Project Scoping: The Importance of Why Before How

When I was still in college, my elder cousin was setting up his own office space. I accompanied him to many meetings with real estate brokers and architecture firms that would help him find the right place and set it up in the right way. 

However, the process went on for months and the decision seemed far away. After many trials and errors, my brother finally sat down to first determine who will be using the space, how many people should it accommodate, what kind of interiors would his potential employees and clients like, etc. 

I had learned a very important lesson that day.

A grave mistake many leading software development companies make is to begin their product development cycle by brainstorming on how they will go about the development of particular software. This approach may not deliver the right solutions and more often than not, the development team has to go about the strategies and revise the time frames over and over again. 

The reason is simple: we miss out on a lot of important elements related to the project because we didn’t really understand why the product is being made in the first place. 

What is the solution to having an efficient and effective product development process? 

Well, you will have better processes in place if you precede the HOW of your planning with a WHY. 

You cannot deliver a solution without knowing the problem accurately. While how focuses on the development of a solution, why focuses on the need for that solution. 

This is where scoping comes into the picture. Scoping is a process that helps the team identify the needs correctly and make the most efficient road map to the final deliverables. 

We have been scoping our projects very diligently and my team can’t help but appreciate how it has helped them become better programmers and managers.

Why Scoping?

On most occasions, when a client approaches us for software development, we find that the initial idea lacks many aspects. Intensive scoping of the project enables us to fill in the gaps, refine the idea and come up with the best way to execute the idea.

For example, a client had approached us for Android mobile app development but when we dug into the ‘why’ of the project, we suggested that building a web app for their idea was a better solution. 

Thus, scoping offers invaluable insights to both the development team and the software owner and is a mutually beneficial exercise to find the right solutions.

What is Scoping?

Project scoping is a process of determining specific goals, deliverables, tasks, deadlines and the overall cost involved in the project. 

In simple terms, a scope is an outline about why we are trying to solve a problem under a set of constraints and how the solution should look like.

The Process of Scoping

There are 4 main elements involved in a project scope:

1. Context of the project

2. The needs that the project will fulfill

3. The vision of the desired solution

4. Outcomes of the project 

Let me explain each step with a simple example.

Context

The context of the project is a defining frame that guides the entire scoping process. Answers to questions like who are the people behind the project idea, what do they do, what is their mission, etc generally make the context clear. 

In a nutshell, you should document the context in a way that clearly indicates who we are working with and why they do what they do. 

Here is an example of a properly documented context of a project:

This organization produces content for a wide, global audience. The source of revenue for them is premium subscriptions. Head of Online Business is the lead decision-maker for this project.

Need

Clearly documenting the needs that the project will fulfill is not an easy task and should be done with utmost clarity. 

Many a time, the client may be tempted to just come up with a vague need like, “I need to build a gaming app.” As a software development manager, you need to dig deeper and find out why the client needs a gaming app, what problem are they trying to solve? 

Once you have gotten a fair idea of the root problem, you can ascertain whether a gaming app or some other software is the best way to address the need. Start by stating the problem that led the client to look for a solution. 

An example of writing the needs in the scoping process:

The media organization thrives on revenues earned through subscriptions. In such a scenario, the standard metrics of unique daily visitors may not be the right metric for them to track their viewership. Since it is a subscription-based model, 30 different people visiting their website on 30 different days compared to 1 person visiting their website for 30 consecutive days may have varying impacts on the number of subscriptions they get. What are the engagement metrics they should track in order to increase their revenues?

Vision

Once the needs are defined, don’t start working on the solutions without having a clear vision of how the solution should look like. A vision helps you figure out where you are going so that you can always stay on track.

In a way, vision in scoping is nothing but the final solution you expect to deliver within a stipulated time (and costs). 

An example of a vision in scoping:

The media organization looking for the right user engagement metrics will receive a report detailing the ideal metric for user engagement and how analyzing that metric will contribute the most to the subscriptions and overall revenue of the organization, compared to other metrics.

Outcome

Outcomes in the scoping process are all about what happens after the solution is delivered. 

In order to deliver a solution that gives the best results to the clients, it is important to consider the intended use of the software. You can define the outcome of a project by answering questions like who will use the software, how often will it be used, how will it be integrated with the overall organizational goals, etc.

An example of writing outcomes;

The engagement metrics report will be sent to the Head of Online Business. Once the solution is approved by them, the digital marketing team will incorporate these metrics into the routine organizational performance measures. Business analysts will track these metrics for 6 months and report on how successful these metrics have been in predicting and contributing to monthly revenues. 

The Big Picture

When we combine all these components of the scope, we get a concise, coherent and very clear narrative about the project and its goals from start to end:

This organization produces content for a wide, global audience. The source of revenue for them is premium subscriptions. Head of Online Business is the lead decision-maker for this project.

The media organization thrives on revenues earned through subscriptions. In such a scenario, the standard metrics of unique daily visitors may not be the right metric for them to track their viewership. Since it is a subscription-based model, 30 different people visiting their website on 30 different days compared to 1 person visiting their website for 30 consecutive days may have varying impacts on the number of subscriptions they get. What are the engagement metrics they should track in order to increase their revenues?

The media organization looking for the right user engagement metrics will receive a report detailing the ideal metric for user engagement and how analyzing that metric will contribute the most to the subscriptions and overall revenue of the organization, compared to other metrics.

Once the solution is delivered, the engagement metrics report will be sent to the Head of Online Business. Once the solution is approved by them, the digital marketing team will incorporate these metrics into the routine organizational performance measures. Business analysts will track these metrics for 6 months and report on how successful these metrics have been in predicting and contributing to monthly revenues.

Final Words

Scoping a problem in this way empowers your team to minimize wasted efforts because they will know exactly what they need to do and when they will have reached the right solution. 

Once you are clear with the Why of your project, the How can be figured out in much less time with a lot more accuracy.