Project scope

The scope of a project consists of the elements that are needed for adequately planning a project and identifying the constraints imposed on a project's design and development. The project scope is written as a part of a project's design specifications, within which clearly describes each of the five elements related to the project's goals, boundaries, and limitations in design.

Definition

The project scope is the combination of the project's goals, learning objectives, audience considerations, structural considerations, and constraints. Thus, the scope of a project is the a complete written description of a project's goals, plans, constraints, and how it will serve people.

A project's scope is typically defined before the design and development of a product so that the project stays within the boundaries of any constraints that are imposed on the project (for instance, the budget or design team skills). Additionally, a defined scope of a project provides guidance to ensure that the audience of the project will be adequately served and that the design will sufficiently work within the project's structural needs.

Additional Information

The scope of a project defines a project's boundaries. These boundaries are established in the analysis phase of the ADDIE model, and help the design team determine the ways that the project design must conform to constraints and considerations that are revealed during the analysis phase.

Proper planning and a well-defined scope is used by the design team to complete the project by allowing them to move past or otherwise ignore ideas or developments that are not within the scope of the project. As a result, the scope of a project effectively works as a blueprint for the design and development teams to help them stay on task and schedule within the boundaries of the project's goals. By accounting for the scope at the beginning of a project, the design team can avoid costly mistakes or overreach in the design to the point the project is unfinishable.

Additionally, a defined project scope ensures that the resulting product adequately addresses the needs of the audience and works within the defined constraints of the project, which aids in the audience actually using and learning from the product.

The scope of a project is essentially the initial "plan" of the project, and should be written down as a part of the design specifications for the project. This wiki suggests using the basic W6H framework for developing design specifications and describing decisions and rationale for design.

Five essential elements of a project's scope

The following elements should be included in the scope of an educational product or experience to ensure that the design phase accounts for important considerations of audience and structure, as well as the goals and constraints of the project.

• Goals of the educational product. The overarching, main goals of the product being developed. These are the main purpose and interests of the design team and answer the "why does it matter" of why the product is being built.
• Learning objectives or outcomes. The intended outcomes of learning that the participants will ideally achieve by using the product, and all of the design features should be aimed at supporting.
  • ➡️ A step-by-step walkthrough on writing learning objectives is provided on the "Determining Learning Objectives" page.
• Audience considerations. The important factors and considerations that should be identified and taken into account for any design based on the intended audience who will use the product.
  • ➡️ Designers can follow a step-by-step process for considering the audience factors of a design.
• Structural considerations. The important structural factors that should be initially considered and decided on by the design team, as they are foundational decisions that determine the direction the design and development phases will take.
  • ➡️ This wiki provides a step-by-step process on considering and defining the key structural elements of a project to guide the design process.
• Initial constraints. Critical boundaries or limitations that will influence the design of the product, or are factors that dictate what kinds of work the design and development teams can do. Not all of the constraints or limitations will be known during the initial planning phases of a project, but many can be readily identified, which can avoid headache and unnecessary revision of work.
  • ➡️ Designers can follow a step-by-step walkthrough for thinking about and defining the constraints that face a project.

Tips and Tricks

• The project's scope is the culmination of the planning (analysis) phase of a project to define the factors that must be considered in the design phase. Consider each of the five elements of the scope of an educational product when working through the analysis phase of the ADDIE Model.

Related Concepts

• Goals of design
• Analysis (Phase of Design)
• Learning objectives and outcomes
• Audience considerations of design
• Structural considerations of design
• Constraints
• Design specifications

Examples

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External Resources

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