iMedia Project Scoping – getting it right

Project scoping for an interactive media project is such a minefield. There are so many ways of approaching this sensitive area that trying to be definitive is asking for trouble. But, scoping a project can only be avoided at huge cost so it has to be done. Now exactly how your company decides to do this, and why, are the crucial questions. Then, do you think they are getting it right, or, could the process be improved – helping you along the way?

We were reminded about scoping recently when we had to complete a 16 page Law Society questionnaire when we were selling our house. As we hadn’t sold for over 15 years, this form was pretty daunting. And, it is a ‘live’ form that grows a few times a year every year! For those lucky ones that are staying put, this form covers the following areas in varying detail: Boundaries, Disputes and Complaints, Notices and Proposals, Alterations, planning and building control, Guarantees and Warranties, Insurance, Environmental Matters, Rights and informal arrangements, Parking, Other charges, Occupiers, Services, Connections to utilities and services, and Transaction information.

This document forms part of the contract of sale, just as a scoping document forms part of the service contract agreement between you and your client. It is highly detailed because the solicitors have to address all aspects in order to act in your best interests (and limit their liability in any disputes arising over the sale). Did you know, for example, that there’s a question about Japanese Knotweed and whether you’ve had the house tested for Radon? Because both of these have featured in legal dispute cases, the questions have been added in. When legal cases are undertaken concerning houses, the law society monitors them and adds extra questions to their form according to the outcomes. So a centralised body does the monitoring and updating for lawyers – at a cost, we have to explain. In iMedia, we don’t have this luxury – yet.

Well, you can pay for scoping templates in iMedia such as found at econsultancy. £450 for Scope Statement for Web Projects or access some free, for example, Mashable’s Free Contract Templates . Will they help? This is the difficulty. Only you know what suits your market, your kind of clients and your way of working.

That’s why Kyle Racki’s approach seems to work. She’s pretty convinced that detailed scoping at the beginning of a project puts clients off. She prefers to try to sell her company and its capabilities first – avoiding time-wasters upfront, we are compelled to point out. Then once she has the business she then drills down refining the detail as in a scoping sense, we believe. See Kyle’s, Getting Started Writing Business Proposals, at proposify 3 July 2014).

Dominic St-Pierre, Improve your Web Design Projects with a Good Project Scope (8 July 2014) at Six Revisions, lists eight key areas to cover: What type of website will I be building for you?, When do you need to have this website completed?, What is your budget for the project?, Who is the typical user of your website?, What goals do you want to achieve with this project?, What types of content will be used in this project?, Can you show me examples of websites you like and don’t like?, What’s the message you are trying to convey with your website. Dominic does a great job with tips for ‘Project Creep’. Nice graphic. He also does well to point out what he calls ‘Negative Scope’ or what you are not going to provide!

Matt Heron in How to write a scope doc for a web project (16 October 2013) at The Phuse reinforces that it depends on the questions you ask whether you cover the best options in scoping. He lists five main areas to cover: What’s the goal of the project?, What’s the scope of the project?, What are the deliverables?, What are the requirements?, Who is providing what? Who is responsible for what?

Only you can decide exactly what works for you. And you can’t become complacent. Just as the Law Society frequently updates their questionnaire by studying the equivalent of lessons learnt from the courts, you need to update your process for scoping a project according to your experiences.