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Introduction
Once targets are set, the budget, deliverable, timeline, resources are identified; almost all projects are kicked off in enthusiasm. As they progress, realities kick in. If we look at the available statistics e.g. CHAOS report published by Standish Group in 2009, says 24% of projects failed to complete & 52% of projects cost shoot up to 180+% of their original estimates. Such statistics, really underscore the need of sound project management practices. Such failed, de-railed project causes companies not just operational deficiencies, millions of dollars go waste and credibility goes haywire. Hence, for project sponsors and project managers, its critical to identify what can go wrong in his/her project in meeting desired goals and then work in order to limit project failure. The prominent reasons that can make or break successful project delivery are
1.
Cost
Figure 1 Elements that impact project scope As mentioned in previous blog post, the basic building blocks in project that determine the deliverable are further presented as Element Money Resources Time Scope Risks Example Budget, cost, profit, earned value People, instruments, equipment Milestones, tasks, schedule, effort estimates Project objectives, size, deliverables, non-deliverables Risk impact, probability, response strategy
Table 1 Elements that determine project deliverable
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It really tests skills and experience of project managers to balance these elements of the projects. To understand it simple way, consider
If project has any resource deficiency, it impacts timeline (though cost may reduce) If project scope is expanded, it may need additional resources, thus increasing cost
and/or change in delivery schedule and vice-versa time and scope
If project risk is managed well, it can impact all other elements viz. cost, resources,
For successful delivery of the project, project manager needs to balance and manage these five elements throughout the lifecycle of the project. For example, if a construction company is building a new commercial complex, it would decide where the complex will locate, what kind of architecture it will inherit, what all amenities can be provided, what kind of resources, materials, in what quantity will be required and at what cost. This becomes the scope of the commercial complex. If there is any new amenity is to be added or resources are to be deployed, it will impact overall resource requirement as well as cost of the project. Though it is debatable, but in my opinion, the most critical element in project management process is scope. Why? If project scope is not frozen, every other element will be stretched, without a doubt, these elements are inter-dependent. Put it simply, the scope is like defining a boundary of work that project team will deliver to meet goals of a given project.
Initiating a project:
All it begins with identification of a business need/requirements. Once business requirement is identified, organization starts evaluating options to satisfy the requirement. One of these options may become a potential project. At the project identification stage, organization assigns a project manager who can carry out a feasibility study. Assigned project manager performs feasibility study covering Required vs Available analysis in terms of technical, economical, financial aspects.
1. Do we have required resources with necessary skillsets? Or we need to hire/procure those?
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2. Will this project provide Return of Investment (RoI)? What benefits can organization gain
given project?
4. How well does this project address/fulfils organization's requirement (cost-benefit analysis)
This feasibility report is an outcome of project initiation phase and considered as a substantial input in making decision of whether to go-ahead with the project or abandons it. The report becomes a guiding/reference document for next phase i.e. project scope definition.
is unauthorized, informal changes to the project scope. It simply means that project scope is being changed without making any provision for additional resources, budget or timeline. So there is definite need to monitor scope change and control it. These processes can be facilitated by change control mechanism. If during the course of project execution, if stakeholder/sponsor wish to add new element in project scope e.g. new feature, new service request type; the request should be managed through a formal channel. This formal channel ensures all relevent project stakeholders are aware of the proposed change, which can be evaluated further to identify impact(s) and desired addition of resources, timeline, quality, or budget. Of course, one can optimize the change control process by introducing levels of approvals, escalations, etc. You would agree, generally scope change impacts the cost/budget. Hence it is prudent to involve customers, project sponsors, and team members as appropriate to understand and agree on scope change.
Conclusion
Most of us are aware of the statistics that I shared in the beginning of this article. In the survey conducted, project failure rates reported are significantly high. One of the critical contributors for failure has been scope change. If managed effectively, the chances of making a project successful are much higher. So for best results 1. Involve right stakeholders at right time (scope definition, planning, approval, etc.) 2. Communicate clearly and regularly with stakeholders 3. Ensure that sound change control process are in place
This article is a result of amalgamation of series of blog posts on project scope management by ZilicusPM - online project management software by Zilicus. Please feel free to share it in your network. If you have any suggestions please drop us email: support [at] zilicus [dot] com
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