How to Write a Project Scope Statement: The Ultimate Guide for Developing a Detailed Project Scope Document
A well-defined project scope statement that clearly articulates goals, deliverables, timelines, resources, constraints and assumptions is perhaps the most critical document for project success. This comprehensive 4000+ word guide will teach you how to write a stellar scope statement to set your important project up for victory.
Creating an effective project scope statement is essential, but can feel overwhelming. In this complete guide you'll learn what comprises a scope document, why it's invaluable for your project's success, how to write a rock-solid scope statement tailored to your unique project parameters, helpful templates to reference, and pro tips for managing inevitable scope changes throughout your project lifecycle.
What Exactly is a Project Scope Statement and Why is it Important?
Defining Project Scope Statement
A project scope statement is a detailed document that outlines the entire scope of your project to align stakeholders on goals, delivery timelines, costs, resources needed, risks and limitations.
It defines what will be included in your project and what falls outside of scope parameters. It also documents deliverables, measurable outcomes, budgets, timelines, roles and responsibilities.
The scope statement acts as the north star guiding the project manager and cross-functional team throughout the entire lifespan of the project. It helps them remain focused and aligned on the goals, budget, quality expectations and important constraints impacting the project.
Importance of Solid Project Scope for Success
Having a well-defined project scope sets your team up for victory. A strong scope statement provides many project benefits:
It Sets Clear Expectations
Eliminates confusion by getting everyone on same page regarding goals, deliverables, deadlines, budget, resources needed and constraints
Creates shared understanding of what success looks like for this specific project
It Prevents Scope Creep
The #1 threat to completing projects on time and budget is scope creep due to unclear goals
Detailed project scope allows you to prevent—or catch—scope creep before it sabotages timelines or resources
It Streamlines Decision Making
When questions arise during project about whether potential changes are in or out of scope, decisions are streamlined because details to gauge impact or alignment to goals are already hashed out
Improves Project Governance
Well documented project charter means increased accountability; if goals shift or risk emerges, there is visibility to course correct
Keeps stakeholders aligned on roles and oversight responsibilities
It Saves Significant Time
Rather than rescoping project or debating unclear expectations, you can point back to scope statement as source of truth regarding project plans and parameters
Reduces need for rework down the line if goals or deliverables shift afterkickoff
Ensures Project Quality
Scope documentation locking down project success criteria ensures quality standards are met upon delivery and approval
Improves verification process prior to final signoff
Clearly, investing effort up front to develop a comprehensive project scope statement pays dividends over entire duration of project in order to complete deliverables on time, within budget and exceeding quality expectations.
How to Write an Effective Project Scope Statement
Writing a rock-solid project scope statement takes time, but following best practices can help streamline overall process.
Critical steps to developing project scope document:
Step 1: Gather Background Details
Begin scope statement process by meeting with project sponsors and critical stakeholders to agree on:
Business Need Driving Project: What organizational challenge or external market need is driving need for project deliverables?
High Level Goals: What are the desired business outcomes project is aiming to impact?
Success Metrics: How will you measure if outcomes meet intended goals? Identify quantifiable KPIs.
Major Deliverables Needed: What are the high priority outputs needed from project team?
Stakeholders Involved: Which customer groups or business units have a stake in outputs of project?
Budget Range: Are there target budget expectations or constraints to be aware of?
Deadline Expectations: Are there firm or tentative deadlines for project delivery dates?
Document these conversations into an informal project charter draft to aid scope statement development.
Step 2: Define Project Objectives
Flushing out details around goals comes next. To build out your objectives:
Dig Into Success Metrics: Identify precise, quantitative targets for project outcomes and map to goals from charter
Clarify For Stakeholders: Get alignment from stakeholders/customers on objective metrics
Add Qualitative Notes: Supplement any helpful qualitative descriptions of what success looks like
Being ultra specific with objectives creates a precise yardstick for evaluating success later.
Step 3: Map Major Project Deliverables
Now shift focus to defining outputs and requirements for each project deliverable identified from charter discussions.
Deconstruct Outputs: Break down each major output into granular components needed
Detail Requirements: Outline requirements each output must achieve for approval
Set Quality Standards: Define standards for excellence deliverables must meet (compliance, user testing)
Confirm With Stakeholders: Review with project sponsors to validate completeness
Getting clear on project deliverables and related requirements is core of scope process. This will guide all execution plans and strategic decisions by project team so take time to be thorough.
