Read the following case study. What would be your recommendations? Lack of Scope Definition Findings Sponsor View: Projects start with a high-level idea that has been defined and proposed in business terms, not project terms. Sponsors are focused on their customers and competitors, and do not think in terms of “scope,” much less in terms of “scope management.” Likewise, sponsors are typically not familiar with the concept of project charters, which explains why project managers usually create them. Sponsors rarely think that their scope is undefined, and they expect others to quickly match their level of understanding. They have been planning and thinking about their business needs, sometimes for months or years, and expect project teams to get up to speed fast. Project View: The high-level scope is best documented in a project charter and expanded in the scope statement. These high-level views are not sufficient for understanding scope until a decomposed deliverable-based work breakdown structure (WBS) is created. Without the detail of a full WBS, a gap in understanding will exist. If the high-level scope is not clarified further with a detailed and validated requirements analysis, then the gap grows wider. Unclear initial scope. The Sales Commission project has unclear scope definition. Mary did not decompose the scope enough, and the requirements analysis was superficially done. Both of these elements contributed to an undefined scope. Lack of detailed scope. The team felt pressured into not articulating the scope in detail, often a pitfall of software package installation. Bob focused on the interfaces, which paradoxically opened the door to expanding the scope to include a web page, something clearly out of scope. Poor communication. Mary did not do an effective job of communicating scope, particularly that the G/L interfaces were out of scope. If a project skips detailed decomposition and requirements analysis, the scope remains ambiguous. In our experience, the ambiguity is then addressed by design and development teams in one of two inappropriate ways: 1) the team interprets the requirements and builds what it thinks is right, or 2) the team clarifies the scope by eliciting requirements directly from stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs). The chances for misinterpretation and expansion of scope are high in these cases. Bill and Allison appeared to build what they thought was best, not what was in scope. Bob and Chris worked together in an unmanaged way, and the Flash component was added for personal reasons and not because it addressed a business need

Practical Management Science
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ISBN:9781337406659
Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.
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Read the following case study. What would be your recommendations?

Lack of Scope Definition

Findings

Sponsor View: Projects start with a high-level idea that has been defined and proposed in business terms, not project terms. Sponsors are focused on their customers and competitors, and do not think in terms of “scope,” much less in terms of “scope management.” Likewise, sponsors are typically not familiar with the concept of project charters, which explains why project managers usually create them. Sponsors rarely think that their scope is undefined, and they expect others to quickly match their level of understanding. They have been planning and thinking about their business needs, sometimes for months or years, and expect project teams to get up to speed fast.

Project View: The high-level scope is best documented in a project charter and expanded in the scope statement. These high-level views are not sufficient for understanding scope until a decomposed deliverable-based work breakdown structure (WBS) is created. Without the detail of a full WBS, a gap in understanding will exist. If the high-level scope is not clarified further with a detailed and validated requirements analysis, then the gap grows wider.

  • Unclear initial scope. The Sales Commission project has unclear scope definition. Mary did not decompose the scope enough, and the requirements analysis was superficially done.

Both of these elements contributed to an undefined scope.

  • Lack of detailed scope. The team felt pressured into not articulating the scope in detail, often a pitfall of software package installation. Bob focused on the interfaces, which paradoxically opened the door to expanding the scope to include a web page, something clearly out of scope.
  • Poor communication. Mary did not do an effective job of communicating scope, particularly that the G/L interfaces were out of scope.

If a project skips detailed decomposition and requirements analysis, the scope remains ambiguous. In our experience, the ambiguity is then addressed by design and development teams in one of two inappropriate ways: 1) the team interprets the requirements and builds what it thinks is right, or 2) the team clarifies the scope by eliciting requirements directly from stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs). The chances for misinterpretation and expansion of scope are high in these cases.

  • Bill and Allison appeared to build what they thought was best, not what was in scope.
  • Bob and Chris worked together in an unmanaged way, and the Flash component was added for personal reasons and not because it addressed a business need.
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