Need to create a project scope statement and you just don't know where to start. Well,
by the end of this video, I'm going to give you my simple strategy on how to create
the perfect project scope statement along with the project scope statement example.
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The scope statement secret. Okay. Before we can even jump into scope statements for projects,
we need to really understand why it's a secret. Secret is it is the most critical aspect of your
project. It kicks you off so that you know exactly what it is you're going to be doing. Now in the
perfect world when you got the knock on the door saying you got this project, you would have gotten
your scope statement from your sponsor. But the reality is in business, that rarely happens. In
fact, I've never had that happen to me. So as a project manager, it becomes really important that
you ensure you get a really good scope statement. Now, what I do is I actually use this template
that I actually taken from my own course, SLAY Project Management.
You can get information on it under this YouTube video in the link below. But the template itself
is going to guide you as to what it is you need to do. So let's get to that step one.
Section one of the project scope statement, project information. So this is where you start
off with a project name and more importantly, the project justification or background information.
These two things go hand in hand. So you're really asking the question in this section,
why are we doing this project? This becomes really important because it lets people
know that background information so they understand why they're doing what they're doing.
Now, I have an example for you for this too, but before I jump into the example,
I want to give you some context. So this is an actual project that we at CornerStone Dynamics,
my consulting firm did way, way, way back when. And it was in relationship to a client who did a
vision statement activity and they wanted to do something even more with the rest of
their department. So as a result of that, we came up with an idea why not do a theme
song in relationship to their vision statement? Now I never did one before and so as a result
of doing a theme song, they also wanted a music video so we had to test it out. So this is what
this project is all about. So let me share with you based on my template, the actual name and
the scope and the justification around it, so you understand what you put in that. Okay. So the name
that we had was CSD beta music video. I know it's not exactly creative, but it's a scope statement.
This can always change so don't worry about it. And the project justification is a client
requested to have a theme song created for the department vision statement, and wanted to include
the rest of the department by creating a theme song and making a music video. To test out how
to do this in an efficient way, CSD created their own theme song, and we'll be testing out the music
video concept. So that's what this project was. It really was a beta test for CornerStone and the
suppliers we were using to make sure we understood how to go about it effectively and efficiently,
and really ensure that there were some good cost savings for our client.
Section two scope statement and focus. This is the heart of your template. So your scope
statement is just that. What is the summary of what it is that you're trying to do? In
essence what are you delivering? And then when it comes to the focus we talk about what's in
and what's out. Now, some people may not think that this is important,
but in actuality it is very important because your scope statement is a generalized statement
which is specific. It's like a smart statement. It's specific, it's measurable,
it's timelined. I can't remember what the other R's are the RA's and the other measurable. Anyway,
if you look it up, you can find it. But that all being said, the ins and outs
become really helpful because it gives you even greater clarity with what exactly you're going
to be doing and not doing, and can eliminate some assumptions. So I want to read to you
the actual scope statement we had for our project, along with the ins and outs.
So the scope statement was to beta test the process of creation of a music video for the
client, and to understand the details needed to make it successful and offer it as an additional
CSD offering by the end of Q4. So we were very specific. We knew exactly what we needed to do,
what we were going to be delivering on. Now, in regards to the focus, this becomes really
important for us. So let me read to you what was in focus. In focus was instrumental track,
recording at a studio, filming of the event, music video creation, standardizing the process.
This is really important because if I didn't make that clear in the in focus
my suppliers and other vendors, wouldn't be thinking of, oh, we got to make this repeatable
so that we can offer a really good product. Now, what was out of focus? Well, the actual
theme song, because we've created it. So we didn't have to do that. So it was already pre-created so
we weren't worried about redoing that. And some other elements were, what was out of focus was
adding any additional elements outside of the agreement that I had with my suppliers
and making any creative changes without CornerStone Dynamics' permission. So that became
important because you can only imagine creative vendors are used to probably a lot of creative
freedom and I needed them to be very specific because we were testing out a way of working.
So that was a scope statement and the ins and outs, which really kept everything tight.
Section three, supporting details. This is where we now talk about overall high level
project timelines, the actual deliverables and assumptions. So why is it that we're even doing
a high level timeline here? Because a lot of times you have to connect with your sponsor,
a senior executive who's like, "Oh, my goodness we got this great initiative we want you to lead it."
You need to find out from them what is their thought process on when it's going to get done?
I find a lot of times the reality of senior executives on when they think things are going to
get done or the timeframe that they give a project for and the reality of doing it are night and day.
So having this information now is very critical because when you get into the planning stage,
you're going to see whether or not you can accomplish it with what
they think it should be accomplished in. So this becomes really important as an
awesome negotiation tool. It's going to allow you to ensure that you're not constantly
under the gun or pressure to be delivering on something that's really unrealistic.
The deliverable itself, you just want clarity even though your scope statement itself did
talk about the deliverable. You just want to be very specific, at the end of this what are you
physically getting? What am I giving you? Let's just lay that out in a one, two, three, four,
depending on how much it is. And assumptions. Is there any assumption outside of the things that
you kind of called out in the ins and the outs in the focus section that you just really need
to highlight? So by doing that, it just gives a little more meat to your scope statement template.
Now, let me share with you what we did on this project. So from a timing perspective,
we started it in June and we wanted to have it done by December 14th.
Now, in regards to deliverables there were two very specific things. We had a music video that
we wanted to deliver on, which is CornerStone Dynamics. And then we also wanted to have
standard ways of working I call them processes. So we wanted to standardize that. So every single
person knew exactly what they were going to do, and it didn't matter who the client was. It was
going to give us the same good quality video. And last but not least, we did have some
assumptions. So some of those assumptions were my main facilitator who is a musician who was
helping us with the video was a live musician was in a band. So could be called on tour or
on some sort of promotional launch that he had to go on. So we had to make sure that he had a
backup. I couldn't just assume he was going to have a backup I needed to really call it out.
Another one as well as is that all vendors were working in the spirit of standardization so that
we can be competitive for the client. And last but not least, we had structured ways of working
to ensure, again, as I said earlier on that we were providing an awesome quality product at a
reasonable cost. So that call-out was very clear from day one with all the players.
And now for the last section, section for key people. This is where you're going to highlight
who you think needs to be part of the project. It not necessarily means that whoever you list
on here is the final list because a lot of times when you get into project planning,
you may have to add people or switch them up. Now, an example here would be, this is where you would
have your steering committees, your sponsors, project manager, even the people who are going
to be on the project. And for us, we had Adam who was our musician and video facilitator, Chris,
our videographer and producer. We had Robin and Justin who were part of the actual music studio
and recording engineer. And then we had of course our talent, which was my team,
Mike Corrina, Heather, and myself, and some other individuals too. So it was a lot of fun.
Now, if you're interested in actually checking out this video, please I have the link under this
YouTube video you can go check it out. Now that you know how to create a project scope statement
you project are going to sing, yay, I'm so happy for you. Now, what I would like for you to do is
go to the link below, under this YouTube video and grab this. Because if you're already into
making sure that you are having awesome project scope statements, you need to know what are the
things that are going to trip you up and create project failure. And I have all the
answers in here for you so please check it out. Don't forget to like this video, subscribe
to this channel and share it with everybody that you know. I would love to hear from you,
if you have any stories in project scope statements, or if you have a scope statement
you want to share with me, please put it in the comment below. Until the next video, see you.