Learning Activity 11-13: Creating a Project Scope Diagram

GOALS

The goal of this activity is to provide experiences in creating a project scope diagram for defining the scope of the project itself.

MATERIALS

• Handout 11-5: Project Case Study (already distributed)

• PowerPoint slides 9-59 through 9-60

• flipchart paper

• Post-It notes.

TIME

• approximately 15 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS

Depending on the audience, you may create the project scope diagram either as a facilitated presentation or as an exercise assigned to each team.

Refer to the slide indicating symbols used in the diagram. In the Project Scope Diagram, the project itself becomes the rounded-corner symbol in the center of the flipchart, and should be labeled with the name of the project. The immediate project team would be inside the central symbol and stakeholders outside the team would generally be the outside entities. Each outside entity should have a Post-It note. Arrange Post-It notes around the central symbol and determine high-level inflows and outflows of information to and from the other entities. Important: There are no arrows between entities. Those interactions are out of context!

If there is no direct connection between an entity and the central symbol, then it too is out of context. Note that it is useful to retain any items identified as potential items for the diagram. There may be a connection that will be identified later.

If each team has created a diagram, have each team present it and note any differences. The project scope diagram helps define the roles and responsibilities of project stakeholders in providing critical inputs as well as the responsibility of the project team to provide important outputs (including the final product or service at the end!). In real projects any differences in understanding would need to be ironed out and consensus reached. Usually participants see immediate value in the diagram, but make sure everyone understands why it is important to reach as accurate a description as possible of project scope.