What is project scope?

Project scope is a way to set boundaries on your project and

define exactly what goals, deadlines, and project
deliverables you’ll be working towards. By clarifying your
project scope, you can ensure you hit your project goals
and objectives without delay or overwork.

What is a project scope statement?

A project scope statement is simply a written document of
your project scope. Depending on the complexity of your
project, your scope statement could be a section of
your project plan, or it could be its own stand-alone
document. Additionally, if you’re working with an external
team or agency, you may turn your project scope statement
into a statement of work (SOW) to cement the agreement
between you and your vendor.

What is scope creep?

Scope creep is what happens when project deliverables
exceed the project scope. For example, imagine you are
working on a product launch, but you have not drafted a
project scope statement. Halfway through the project, a
stakeholder adds a press release to the project’s
deliverables. A few days later, a different stakeholder adds a
blog post about the new product. This added work that your
project team was not expecting or prepared for could cause
unnecessary stress or even delays to your project’s original
deliverables.

When your project suffers from scope creep, you end up

working on tasks you didn’t expect at the beginning of the

1
project. This can lead to project delays, overwork, or low
quality deliverables.

The best way to prevent scope creep is to create a solid

project scope statement and share it with any relevant
stakeholders as early in the process as possible. That way,
everyone is on the same page about what your project does
—and does not—cover.

The benefits of defining your

project scope early
Defining your project scope is a key element of project
planning. Without a clear scope statement, your project
could warp and grow beyond your team’s ability to complete
it, causing delays or burnout. Your project scope helps you
envision the entire lifecycle of your project and make sure
your end goals are achievable. Specifically, defining your
project scope allows you to:

 Ensure all stakeholders have a clear understanding of

the boundaries of the project
 Manage stakeholder expectations and get buy-in
 Reduce project risk
 Budget and resource plan appropriately
 Align your project to its main objectives
 Prevent scope creep
 Establish a process for change requests (for complex
projects)

2
8 steps to define your project’s
scope
1. Start with your project objectives
Before you can define your project scope, you first need to
outline your project objectives. Project objectives are the
assets you plan to deliver by the end of your project. Your
project scope, ultimately, will help you get there—but you
first need to know where “there” is.
Read: How to write an effective project objective, with examples

2. Make a resource plan if you

haven’t already
In addition to project objectives, you also need a sense of
which resources you’ll have available to you. In project
management, a resource can be anything from project
budget to team bandwidth. A resource management

3
plan outlines which resources you have available for this
project—and how they’ll be used.

Plan to define your resource management plan before

creating your project scope. That way, you’ll know exactly
what resources you have available when you’re drafting your
project scope statement, and you can adjust the project
scope based on that availability.
Read: Your guide to getting started with resource management

3. Collect any additional project

requirements
There are other, important elements of early project
planning. But right now, you should be focusing on anything
else that might impact your project scope. Remember:
project scope is your way of documenting your project’s
boundaries, and what your main objectives, budget,
resources, and deliverables are. If there’s anything else that
might impact those things—like your project timeline, for
example—collect that now.
Read: Business requirements document template: 7 key
components, with examples

4. Draft your project scope

statement
It’s time to put all of the research you’ve compiled into one
place: your project scope statement. Your project scope
statement should explain what you will and will not do, and
why.

4
 Depending on the complexity of your project, your project
scope statement could be a bullet-pointed list, a longer
paragraph, or a full blown SOW. No matter how long it is,
your project scope statement should outline what your
project objectives are and indicate what your project will
and will not cover.
If you need help defining scope, start by answering these
questions:
 Why are we working on this project? What are our ultimate goals and deliverables?
 What restrictions do we have? How much budget, headcount, and resources are
available? Which team members will be working on this?
 When are our deliverables due? What timeline do we have to hit?
 What is out of scope?

Example project scope statement

Let’s say you’re rebuilding your company website. Here’s
what the project scope might look like:
Project objectives: Transfer website backend onto CMS platform
in order to improve page speed and flexibility.
Resources:
 Web team (three people), 30 hours of work a week for 6 weeks
 Engineering manager (one person), 10 hours of work a week for 6 weeks
 IT & Legal review (two teams), five hours of ad hoc work a week
 $7,000 for CMS
Deliverables:
 Training for all content writers in late May 2021
 Entire website on new CMS by June 2021
Project roadmap and timeline:
 April 26: Begin scoping CMS
 May 10: IT & Legal review

5
 May 17th–June 3rd: Web team transfer
 May 31st: Content writers’ training
 June 4th: CMS is live
Out of scope:
 New DAM system
 Customizable web pages on new CMS

5. Get buy-in and approval from key

stakeholders
Before you sign off on your project scope statement, make
sure you get buy-in from your project stakeholders. This is
your chance to change things around, rethink your project’s
objectives, and decide what is and isn’t part of the project.
Once your project is underway, it’ll be harder to change any
element of your project scope statement, so communicate
your scope well to any important stakeholders.
Read: What is a project stakeholder analysis and why is it
important?

6. Establish a change control

process if necessary
If you have a lot of stakeholders, or if you’re managing a
complex initiative, it might also be worth establishing
a change control process. With large or complex projects, some
things will inevitably have to change. Maybe your timeline
was way too optimistic, or new customer feedback came in
and you have to change several important deliverables. You
don’t want your project to be impossible to change, but you

6
also don’t want anyone to be able to make a change willy
nilly, because that can lead to scope creep.
A change process is an established set of processes that
stakeholders have to go through before their change is
approved. To create a change control process:
1. Establish a way for your project team and stakeholders
to submit change requests—for example, through a
centralized intake Form.

2. Pre-selected set of important stakeholders should

review the change and see if the change request is
important enough to merit addition. If it is, see if you
can deprioritize some work you were planning on doing,
in order to avoid scope creep.

7. Share your project scope

statement with the team
Your stakeholders have seen and signed off on your project
scope—the next step is to share it with your project team.
Make sure your team has a one-stop shop to access all of
your work, like a work management tool.

8. Refer back to your project scope

statement during the project
It’s helpful to reference your project scope
document frequently to make sure you’re on
track and not at risk of scope creep. If anyone
introduces new elements to the project that
haven’t gone through your change control

7
process, refer them to the project scope
statement and encourage them to submit their
idea as a request or fast-follow.