A clear scope of the project (or even a project charter) is something that we (my department) necessarily don't have for departmental projects when compared to the cross-functional projects that I work on. (Ours is a matrix organization structure by the way). Hence it's been very challenging to get the buy-in from our organization's senior executives when presented with project delivery options.
You have the explanation in you question, make a charter or scope.
Something for them to understand your project
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1 reply by Paul John Martin
May 31, 2017 9:29 PM
Paul John Martin
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Hi Vincent,
The scope keeps changing every time. As far as I know, a PM should be assisting with the creation of the charter. I always want to nail down on a SOW first, but since these are internal projects within a department, nobody signs off on the SOW or the charter.
You have the explanation in you question, make a charter or scope.
Something for them to understand your project
Hi Vincent,
The scope keeps changing every time. As far as I know, a PM should be assisting with the creation of the charter. I always want to nail down on a SOW first, but since these are internal projects within a department, nobody signs off on the SOW or the charter. Saving Changes...
Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
Is there a legitimate business reason why the scope is constantly changing? I’ve seen this happen in organizations where no one wants to assume responsibility for deciding what will and won’t be included in the scope. If this is the case, you can create a SOW and charter, then attempt to sell them to your leadership. They might be willing to accept them because they won’t feel personally responsible if the project fails, yet can receive accolades if the project succeeds. Saving Changes...
Hi Eric,
I personally believe that Senior mgmt have got their vision (which is good), but letting the middle mgmt folks run with vendor selection, design, and time frame with little to no support is what I am referring to here. Clear instructions are never given, but when we find solutions on how to implement a project (cost or no cost), the scope changes and the blame comes down to us for not understanding the project. I once created a SOW for a project thinking it'd be sufficient with the information I received (taking into consideration risks and assumptions), but senior mgmt shot it down stating we needed to 'think small', which means the project scope changed drastically. This has happened at least a couple of times. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
The only way I found to face this problem is making a work to show that is not my project, is the organizational project create to achieve organizational objectives which are the senior/executive objectives. In some organizations those objectives are stated into their annual personal objectives.
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1 reply by Paul John Martin
Jun 01, 2017 7:47 PM
Paul John Martin
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Thank you, Sergio!
Saving Changes...
Mohamad FararjehProject Management - Electrical Engineer| San Francisco Bar Area Rapid Transit (BART)Santa Clara, Ca, United States
You need to have a clear statement of work (SOW), develop a strong business case (value added to the company), and then come up with the charter.
For some projects, especially when management may not understand the need, you need to spend move efforts on putting things together.
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1 reply by Paul John Martin
Jun 01, 2017 7:48 PM
Paul John Martin
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I agree Mohamad. I shall try it again, the creation of an SOW with the latest objective.
The only way I found to face this problem is making a work to show that is not my project, is the organizational project create to achieve organizational objectives which are the senior/executive objectives. In some organizations those objectives are stated into their annual personal objectives.
You need to have a clear statement of work (SOW), develop a strong business case (value added to the company), and then come up with the charter.
For some projects, especially when management may not understand the need, you need to spend move efforts on putting things together.
I agree Mohamad. I shall try it again, the creation of an SOW with the latest objective. Saving Changes...
