of detail of a task, known as granularity, high-level tasks will first be broken down into different activities which will all be found in a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

Sequencing all of your Activities

The activities you just identified in the previous step will now be used to create an activity sequence. This is extremely important because it will allow you to execute tasks on time and in a specific order to stay organized and on time.

Resources necessary

This is when you will need to estimate the amount of resources required for the completion of each task. This step probably sounds very familiar and that’s because it is frequently listed as being crucial for project managers to do. The reason why is because the duration of the task depends on how many resources will be allocated. You’ll need to know all of this to be able to accurately manage your time.

Effort Estimation

Many companies will follow the WBS mechanism previously mentioned in order to estimate how much time and effort will be needed to complete tasks. After you feel as though you have fairly educated predictions you should identify your projects critical path. This will allow you to calculate approximately how long the entire project should take to complete.

Create a Schedule

You can’t just skip to this step because you’ll need to input all of the information you previously received in order to create an accurate schedule. Trying to do this on your own or manually will be difficult and time consuming. Your best option would once again be to use a software like ITM Platform which can assist you in creating a reliable and effective project schedule.

Schedule Changes

Nothing can be perfectly planned. There is always the chance that something unexpected could occur and you will need to make changes to your original schedule. Don’t panic! To make sure you don’t fall behind, continuously update your schedule to reflect any project alterations. This will prevent you or your teammates from experiences shock if something unanticipated occurs.

Gantt, ITM Platform

 

Just like anything else, time management requires you to put in effort. The more you know, the better you’ll do. This is why you should familiarise yourself with other common project management tools and practices which can be found at http://www.itmplatform.com

 

Top 5 most read blogs on ITM Platform:

The Monte Carlo Method in Project Management

Extra Extra Extra!

Three disastrous project management failures

The project in the face of adversity: what should a project manager do?

What is the Virtual Sock Management or Periodical Online Management?

 

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