Every successful project starts with a clear picture of what will be delivered. That picture is captured in the project scope statement. It defines the project’s boundaries, what is included and what is excluded, and sets expectations for the team and stakeholders. Without it, even well-planned projects can lose direction. In this blog post, I…
Projects succeed or fail based on how well you control their scope. You may start with a clear plan, a realistic budget, and a committed team. Yet before you know it, the schedule slips or new features appear that no one asked for. Sound familiar? That slow drift away from the agreed-upon goal often stems…
This blog post was based on the 4th edition of the PMBOK Guide, and from the 5th edition of the PMBOK Guide, the PMI has changed the definitions of terms used in this blog post; therefore, this post is now obsolete.
I have re-written this blog post based on the current version of the PMBOK Guide (6th edition). Please visit: Work Performance Data and Work Performance Information. I am leaving this post in case someone wants to review the old post under the PMBOK Guide (4th edition).
Management is always interested in the status and progress of the project. They want to know:
A few months back I attended a local PMI chapter seminar. While I was having a conversation with other professionals, this topic arose: “Are project plan and project management plan the same?”
This discussion led us to some interesting discoveries, which I am going to share, along with my research on the topic.
During our conversation, we concluded that there was no standard difference between the project plan and project management plan.
The organization you work for determines the difference. They may decide to stick with only one term, both terms may be used as synonyms of each other, or they can refer to different types of plans.
Projects are undertaken to deliver a product, service, or result. It will be difficult to achieve your objective if you don’t understand both the project and product scope. In project management, you will find many important concepts vital to complete your project with minimal obstacles. Among these terms and concepts, project scope and product scope stand out.
Project scope depends entirely on the product scope. You must understand the product scope to define the project scope. These are the most important concepts in project management. I have noticed that many professionals incorrectly use these terms synonymously.
I saw a related question posted in a PMP forum a few days ago. Someone was asking for clarification on the differences between project scope and product scope. There were many replies, however some were incomplete, and a few of them were wrong. It seemed like the posters were more concerned with supporting their own opinions.
In the PMBOK Guide, fifth edition, the validate scope process has replaced the verify scope process; therefore, this post is obsolete. Please refer to my new blog post on quality control and validate scope.
The quality control and verify scope processes are important for a project as they ensure that the deliverable is defect free and meets the user’s requirements.
Since both processes involve inspection and testing many professionals get confused and think that they are the same. They have different objectives and are carried out with a different goal in mind.
The control quality and validate scope processes help you build the right product and deliver it to the client. These are important processes and you should understand them well.
However, before we discuss these processes, let’s have a quick look at the meanings of “validate” and “verify.” I have seen many experienced professionals who don’t understand the difference between the two terms.
Verification is about building the product correctly.
In project management, we make assumptions and constraints always limit us. They are also a part of our lives.
For example, suppose you plan to go shopping at a mall that takes one hour to reach by car.
You assumed that you would leave your home at around 6:00 pm and reach the mall by 7:00 pm.
This was your assumption. What about the constraints?
In the given example, you can think of two. The first constraint is money. If you have 500 USD in your hand, you cannot shop for more than this amount. The second constraint is the mall’s closing time; let us say it is at 10:30 pm. This means you cannot continue your shopping after that.