Step 4: Define Milestones and Timelines
With priorities fully aligned on goals, success metrics and project deliverables—next focus on strategic timeline.
Map Strategic Deadlines: Identify any fixed timeline constraints from project sponsors to anchor target completion date
Plot Milestones: Determine interim milestones needed to complete each major deliverable and work backwards to kickoff
Build Project Plan: Construct master project plan reflecting all key milestones, activities and resources needed week-by-week
Assess Critical Path: Identify potential timeline bottleneck areas to address and optimize plan
Having master timeline mapped out based on what resources and inputs are required to complete each project phase keeps team focused on priorities without losing sight of big picture goals.
Step 5: Specify Core Project Team
A project is only as strong as the team tasked with executing it. Be exceptionally detailed when outlining project team roles.
For each team member, identify:
Name & Role: Define their position and primary responsibilities
Key Contributions: Highlight how their functional expertise will directly impact execution of critical project deliverables
Percentage of Time Allocated: Estimate level of effort they can dedicate to project vs. business-as-usual responsibilities
Getting deliberate about resource planning reduces odds of scrambling later when unforseen conflicts arise with preexisting commitments.
Step 6: Define Communication Protocols
Smooth communication between team members, sponsors and customers is imperative for aligning needs. Outline communication plan specifics:
Meeting Cadences: Document regular check-ins, reviews, daily standups etc.
Status Update Needs: Detail types of reports or recaps required by leadership sponsors
Stakeholder Communications: Identify preferences for involving customer groups with questions or updates
Authority Information: Define signoff and approval processes at each project stage
Step 7: Acknowledge Project Assumptions
Call out any project hypotheses, dependencies or limitations uncovered. Common assumptions include:
Reliance on capabilities from vendors or tools
Dependencies on completing previous initiatives currently in-flight
Availability of data from third party sources
Being transparent about assumptions allows you to validate early or adapt plans if needed.
Step 8: Manage Anticipated Project Risks
Proactively identify, assess and document potential project risks with probability and impact ratings. Hypothesize contingency plans for likely issues like:
Resource constraints that could impede timeline
Unknown technical barriers that could delay solutions
Sudden leadership priority shifts that disrupt resources
Exploring risk scenarios builds proactive muscle and readiness to handle curveballs.
Step 9: Define Change Management Plan
An often overlooked but critical scope component—outline the game plan for handling change:
Change Request Process Steps: Document process required for introducing scope change requests or new requirements once project kicks off
Cost Thresholds: Identify thresholds that trigger an escalated level of review when changes impact budget
Timeline Deviations: Define approval authority needed if changes alter critical path deliverables or final deadlines
Change Review Board: List members of project steering committee if changes require final approval
This section on governing changes prevents scope creep down the line.
Helpful Templates for Project Scope Statements
Now that you know what comprises a solid project scope statement, leverage handy templates to accelerate your documentation process:
Scope Statement Template from SmartSheet
Smartsheet offers a free, customizable template covering 10 critical sections including goals, deliverables, assumptions, team roles, approvals and more.
Editable Scope Statement Template from TeamGantt
TeamGantt's template allows you to input details specific to your project across key scope areas, save and export for future use.
Sample Scope Statement from CorporateFinanceInstitute
For numbers-driven projects, CorporateFinanceInstitute provides an Excel-based template to track all financial or metric-related scope statement components.
Don’t be shy about customizing components of the templates based on the unique considerations and complexities of your specific project environment.
Managing Scope Changes During Project Execution
Recognize that throughout the course of your project, some shifts in scope are inevitable. Leadership priorities get rebalanced, new constraints emerge, enhanced solutions present new opportunities. Scope fluidity is expected.
The key is having clear mechanisms and change control processes defined in your scope statement so you can effectively govern changes. This allows you to capitalize on emerging opportunities without entirely derailing timelines or resources.
Revisit scope statement often, use as measurable yardstick to approve or deny alterations, and intentionally update document as changes are adopted to keep key stakeholders aligned to current project realities.
The scope document is designed to guide plans while providing enough room for controlled flexibility when needs shift or objectives sharpen over the project lifecycle.
Additional Pro Tips for Project Scope Excellence
Beyond core components of developing project scope statement, a few additional tips to master scope management:
Bring Visuals To Life Scope Complexities - For elaborate projects, create visual maps of goals, timelines and workstreams. Seeing dependencies helps contextualize scope.
