There are three tools and techniques of the Define Scope process,
1. Facilitated Workshops
Going over the requirements collected in the collect requirements process with all the stakeholders at the same time can help narrow down on the project scope. Facilitated Workshops is thus one of the most important tools and techniques of Define Scope process.
One of the most important objectives of this technique is to ensure that the requirements have quantifiable goals,
Jack – We need to make sure with this project our product gets easier to use
Jill – Our goal is to reduce customer support requests by 15%
Obviously, what Jill has mentioned is quantifiable and can be measured
2. Product Analysis
While collecting requirements, stakeholders are inclined to talk about requirements from the perspective of the product and not the project.
As an example – “The website is graphics intensive and loads slowly, we need a less graphics intensive website that should load quicker.”
This is a product requirement. With the product analysis technique, we convert these product oriented requirements into the actual project work.
Continuing the above example – “Graphics team needs to come up with lighter graphics for the website.”
3. Alternatives Generation
As the name goes, coming up with other ways of accomplishing a job is the whole concept behind this technique. This is a technique of the Define Scope process because it may lead to a change in the scope (or other project constraints)
Consider an example – Can the existing IT infrastructure with another department be used for 2 weeks to meet the testing requirements of the project?
- It might lead to realignment of the project dates based on other department’s preference
- It can help reduce the project cost of acquiring the IT infrastructure
As you can see an alternative can lead to change in schedule and cost in addition to reduction of scope
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