If history has taught us anything it is this: "No matter how well a business application project's scope is defined, it changes time after time." Managing the scope of a project is always plagued with some form of scope creep. Scope creep has been the bane of project managers since project management began. The scope of a project is somewhat fluid in nature and tends to morph as the project progresses. Like hurricanes, the path followed can only be projected within a certain margin of error. However, hurricane path forecasting utilizes different models, each based on a series of uncontrollable factors that can and do change over the course of its life. The closer the hurricane is to landfall, the more accurate the projections.
Why Should You Manage Scope and Customer Expectations?
The Camel is a Horse Designed by Committee
The French shipbuilders produced a curious quartet of battleships over the course of twelve years in the late nineteenth century - the Hoche and her sisters Marceau, Magenta and Neptune. It has been argued by some naval historians that because of the accumulation of various features, bits and pieces demanded by multiple departments, they eventually lost any resemblance to battleships.
A foreign critic described one of the ships as "a half-submerged whale with a number of laborer's cottages built on its back." A domestic columnist, while being understandably more sympathetic, referred to her as "Le Grand Hotel."
Defining the Detailed Scope: How and Where Do You Find Requirements?
Roses, Stars and the Sun
Medieval England. War of the Roses. On April 13th, 1471 Yorkist troops, under the command of the king, Edward IV, and Lancastrian forces led by Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford met near the town of Barnet some twelve miles North of London. At four o'clock in the morning on April 14th the soldiers of both armies were awakened and started preparing for the decisive battle. Warwick's army heavily outnumbered Edward's, although sources differ on exact numbers. However, according to some historians, Lancastrian strength ranged from 10,000 to 30,000 men, with 7,000 to 15,000 on the Yorkist side.
Managing Scope for Project Success
Ever start a project without a stable foundation for scope? How did it go? To ensure project success, it is essential that scope be unambiguous and carefully managed. This can be accomplished with the Scope Management Process, which provides a formal set of procedures for planning, executing, monitoring and controlling scope.
Kick-Starting Your Projects; What You Should Know about Defining Scope
The M247 "Sergeant York" Story
In late seventies the US Department of Defense (DOD) outsourced the development of the self-propelled anti-aircraft (AA) weapon which featured twin radar-directed 40 mm rapid-fire guns to Ford Aerospace. The project was assigned the name of "Sergeant York", after the World War I US army hero, who undoubtedly would not have appreciated this dubious honor had he been alive in 1979. The weapon was intended to replace the M163 Vulcan Air Defense System and fight alongside the M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley fighting vehicles in the U.S. Army, and was similar in concept to successful Soviet and European systems such as the ZSU-23-4 and Gepard.
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