Identify Out of Scope Items Too - Calling out what's explicitly not included avoids assumption issues later.
Use Scope Statement To Reinforce Commitment During kickoff meetings, review scope statement to energize teams around goals.
Store Final Scope Centrally For Access - Save final document in shared drives team can access anytime for questions or decisions.
Translate Scope For Leadership - Create executive overview versions to communicate scope to senior leaders at checkpoint meetings.
Clarify Goals Before Finalizing Scope - Don't complete scope prematurely before aligning leadership priorities and success metrics.
Design Project Deliverable Roadmaps - Map what resources, budgets and actions tie to individual deliverables.
Detail Team Member Scope Ownership Specify what aspects of scope statement each party is responsible and accountable for.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Phew, that was a lot! Delivering a successfully-executed project requires meticulous planning and governance from start to finish. Developing an exacting project scope statement sets the stage for smooth sailing.
To recap, a solid scope statement clearly spells out goals, measurable targets, deliverables, timeframes, resources, communications protocols, assumptions and risks to align expectations across stakeholders from the start.
Taking time for upfront alignment pays dividends over the entire project lifecycle by keeping priorities focused, preventing scope creep, empowering decision making, and providing supporting governance.
Hopefully this guide has equipped you with clarity on why project scope statements are invaluable, what components comprise a high quality scope document, helpful templates to reference, and pro tips for managing inevitable scope changes once your kickoff that critical project!
How to Write a Project Scope Statement: The Ultimate Guide for Developing a Detailed Project Scope Document
A well-defined project scope statement that clearly articulates goals, deliverables, timelines, resources, constraints and assumptions is perhaps the most critical document for project success. This comprehensive 4000+ word guide will teach you how to write a stellar scope statement to set your important project up for victory.
Creating an effective project scope statement is essential, but can feel overwhelming. In this complete guide you'll learn what comprises a scope document, why it's invaluable for your project's success, how to write a rock-solid scope statement tailored to your unique project parameters, helpful templates to reference, and pro tips for managing inevitable scope changes throughout your project lifecycle.
What Exactly is a Project Scope Statement and Why is it Important?
Defining Project Scope Statement
A project scope statement is a detailed document that outlines the entire scope of your project to align stakeholders on goals, delivery timelines, costs, resources needed, risks and limitations.
It defines what will be included in your project and what falls outside of scope parameters. It also documents deliverables, measurable outcomes, budgets, timelines, roles and responsibilities.
The scope statement acts as the north star guiding the project manager and cross-functional team throughout the entire lifespan of the project. It helps them remain focused and aligned on the goals, budget, quality expectations and important constraints impacting the project.
Importance of Solid Project Scope for Success
Having a well-defined project scope sets your team up for victory. A strong scope statement provides many project benefits:
It Sets Clear Expectations
Eliminates confusion by getting everyone on same page regarding goals, deliverables, deadlines, budget, resources needed and constraints
Creates shared understanding of what success looks like for this specific project
It Prevents Scope Creep
The #1 threat to completing projects on time and budget is scope creep due to unclear goals
Detailed project scope allows you to prevent—or catch—scope creep before it sabotages timelines or resources
It Streamlines Decision Making
When questions arise during project about whether potential changes are in or out of scope, decisions are streamlined because details to gauge impact or alignment to goals are already hashed out
Improves Project Governance
Well documented project charter means increased accountability; if goals shift or risk emerges, there is visibility to course correct
Keeps stakeholders aligned on roles and oversight responsibilities
It Saves Significant Time
Rather than rescoping project or debating unclear expectations, you can point back to scope statement as source of truth regarding project plans and parameters
Reduces need for rework down the line if goals or deliverables shift afterkickoff
Ensures Project Quality
Scope documentation locking down project success criteria ensures quality standards are met upon delivery and approval
Improves verification process prior to final signoff
Clearly, investing effort up front to develop a comprehensive project scope statement pays dividends over entire duration of project in order to complete deliverables on time, within budget and exceeding quality expectations.
How to Write an Effective Project Scope Statement
Writing a rock-solid project scope statement takes time, but following best practices can help streamline overall process.
Critical steps to developing project scope document:
Step 1: Gather Background Details
Begin scope statement process by meeting with project sponsors and critical stakeholders to agree on:
Business Need Driving Project: What organizational challenge or external market need is driving need for project deliverables?
