1st Edition

Project Scope Management A Practical Guide to Requirements for Engineering, Product, Construction, IT and Enterprise Projects

By Jamal Moustafaev Copyright 2015
    366 Pages 77 B/W Illustrations
    by Auerbach Publications

    Incomplete or missed requirements, omissions, ambiguous product features, lack of user involvement, unrealistic customer expectations, and the proverbial scope creep can result in cost overruns, missed deadlines, poor product quality, and can very well ruin a project. Project Scope Management: A Practical Guide to Requirements for Engineering, Product, Construction, IT and Enterprise Projects describes how to elicit, document, and manage requirements to control project scope creep. It also explains how to manage project stakeholders to minimize the risk of an ever-growing list of user requirements.

    The book begins by discussing how to collect project requirements and define the project scope. Next, it considers the creation of work breakdown structures and examines the verification and control of the scope. Most of the book is dedicated to explaining how to collect requirements and how to define product and project scope inasmuch as they represent the bulk of the project scope management work undertaken on any project regardless of the industry or the nature of the work involved.

    The book maintains a focus on practical and sensible tools and techniques rather than academic theories. It examines five different projects and traces their development from a project scope management perspective—from project initiation to the end of the execution and control phases. The types of projects considered include CRM system implementation, mobile number portability, port upgrade, energy-efficient house design, and airport check-in kiosk software.

    After reading this book, you will learn how to create project charters, high-level scope, detailed requirements specifications, requirements management plans, traceability matrices, and a work breakdown structure for the projects covered.

    Introduction to Scope Management: Who? What? Why?
    Historical Perspective: The Rusted Staple Story
    Why Write a Book about Project Scope Management?
         Current State of Project Scope Management 
         Key Problems with Scope 
              Port Upgrade: Container Terminal Construction Project 
              Wireless Company: Mobile Number Portability Project 
         Does This Sound Like Your Life?
         Why Bother with Requirements?
    Developing a Shared Platform 
         Glossary 
         Chapter Summary

    History of Scope Management
    Introduction
    Brief History of Project Scope Management 
         Twenty-Seventh Century BC: Sneferu’s Expensive Prototyping
         First Century AD: Building the Colosseum 
         Fifth Century: Composite Bow Design 
         Tenth Century: Story of a Viking Longship 
         Twelfth Century: First "Do-It-Yourself" Book
         Fifteenth Century: Leonardo da Vinci 
         Eighteenth Century: Industrial Revolution 
         Twentieth Century: Software Engineering 
         Twenty-First Century: Project Management Institute and the PMBOK® Guide
    Chapter Summary

    Writing Project Charters
    Historical Perspective: The Sheep and the Oil
    Dual Role of the Project Charter 
         What Is a Project Charter? 
         Portfolio Management Perspective 
         Project Management Perspective
    What Is Included in the Project Charters? 
         Problem and Opportunity Statements 
              Mobile Number Portability—Problem Opportunity Statement 
         Goals and Objectives
              ABC Software Systems Goals and Objectives 
         Rough Order of Magnitude Budget and Schedule
         Stakeholder Register 
         Project Feasibility/Justification 
         Risk Management 
              Constraints 
              Risks
         Assumptions
    Chapter Summary

    Requirements, Customers, Users
    Historical Perspective: "New Account Opening" Project
    Requirements 
         Taxonomy
         Types of Requirements 
              Hierarchical Approach 
              Engineering Approach 
              Conscious, Unconscious, and Undreamed-of Requirements Approach
              Departments Involved or Domains Approach
              Systems Approach
              Target Audiences Approach 
              Information Technology or Software Development Approach 
         What Is the Requirements Engineering Process? 
         Who Is a Requirements Analyst? 
         What Does the Analyst Do? 
         What Skills Would You Need?
    Requirements Owners: Customers, Users, and Stakeholders 
         Introducing the Requirements Owner
         Who Should We Talk To? 
         Why Do We Neglect the Customer? 
         How Do We Find the Requirements Owners? 
         Customers versus Users Discussion
    Partnership Agreement
    Chapter Summary

