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If you are looking to develop a new product or service, you need to learn how to create a project scope.

This is one of the most important stages of your journey, since it will guide your team and the contracted company in order to achieve the best possible result.

In addition, every activity requires solid planning to avoid changes along the way and ensure that everyone involved understood the proposal accurately.

In this case, there is a process that will help you and your team execute any initiative, and you can learn it in just a few steps—which we separated for you in this special content.

Keep reading to learn how to create a project scope in 5 steps and check other important information about this plan. Below you will see:

• ● Project scope vs. product scope
• ● What you need before starting your scope
• ● How to define a project scope in 5 steps
• ● What to do after you have your project scope

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Project scope vs. product scope

First of all, it’s essential to highlight the difference between two concepts that can raise questions for entrepreneurs.

That’s because project scope and product scope may seem like synonyms, but they cover different content.

Project scope is a plan that covers all the work required to obtain a service, product, or objective.

It gathers all relevant information about the proposal, including:

• ● specific goals;
• ● delivery deadlines;
• ● tasks that must be done;
• ● responsibilities of each team member;
• ● costs and budget limits;
• ● delivery formats;
• ● validation criteria.

It is a detailed plan that guides participants so the project can be delivered successfully.

However, pay attention to what composes your project scope. According to the “Project Management Body of Knowledge” (PMBOK® Guide)—a global reference in project management—delivering more information than necessary can harm the team and the client.

Meanwhile, product scope is the set of characteristics and functions that describe a product, service, or result.

In this case, there is no limit to descriptions, because the more complete, the better for developers.

In addition, these guidelines do not include the same amount of information as project scope, because they describe only the item to be achieved.

In short, when you learn how to create a project scope, you determine “how” the work should be done, while product planning refers only to “what” must be achieved as a result.

Both concepts are related, but a product proposal will always be less detailed, focusing only on the main object of the service, while the general proposal has more data and guidance.

Before defining the scope, understand your project fundamentals

Before learning how to create the project scope, there are some fundamentals you need to know.

This base will be essential to create a more solid plan and not leave important information behind.

So, when starting your proposal, try to understand:

• ● who the end user will be;
• ● what the product’s value will be.

Identifying who your users are helps you know what they need. After all, a successful initiative needs to solve some problem for the audience to become relevant.

In addition, developers are not always the users of that item or service. In other words, your understanding of what is crucial to include doesn’t always match the end user’s view.

Therefore, before you start building your scope, it’s essential to understand the behaviors and feelings that will guide your project.

In this case, it is recommended to create, for example, your product personas. These fictional characters help visualize who your consumer is, what they need, and what their expectations are for the new product.

Meanwhile, another important foundation to determine before learning how to create a project scope is the value your product will have.

In general, this proposal is what the client gains by acquiring your solution. To understand your competency, try to answer the following questions:

• ● How do you solve the customer’s problems?
• ● What benefits does your product offer?
• ● Why should customers buy from you instead of competitors?

With that, you can find your value proposition before starting any scope, making the process simpler.

It’s important to master audience and usefulness information so you have more clarity in your planning and know how to gather the requirements needed to have a complete guide.

How to create a project scope in 5 steps

Finally, after understanding the initial fundamentals to base your proposal, it’s time to learn how to create the project scope.

Check out 5 steps to build your plan in a simple and complete way:

1. Gather initial requirements

Once you and your team understand more about the audience and the product value, you need to gather the initial requirements to start production.

To do that, you need to determine the proposal requirements—what is necessary to satisfy the customer’s needs.

This phase also involves understanding delivery criteria, realistic deadlines to complete each stage, and operating costs.

To make it easier to determine those requirements, you can split them into two categories: functional and non-functional.

At first, functional criteria are basic ones that are directly related to the product. This includes its design, dimensions, and processes that must be met to generate a satisfactory result.

Other details, such as colors and formats, can also be included in this analysis, so it becomes possible to measure the real needs of the proposal.

Meanwhile, non-functional requirements refer to development conditions, but they are not directly linked to the product itself.

For example: expected team performance, security requirements, and reliability guarantees at the time of project execution.