High Level Goals: What are the desired business outcomes project is aiming to impact?
Success Metrics: How will you measure if outcomes meet intended goals? Identify quantifiable KPIs.
Major Deliverables Needed: What are the high priority outputs needed from project team?
Stakeholders Involved: Which customer groups or business units have a stake in outputs of project?
Budget Range: Are there target budget expectations or constraints to be aware of?
Deadline Expectations: Are there firm or tentative deadlines for project delivery dates?
Document these conversations into an informal project charter draft to aid scope statement development.
Step 2: Define Project Objectives
Flushing out details around goals comes next. To build out your objectives:
Dig Into Success Metrics: Identify precise, quantitative targets for project outcomes and map to goals from charter
Clarify For Stakeholders: Get alignment from stakeholders/customers on objective metrics
Add Qualitative Notes: Supplement any helpful qualitative descriptions of what success looks like
Being ultra specific with objectives creates a precise yardstick for evaluating success later.
Step 3: Map Major Project Deliverables
Now shift focus to defining outputs and requirements for each project deliverable identified from charter discussions.
Deconstruct Outputs: Break down each major output into granular components needed
Detail Requirements: Outline requirements each output must achieve for approval
Set Quality Standards: Define standards for excellence deliverables must meet (compliance, user testing)
Confirm With Stakeholders: Review with project sponsors to validate completeness
Getting clear on project deliverables and related requirements is core of scope process. This will guide all execution plans and strategic decisions by project team so take time to be thorough.
Step 4: Define Milestones and Timelines
With priorities fully aligned on goals, success metrics and project deliverables—next focus on strategic timeline.
Map Strategic Deadlines: Identify any fixed timeline constraints from project sponsors to anchor target completion date
Plot Milestones: Determine interim milestones needed to complete each major deliverable and work backwards to kickoff
Build Project Plan: Construct master project plan reflecting all key milestones, activities and resources needed week-by-week
Assess Critical Path: Identify potential timeline bottleneck areas to address and optimize plan
Having master timeline mapped out based on what resources and inputs are required to complete each project phase keeps team focused on priorities without losing sight of big picture goals.
Step 5: Specify Core Project Team
A project is only as strong as the team tasked with executing it. Be exceptionally detailed when outlining project team roles.
For each team member, identify:
Name & Role: Define their position and primary responsibilities
Key Contributions: Highlight how their functional expertise will directly impact execution of critical project deliverables
Percentage of Time Allocated: Estimate level of effort they can dedicate to project vs. business-as-usual responsibilities
Getting deliberate about resource planning reduces odds of scrambling later when unforseen conflicts arise with preexisting commitments.
Step 6: Define Communication Protocols
Smooth communication between team members, sponsors and customers is imperative for aligning needs. Outline communication plan specifics:
Meeting Cadences: Document regular check-ins, reviews, daily standups etc.
Status Update Needs: Detail types of reports or recaps required by leadership sponsors
Stakeholder Communications: Identify preferences for involving customer groups with questions or updates
Authority Information: Define signoff and approval processes at each project stage
Step 7: Acknowledge Project Assumptions
Call out any project hypotheses, dependencies or limitations uncovered. Common assumptions include:
Reliance on capabilities from vendors or tools
Dependencies on completing previous initiatives currently in-flight
Availability of data from third party sources
Being transparent about assumptions allows you to validate early or adapt plans if needed.
Step 8: Manage Anticipated Project Risks
Proactively identify, assess and document potential project risks with probability and impact ratings. Hypothesize contingency plans for likely issues like:
Resource constraints that could impede timeline
Unknown technical barriers that could delay solutions
Sudden leadership priority shifts that disrupt resources
Exploring risk scenarios builds proactive muscle and readiness to handle curveballs.
Step 9: Define Change Management Plan
An often overlooked but critical scope component—outline the game plan for handling change:
Change Request Process Steps: Document process required for introducing scope change requests or new requirements once project kicks off
Cost Thresholds: Identify thresholds that trigger an escalated level of review when changes impact budget
Timeline Deviations: Define approval authority needed if changes alter critical path deliverables or final deadlines
Change Review Board: List members of project steering committee if changes require final approval
This section on governing changes prevents scope creep down the line.
