Divide and Direct

Ronald is Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston College of Technology.

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Topics: Cost Management, Estimating, Lessons Learned, Risk Management, Schedule Management, Scheduling, Scope Management, Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), Knowledge Shelf

Dividing your project into smaller parts that are more controllable helps you to move closer to your ultimate goal: successfully achieving your project deliverables and high user satisfaction. Planning your project thoroughly means thinking of different ways to break your project down into smaller, more manageable chunks of time and work, so that you have more direct control which will increase your chances of success. Let’s look at what that involves.

Scoping it Out
Given that scope generally equates to cost and time, it is often desirable to keep it as small as possible (Richardson, Carstens, & Smith, 2013). A project with a large scope can be a minus factor in success, but scope change can also have a similar effect. The purpose of scope management is to help ensure all the required work is covered, and that only that work is completed. In short, setting up boundary lines for what work is included and what work is not included (e.g., stated in the final scope statement), which should help to reduce “scope creep.”

When a project manager receives a request for a scope change, he or she must be diligent in knowing the client isn’t always right and to make sure there is adequate justification for the change. Otherwise, unnecessary changes can turn a good project into a troubled project!

Large projects will invariably have “scope creep,…

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