Project Management For Dummies, 4th Edition

Chapter 3

Clarifying What You’re Trying to Accomplish — And Why

In This Chapter

Identifying your project’s purpose with the Scope Statement

Understanding how your project fits into the big picture

Defining project constraints — and working with them

Making assumptions to deal with the unknowns of your project

All projects are created for a reason; someone identifies a need and devises a project to address that need. How well the project ultimately addresses that need defines the project’s success or failure.

This chapter helps you develop a mutual agreement between your project’s requesters and your project team about the project’s goals and expectations. It also helps you establish the conditions necessary to perform the project work.

Defining Your Project with a Scope Statement

A Scope Statement is a written confirmation of the results your project will produce and the constraints and assumptions under which you will work. Both the people who requested the project and the project team should agree to all terms in the Scope Statement before actual project work begins

A good Scope ...