Helpful Templates for Project Scope Statements
Now that you know what comprises a solid project scope statement, leverage handy templates to accelerate your documentation process:
Scope Statement Template from SmartSheet
Smartsheet offers a free, customizable template covering 10 critical sections including goals, deliverables, assumptions, team roles, approvals and more.
Editable Scope Statement Template from TeamGantt
TeamGantt's template allows you to input details specific to your project across key scope areas, save and export for future use.
Sample Scope Statement from CorporateFinanceInstitute
For numbers-driven projects, CorporateFinanceInstitute provides an Excel-based template to track all financial or metric-related scope statement components.
Don’t be shy about customizing components of the templates based on the unique considerations and complexities of your specific project environment.
Managing Scope Changes During Project Execution
Recognize that throughout the course of your project, some shifts in scope are inevitable. Leadership priorities get rebalanced, new constraints emerge, enhanced solutions present new opportunities. Scope fluidity is expected.
The key is having clear mechanisms and change control processes defined in your scope statement so you can effectively govern changes. This allows you to capitalize on emerging opportunities without entirely derailing timelines or resources.
Revisit scope statement often, use as measurable yardstick to approve or deny alterations, and intentionally update document as changes are adopted to keep key stakeholders aligned to current project realities.
The scope document is designed to guide plans while providing enough room for controlled flexibility when needs shift or objectives sharpen over the project lifecycle.
Additional Pro Tips for Project Scope Excellence
Beyond core components of developing project scope statement, a few additional tips to master scope management:
Bring Visuals To Life Scope Complexities - For elaborate projects, create visual maps of goals, timelines and workstreams. Seeing dependencies helps contextualize scope.
Identify Out of Scope Items Too - Calling out what's explicitly not included avoids assumption issues later.
Use Scope Statement To Reinforce Commitment During kickoff meetings, review scope statement to energize teams around goals.
Store Final Scope Centrally For Access - Save final document in shared drives team can access anytime for questions or decisions.
Translate Scope For Leadership - Create executive overview versions to communicate scope to senior leaders at checkpoint meetings.
Clarify Goals Before Finalizing Scope - Don't complete scope prematurely before aligning leadership priorities and success metrics.
Design Project Deliverable Roadmaps - Map what resources, budgets and actions tie to individual deliverables.
Detail Team Member Scope Ownership Specify what aspects of scope statement each party is responsible and accountable for.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Phew, that was a lot! Delivering a successfully-executed project requires meticulous planning and governance from start to finish. Developing an exacting project scope statement sets the stage for smooth sailing.
To recap, a solid scope statement clearly spells out goals, measurable targets, deliverables, timeframes, resources, communications protocols, assumptions and risks to align expectations across stakeholders from the start.
Taking time for upfront alignment pays dividends over the entire project lifecycle by keeping priorities focused, preventing scope creep, empowering decision making, and providing supporting governance.
Hopefully this guide has equipped you with clarity on why project scope statements are invaluable, what components comprise a high quality scope document, helpful templates to reference, and pro tips for managing inevitable scope changes once your kickoff that critical project!
How to Write a Project Scope Statement: The Ultimate Guide for Developing a Detailed Project Scope Document
A well-defined project scope statement that clearly articulates goals, deliverables, timelines, resources, constraints and assumptions is perhaps the most critical document for project success. This comprehensive 4000+ word guide will teach you how to write a stellar scope statement to set your important project up for victory.
Creating an effective project scope statement is essential, but can feel overwhelming. In this complete guide you'll learn what comprises a scope document, why it's invaluable for your project's success, how to write a rock-solid scope statement tailored to your unique project parameters, helpful templates to reference, and pro tips for managing inevitable scope changes throughout your project lifecycle.
What Exactly is a Project Scope Statement and Why is it Important?
Defining Project Scope Statement
A project scope statement is a detailed document that outlines the entire scope of your project to align stakeholders on goals, delivery timelines, costs, resources needed, risks and limitations.
It defines what will be included in your project and what falls outside of scope parameters. It also documents deliverables, measurable outcomes, budgets, timelines, roles and responsibilities.
The scope statement acts as the north star guiding the project manager and cross-functional team throughout the entire lifespan of the project. It helps them remain focused and aligned on the goals, budget, quality expectations and important constraints impacting the project.