    High-Level Scope Elicitation
    Historical Perspective: University in the Desert
    Sources for Requirements 
         Requirements Elicitation Is Not Easy
    How to Elicit Requirements
         Elicitation Methodologies 
              Interviews
              Documentation 
              Requirements Specs 
              Problem Reports/Enhancement Requests 
              Marketing Surveys/Focus Groups
              Market Trends 
              Observing Users
              Scenario Analysis 
              Events and Responses 
              Psychology
              Brainstorming 
              Competitive Products Benchmarked 
              Reverse Engineering 
              Cool Hunting
              Crowd Sourcing 
              Targeting 
         Unearthing High-Level Requirements 
              Importance of Questions
              Structure for Defining Preliminary Scope 
              Types of Questions to Ask 
              Critical Thinking
    Some Cautions about Elicitation 
         "Losing" the Stakeholders 
         Listening to Only a Few Representatives 
         Requirements versus Design 
              Scenario 1 
              Scenario 2 
         "Don’t Ask Too Many Questions" Advice
    Chapter Summary

    Detailed Requirements Elicitation
    Historical Perspective: Burj Al Arab
    Detailed Requirements Elicitation Methodologies 
         Wallpapers 
         Wikis
         Brainstorming Revisited
         Flowchart Diagrams 
         5 Whys Method
         User Scenario Method 
         JAD 
         Best Trawling Techniques
    Running Efficient Meetings
         Importance of Communications 
         How Formal Should One Get? 
         Importance of Meeting Minutes 
         What Are the Benefits of Meeting Minutes?
         How to Make Your Meetings Work
    Top Five Signs That You Are Done Collecting and Reviewing the Requirements
    Prioritizing Requirements
         Games Your Stakeholders Can Play 
         Ways to Prioritize Requirements 
              Must Have, Should Have, and Nice to Have 
              Urgent/Not Urgent versus Important/Not Important
              Market-Qualifying Criteria
              Order-Losing Criteria 
              Order-Winning Criteria 
              Expected versus Unexpected Features 
              Utilizing the Project Portfolio Management Technique
    Documenting Requirements 
         Criteria for Good Requirements 
         Introducing the Concept of Measurability
    Chapter Summary

    Documenting Requirements: Information Technology and Software Development
    Projects
    Historical Perspective: The Story of A2LL
    Requirements Specifications Template
    Functional Requirements 
         What Are the Requirements Writing Guidelines?
         Words to Avoid
         Requirements versus Design Discussion Revisited 
         Parking Lots
    Nonfunctional Requirements 
         A Look at Nonfunctional Requirements
    Documenting IT and Software Development Requirements 
         Introduction 
              Document Purpose
              Intended Audience 
              Project Scope
              References Section 
         Product Description 
              Product Features 
              User Classes 
              Operating Environment 
         System Features 
              System Feature—Traveler Identification—Passport 
         External Interface Requirements 
              User Interfaces 
              Hardware Interfaces 
              Software Interfaces 
              Communications Interfaces
    Nonfunctional Requirements 
         Performance Requirements
         Security Requirements 
         Other Software Quality Attributes
    Appendix Section

    Documenting Requirements: Engineering and Product Development Projects
    Historical Perspective: Viking Longships
    Requirements Specifications Template
    What Are the Requirements Writing Guidelines?
    Documenting the Multidisciplinary Requirements 
         Introduction 
              Document Purpose 
              Intended Audience 
              Project Scope 
              References Section 
         Product Description
              Product Features 
              User Classes and Characteristics 
              Product Environment
    Product Features and Requirements
    Appendix Section

    Documenting Requirements: Multidisciplinary Projects
    Historical Perspective: The Palm Jumeirah Project
    Requirements Specifications Template
    What Are the Requirements Writing Guidelines?
    Documenting Multidisciplinary Requirements 
         Introduction 
              Document Purpose
              Intended Audience 
              Project Scope 
              References Section
         Product Description 
              Product Features 
              User Classes and Characteristics 
              Product Environment
    Product Features and Requirements 
         F 1.0—Call Center Module
    Appendix Section

    Creating the Requirements Management Plan and Requirements Traceability Matrix
    Introduction 
         When Does One Write the RMP and the RTM? 
         RMP Benefits 
         What Is Traceability?
         What Are the RTM Benefits?
    RMP and RTM Analysis 
         Introduction
              Purpose 
              Scope 
              Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations 
              References Section
              Overview
         Requirements 
              Requirements Planning 
              Requirements Tracking 
              Requirements Reporting 
         Configuration Management
              Change Initiation 
              Change Impact Analysis
              Change Tracing, Tracking, and Reporting 
              Change Authorization Levels 
         Requirements Prioritization Process 
         Requirements Traceability Matrix

