Move ahead or go around in circles as the title to chapter 3 points out. The book gives some great directional pointers for the project, but none more than this…

The Scope Statement is your compass.

Here is my takeaway #19 from one of the most useful practical books in my field, “Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager”:

19) “We are more in need of a compass than a road map. We often don’t know what the terrain ahead will be like or what we will need to go through it; much will depend on our judgment at the time. But a compass will always give us direction.

The scope statement is your compass for the project.”

Note: This reference cites “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey, and can be found in Chapter 3 “Initiating the Project: Move Ahead or Go Around in Circles?” (pages 65) of this book.

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STORY TIME:

I experienced a project that was initiated before I was hired. I was to be the only dedicated resource to gathering and inputting all data points. I negotiated for some help with structuring, reconstructing, and filling in some data as time went by. The thing is we had a clear expectation of what the scope of the project was; it was just unrealistic.

Our team erred on the side of being comprehensive, rather than narrowing in on a defined scope within reasonable parameters. It was good to have an understanding of what the database would need, if it were to be “perfect” and “pristine”, but the real objective at this stage in the game was to replace the current problems of a defunct database that was hard to work in. I was working in both environments, and duplicating release information to our manufacturer that associates across the working database.

It’s tough wearing many hats in a small organization, especially when it is not always necessary. It had been the worst Scope Creep I had ever experienced. Coming up with a Scope Statement followed by a new Project Charter made all the difference in orienting our map so-to-speak and getting ahead of the moving target of a living database or two.

All’s well that ends well! We crossed over to the new database within a year when we were still a few years out if we kept chasing Scope Creep. It turned into one of my greater accomplishments when I became the Project Manager; under my direction we got control of it.