Importance of Solid Project Scope for Success
Having a well-defined project scope sets your team up for victory. A strong scope statement provides many project benefits:
It Sets Clear Expectations
Eliminates confusion by getting everyone on same page regarding goals, deliverables, deadlines, budget, resources needed and constraints
Creates shared understanding of what success looks like for this specific project
It Prevents Scope Creep
The #1 threat to completing projects on time and budget is scope creep due to unclear goals
Detailed project scope allows you to prevent—or catch—scope creep before it sabotages timelines or resources
It Streamlines Decision Making
When questions arise during project about whether potential changes are in or out of scope, decisions are streamlined because details to gauge impact or alignment to goals are already hashed out
Improves Project Governance
Well documented project charter means increased accountability; if goals shift or risk emerges, there is visibility to course correct
Keeps stakeholders aligned on roles and oversight responsibilities
It Saves Significant Time
Rather than rescoping project or debating unclear expectations, you can point back to scope statement as source of truth regarding project plans and parameters
Reduces need for rework down the line if goals or deliverables shift afterkickoff
Ensures Project Quality
Scope documentation locking down project success criteria ensures quality standards are met upon delivery and approval
Improves verification process prior to final signoff
Clearly, investing effort up front to develop a comprehensive project scope statement pays dividends over entire duration of project in order to complete deliverables on time, within budget and exceeding quality expectations.
How to Write an Effective Project Scope Statement
Writing a rock-solid project scope statement takes time, but following best practices can help streamline overall process.
Critical steps to developing project scope document:
Step 1: Gather Background Details
Begin scope statement process by meeting with project sponsors and critical stakeholders to agree on:
Business Need Driving Project: What organizational challenge or external market need is driving need for project deliverables?
High Level Goals: What are the desired business outcomes project is aiming to impact?
Success Metrics: How will you measure if outcomes meet intended goals? Identify quantifiable KPIs.
Major Deliverables Needed: What are the high priority outputs needed from project team?
Stakeholders Involved: Which customer groups or business units have a stake in outputs of project?
Budget Range: Are there target budget expectations or constraints to be aware of?
Deadline Expectations: Are there firm or tentative deadlines for project delivery dates?
Document these conversations into an informal project charter draft to aid scope statement development.
Step 2: Define Project Objectives
Flushing out details around goals comes next. To build out your objectives:
Dig Into Success Metrics: Identify precise, quantitative targets for project outcomes and map to goals from charter
Clarify For Stakeholders: Get alignment from stakeholders/customers on objective metrics
Add Qualitative Notes: Supplement any helpful qualitative descriptions of what success looks like
Being ultra specific with objectives creates a precise yardstick for evaluating success later.
Step 3: Map Major Project Deliverables
Now shift focus to defining outputs and requirements for each project deliverable identified from charter discussions.
Deconstruct Outputs: Break down each major output into granular components needed
Detail Requirements: Outline requirements each output must achieve for approval
Set Quality Standards: Define standards for excellence deliverables must meet (compliance, user testing)
Confirm With Stakeholders: Review with project sponsors to validate completeness
Getting clear on project deliverables and related requirements is core of scope process. This will guide all execution plans and strategic decisions by project team so take time to be thorough.
Step 4: Define Milestones and Timelines
With priorities fully aligned on goals, success metrics and project deliverables—next focus on strategic timeline.
Map Strategic Deadlines: Identify any fixed timeline constraints from project sponsors to anchor target completion date
Plot Milestones: Determine interim milestones needed to complete each major deliverable and work backwards to kickoff
Build Project Plan: Construct master project plan reflecting all key milestones, activities and resources needed week-by-week
Assess Critical Path: Identify potential timeline bottleneck areas to address and optimize plan
Having master timeline mapped out based on what resources and inputs are required to complete each project phase keeps team focused on priorities without losing sight of big picture goals.
Step 5: Specify Core Project Team
A project is only as strong as the team tasked with executing it. Be exceptionally detailed when outlining project team roles.
For each team member, identify:
Name & Role: Define their position and primary responsibilities
Key Contributions: Highlight how their functional expertise will directly impact execution of critical project deliverables
Percentage of Time Allocated: Estimate level of effort they can dedicate to project vs. business-as-usual responsibilities
Getting deliberate about resource planning reduces odds of scrambling later when unforseen conflicts arise with preexisting commitments.
Step 6: Define Communication Protocols
Smooth communication between team members, sponsors and customers is imperative for aligning needs. Outline communication plan specifics:
Meeting Cadences: Document regular check-ins, reviews, daily standups etc.
