Chapter 5: Managing the Project Scope

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Overview

Have you ever set out to clean your garage and end up cleaning your attic? It usually starts by needing to move the car out of the garage so you can really dig in and clean. As you move your car you realize the car could really use a cleaning too.

So you clean out the car. You dust it down, clean the windows inside and out, and vacuum out pennies, old pens, and some green french fries. The vacuum, you discover, has something caught in the hose, so you have to fight to clear the blockage so you can finish cleaning out the car. Once the inside's spick-and-span, you think, 'Might as well wash and wax the car, too.'

This calls for the garden hose. The garden hose, you notice, is leaking water at the spigot by the house. Now you've got to replace the connector. This calls for a pair of channel-lock pliers. You run to the hardware store, get the pliers-and some new car wax. After fixing the garden hose, you finally wash and wax the car.

As you're putting the second coat of wax on, you see a few scratches on the car that could use some buffing. You have a great electric buffer-but can't recall where it is. Maybe it's in the attic? You check the attic only to realize how messy things are. So you begin moving out old boxes of clothes, baby toys, and more interesting stuff.

Before you know it, the garage is full of boxes you've brought down from the attic. The attic is somewhat cleaner, but the garage is messier than when you started way back this morning. As you admire the mess, you realize it's starting to rain on your freshly waxed car, the garden hose is tangled across the lawn, and there are so many boxes in the garage you can't pull the car in out of the rain.

So what does this have to do with project management? Plenty! Project management requires focus, organization, and a laser-like concentration. In this chapter, we'll be covering Project Scope Management: the ability to get the required work done-and only the required work-to complete the project. We'll look at how a project manager should create and follow a plan to complete the required work to satisfy the scope without wandering or embellishing the project deliverables.

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