Lean Project Scope Sheet
The Tool and Why It’s Valuable
Setting the appropriate boundaries, or scope, of a project is critical for its eventual success. Clearly articulating what is in scope and what is out of scope helps team members maintain their focus and guides their activities. It also allows for transparent progress tracking. Setting the scope of a Lean project is synonymous with completing a scoping document, which defines more than just the scope of the project.
Setting the scope, along with the targeted outcomes and metrics to be used, is helpful in clarifying the nature of the project as well as communicating to other stakeholders. This process may require additional investigation using tools in the Characterize Issues module to clarify the opportunities to be tackled by the project.
How to Apply It
- Start by clearly stating the problem the team will address to focus their improvement activities. (For more info see Problem Definition).
- Set the boundaries of the process so that the team has enough latitude to cover the most likely causes of the problem, yet can also make an impact and finish in a reasonable amount of time.
- Examine customer(s) of the process, outputs, inputs and suppliers (in that order) from the Boundary Map (SIPOC) to fully define the scope.
- State which parts of the process, organization, etc. are out of scope to improve clarity.
- Work with the project sponsors to develop the project objectives, success measures and initial communications.
- Identify team members and coordinate scheduling of the problem solving session(s).
- Failure to identify and address the root cause means the problem will the incremental expansion of the project.
- Beware of scope creep recur.
- Scoping helps the team maintain their focus, guide their activities, and track progress.
Scope Sheet Guide
STATE OF COLORADO LEAN PROJECT OVERVIEW:
SCOPING DOCUMENT PREPARATION GUIDELINES
- What is occurring, what is happening, what “pain” are we or our customers experiencing? What is wrong, not working, or could be much better?
- Where does it occur?
- How much, or what is the extent or magnitude of the problem?
- What will be different in the future?
- What are the specific outcomes we expect? An example might be “Reduce number of days to process a claim by 50%”
- What metrics will this project impact?
Note: Deliverables may be listed here.
Customers:
Who are the direct users of our services affected by this project?
Stakeholders:
Who else may be impacted by the project or will play a key role in the project’s success?
Primary Metric(s):
These are typically lagging metrics that measure process outcomes and performance to customer requirements.
Other Metrics:
These may be input or process metrics that, if improved, should drive improved outcomes and performance.
In Scope
What are the start and end steps in the process?
Are there particular populations, products or services included?
Out of Scope
What is not included?