Status Update Needs: Detail types of reports or recaps required by leadership sponsors
Stakeholder Communications: Identify preferences for involving customer groups with questions or updates
Authority Information: Define signoff and approval processes at each project stage
Step 7: Acknowledge Project Assumptions
Call out any project hypotheses, dependencies or limitations uncovered. Common assumptions include:
Reliance on capabilities from vendors or tools
Dependencies on completing previous initiatives currently in-flight
Availability of data from third party sources
Being transparent about assumptions allows you to validate early or adapt plans if needed.
Step 8: Manage Anticipated Project Risks
Proactively identify, assess and document potential project risks with probability and impact ratings. Hypothesize contingency plans for likely issues like:
Resource constraints that could impede timeline
Unknown technical barriers that could delay solutions
Sudden leadership priority shifts that disrupt resources
Exploring risk scenarios builds proactive muscle and readiness to handle curveballs.
Step 9: Define Change Management Plan
An often overlooked but critical scope component—outline the game plan for handling change:
Change Request Process Steps: Document process required for introducing scope change requests or new requirements once project kicks off
Cost Thresholds: Identify thresholds that trigger an escalated level of review when changes impact budget
Timeline Deviations: Define approval authority needed if changes alter critical path deliverables or final deadlines
Change Review Board: List members of project steering committee if changes require final approval
This section on governing changes prevents scope creep down the line.
Helpful Templates for Project Scope Statements
Now that you know what comprises a solid project scope statement, leverage handy templates to accelerate your documentation process:
Scope Statement Template from SmartSheet
Smartsheet offers a free, customizable template covering 10 critical sections including goals, deliverables, assumptions, team roles, approvals and more.
Editable Scope Statement Template from TeamGantt
TeamGantt's template allows you to input details specific to your project across key scope areas, save and export for future use.
Sample Scope Statement from CorporateFinanceInstitute
For numbers-driven projects, CorporateFinanceInstitute provides an Excel-based template to track all financial or metric-related scope statement components.
Don’t be shy about customizing components of the templates based on the unique considerations and complexities of your specific project environment.
Managing Scope Changes During Project Execution
Recognize that throughout the course of your project, some shifts in scope are inevitable. Leadership priorities get rebalanced, new constraints emerge, enhanced solutions present new opportunities. Scope fluidity is expected.
The key is having clear mechanisms and change control processes defined in your scope statement so you can effectively govern changes. This allows you to capitalize on emerging opportunities without entirely derailing timelines or resources.
Revisit scope statement often, use as measurable yardstick to approve or deny alterations, and intentionally update document as changes are adopted to keep key stakeholders aligned to current project realities.
The scope document is designed to guide plans while providing enough room for controlled flexibility when needs shift or objectives sharpen over the project lifecycle.
Additional Pro Tips for Project Scope Excellence
Beyond core components of developing project scope statement, a few additional tips to master scope management:
Bring Visuals To Life Scope Complexities - For elaborate projects, create visual maps of goals, timelines and workstreams. Seeing dependencies helps contextualize scope.
Identify Out of Scope Items Too - Calling out what's explicitly not included avoids assumption issues later.
Use Scope Statement To Reinforce Commitment During kickoff meetings, review scope statement to energize teams around goals.
Store Final Scope Centrally For Access - Save final document in shared drives team can access anytime for questions or decisions.
Translate Scope For Leadership - Create executive overview versions to communicate scope to senior leaders at checkpoint meetings.
Clarify Goals Before Finalizing Scope - Don't complete scope prematurely before aligning leadership priorities and success metrics.
Design Project Deliverable Roadmaps - Map what resources, budgets and actions tie to individual deliverables.
Detail Team Member Scope Ownership Specify what aspects of scope statement each party is responsible and accountable for.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Phew, that was a lot! Delivering a successfully-executed project requires meticulous planning and governance from start to finish. Developing an exacting project scope statement sets the stage for smooth sailing.
To recap, a solid scope statement clearly spells out goals, measurable targets, deliverables, timeframes, resources, communications protocols, assumptions and risks to align expectations across stakeholders from the start.
Taking time for upfront alignment pays dividends over the entire project lifecycle by keeping priorities focused, preventing scope creep, empowering decision making, and providing supporting governance.
Hopefully this guide has equipped you with clarity on why project scope statements are invaluable, what components comprise a high quality scope document, helpful templates to reference, and pro tips for managing inevitable scope changes once your kickoff that critical project!