Simple play icon Course
Skills

Managing Project Scope

by Casey Ayers

Understanding what requirements must be met, and what work is necessary, is key to any project initiative. In this course, you’ll learn how to define and manage your project’s scope, breaking down goals into actionable tasks that ensure success.

What you'll learn

It’s common sense that too often isn’t common: without understanding what we need to accomplish, and the actionable tasks that make that possible, project teams are left unable to satisfy their reason for being. In this course, Managing Project Scope, you’ll learn how managing project scope can help you ensure you find success, without getting bogged down or lost along the way. First, you’ll discover how the requirements you define should be prioritized to maximize value and minimize risk. Then, you’ll see how requirements can be broken down into work tasks project teams can complete to meet objectives. Finally, you’ll explore why it’s important to validate project scope on an ongoing basis, ensuring the work we undertake remains consistently aligned with our driving goals. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to assess what will – and will not – help your project team to accomplish its objectives, and understand how you can turn your understanding of project scope into a playbook for action.

Course FAQ

What are the prerequisites for this course?

Before beginning this course, you should be familiar with some of the principles of project management, in order to better relate to the material we'll discuss.

What does this course prepare me for?

This course is part of our series here at Pluralsight, on project management skills, which can help you prepare for the PMP and other certification exams, as well as earn continuing education credits toward project management certifications. It's also a great resource for you even if you're just looking to learn more about project management.

What is project scope?

In project management, scope is the defined features and functions of a product, or the scope of work needed to finish a project. Scope involves getting information required to start a project, and the features the product would have that would meet its stakeholders requirements.

Why is project scope management important?

Scope management ensures a project's scope is accurately defined and mapped and enables project managers to allocate the proper labor and costs necessary to complete the project.

What is scope creep in project management?

Scope Creep, simply put is adding new features, altering existing requirements or changing the pre-agreed project goals. They can come in at any time and disrupt your entire project strategy because they require additional resource, time and cost which were not accounted for at the beginning.

About the author

Casey has experience leading projects, analyzing challenges, and designing solutions in many fields, including healthcare, digital media, mobile app development and education. He's always in pursuit of new knowledge and loves to share what he learns along the way with others. To inquire about speaking engagements or consulting opportunities, and to learn more about his other ventures, visit http://CaseyAyers.com

Ready to upskill? Get started