    Final Product Design
    Historical Perspective: The Katana Sword
    Design Process 
         Design Process Challenges 
         How Complicated Can the Design Process Get? 
         Design Process Detailed 
         Clarifying Client’s Objectives
    Formal Methods of Design Process 
         Morphological Charts 
         Objectives Tree Method 
         Pairwise Comparisons 
         Three-Point Voting
    Design Presentation
         Prototypes, Models, and Proofs of Concept
    Chapter Summary

    Creating Work Breakdown Structures and WBS Dictionaries
    Historical Perspective: The Great Pyramid
    What Is a Work Breakdown Structure? 
         WBS Components 
         Rules of WBS Creation 
         A WBS Sample 
         Generic WBS: Project Management Tasks 
         Generic WBS: Starting Phases
    WBS Dictionary 
    Estimation Using WBS 
         Introduction: How to Improve Your Estimates 
         Improving Your Estimate Accuracy with Wide-Band
         Delphi and PERT 
              Wide-Band Delphi 
              Wide-Band Delphi "Light" 
              Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) 
              Common Estimation Oversights
    Chapter Summary

    Troubleshooting Scope Problems
    Historical Perspective: General Hadik’s Crucial Mistake
    Introduction
    Scope Elicitation Issues 
         Lack of Communication between Project Team and Customers 
         Lack of Access to Higher Authority 
         Inability to See the Entire Project 
         Absence of Requirements Prioritization 
         What Can Be Done?
    Lack of Skills Issues
         Poorly Trained Requirements Professionals 
         Technical Experts and Requirements Experts 
         Lack of Stakeholder Education 
         What Can Be Done?
    Project Management Issues 
         Teams under Pressure 
         Excess of Scope 
         Quick De-Scoping at the End of the Project 
         What Can Be Done?
    Documentation Issues
         Undocumented Requirements 
         Vague Scope and Lack of Measurability
         What Can Be Done?
    Scope Management Issues 
         Customers Have Direct Access to the Technical People 
         Frequent Scope Creep 
         What Can Be Done?
    Chapter Summary

    Scope Verification
    Historical Perspective: The Admiral’s Mistake
    Value of Scope Verification
    Customer Walk-Throughs, Technical Inspections, and Peer Reviews 
         Review Process 
         Preparing and Running the Reviews 
         Customer Walk-Throughs
    Technical Inspections
         Peer Reviews 
         Documents That Need Reviewing 
         Questions and Checklists
    Chapter Summary

    Controlling Project Scope
    Historical Perspective: The Story of the Magenta
    Expectations Management 
         About Stakeholder Expectations Management
    About Scope Changes
         Impact of the Changes 
         Good versus Bad Changes
    Controlling and Managing Project Scope
         What Is the Best Practices Approach? 
         Utilizing Change Requests 
         Assessing the Impacts of the Requested Change 
         Updates to the Documentation
    Chapter Summary

    References and Additional Reading

    Index

    Biography

    Jamal Moustafaev, MBA, PMP, president and founder of Thinktank Consulting, is an internationally acclaimed expert in the areas of project/portfolio management, project scoping, process improvement, and corporate training. He has completed projects for private sector companies and government organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, including the US Department of Defense (USA), Siemens (Germany), Petronas Oil (Malaysia), and TeliaSonera (Sweden), to name a few.

    Moustafaev is a certified Project Management Professional (PMPR). He holds an MBA in Finance and a BBA (Finance and Management Science) from Simon Fraser University. In addition to teaching a highly acclaimed Project Management Essentials course at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (Vancouver, Canada), Moustafaev also offers several project and portfolio management corporate seminars through his company:

    • Practical Portfolio Management—Selecting and Managing the Right Projects
    • Successful Hands-On Management of IT and Software Projects
    • Successful Hands-On Management of Modern-Day Projects
    • Project Scope Management

    The book unites the best practices of scope management from the fields of traditional project management, information technology, software development, engineering, product development, architecture, construction, and multidisciplinary projects. It is based on the most advanced and popular works by prominent authors and contains the latest advances in project scope management. It also concentrates on the hands-on practicality of tools and techniques rather than focusing on their academic prominence. Best of all, Jamal’s book is easy to read and uses informal, nonacademic language to explain all the key points.
    —R. Max Wideman, P. Eng., FCSCE, FEIC, FICE, FPMI, Vancouver, British Columbia