That way, those responsible will know how to create a project scope that meets expectations.

After gathering the initial requirements to start work, document them hierarchically so all collaborators understand what is being requested.

You can also use some techniques, such as:

• interviews;
• brainstorming;
• market research;
• mind maps.

Other criteria that may accompany this gathering—especially for digital products—include the app development contract, for example.

2. Define the project scope

From the requirements gathered in the previous step, you can move to the next phase: defining the project scope.

At this stage, you need to describe the work in detail and create a document with everything that will be part of the proposal.

It’s common for the requirements phase to raise some questions that are not relevant to executing the initiative.

In that case, even though they emerged as part of the team dynamic, these ideas will not be part of the main scope—they will be discarded so the organization becomes more efficient.

It’s also important to reinforce that collaborators must reach agreement on all information present in the official document.

That’s because learning how to create a project scope aims to promote broad understanding of the proposal.

Therefore, it’s essential to consult participants, evaluate which requirements were approved, and inform that they will be included in the document.

With that, you can build the Detailed Scope Statement, which will be used as a basis for approvals and change requests throughout the project.

This description should be made in a professional way, and there are some techniques that can be used, such as product analysis and the use of charts, so the guidance document is as complete as possible.

3. Build the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

The Detailed Scope Statement is the basis for the next step in how to create the project scope: building the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

This document breaks the project down into smaller parts, making it easier to manage execution.

There are three strategies you can use for this stage:

1. Lifecycle phases;
2. Deliverables;
3. Subprojects.

In the lifecycle-phase split, you consider the product production stages and what it must follow to achieve each one.

Meanwhile, the deliverables split takes into account a more strategic division of task volume, not necessarily based on the product, but on the service that must be done.

Finally, the subproject structure is usually used when the proposal is divided into small activities that must be completed before moving on. Since they are independent objectives, it’s easier to split deliverables in this way.

The WBS can also be hybrid, including the split that best meets your needs without needing to choose between a closed or open scope, for example.

Other characteristics of this document also include the mathematical segmentation of activities. There are some rules that help this elaboration, such as splitting by percentage of work or equal parts.

This helps create an equitable structure without overloading the team in a particular phase of the project.

However, there are not many restrictions for WBS development, because it is important that it is a practical and simple plan for the team. Therefore, there is freedom to choose the format that best meets this requirement.

4. Validate the project scope

After building the WBS, the next step to learn how to create the project scope is validating the proposal.

This process is done formally with stakeholders, which can be your team or the client hiring the service.

Only with acceptance of this deliverable can the project start, because the directions have been properly approved.

If changes are needed, the scope goes back to the planners to make this specific adjustment, adapting the rest of the operation when necessary.

Then, the document returns to stakeholders and follows this dynamic until full confirmation.

This stage is essential to start work because it is the structure that guides monitoring of each delivery. Without it, those responsible cannot manage the process efficiently.

That’s why it’s essential to validate the final structure and fix any inconsistencies before starting.

5. Control scope progress

Finally, after learning how to create a project scope and getting validation for your proposal, you just need to keep controlling progress.

This stage is equally important because it allows you to monitor all deliverables and verify whether the plan is being followed.

That’s why the WBS is so important: it determines which stages are started, in progress, or completed. If an activity is late, it is through the scope that control will be done.

In addition, it’s common for changes to appear along the way, and monitoring work through your plan makes it possible to report those changes without compromising the rest of the project.

This management can be done in partnership with the parties involved, such as your clients, or only within the development team.

It is also recommended to have the scope in more than one platform—not only as a document or calendar—so everyone can control their deliverables.

What to do after learning how to create a project scope?

Knowing how to create a project scope is only the first step to develop a high-quality product or service.

After understanding the steps you need to follow, the next phase is to look for a qualified company that can accompany you on this journey.

After all, you will need partners to achieve your goals and start developing your product.

And if you are looking for a certified team to turn your plans into reality, it’s worth getting to know X-Apps’ services.

Come present your idea and see how to create a project scope with the help of our professionals! Get in touch today.

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