How to define the scope of a Design Project?

Jun 4, 2023

Project scope is defining goals, time, resources, technology, budget, and limitations of the project. This helps all stakeholders to be aligned and start the project with clarity.

Duration

1 week

Complexity

Beginner

Contributors

Design Lead/ Design Manager, Product Manager, Development Manager, Project Owner, Client

Getting Started

Before starting a project, you need to define the scope of a project that includes goals, deadlines, deliverables, etc. so that you can measure the success of the project after its completion.

Why?

Defining the Scope of a design project is important as:

It helps in having a common vision and set of expectations for the project.
It helps to ensure that the project runs systematically.
It helps in planning the time considering the limitations and dependencies on other functions.
It helps in aligning the design work with business goals and organizational priorities.

How-to?

The scope of a Design Project can be defined by following simple steps

Determine project goals: Determine your project goals, i.e. what do you want to deliver at the end of your project?
Gather project requirements: Gather all requirements, past research, business goals, etc. to understand the problem that needs to be solved.
Ask questions: Ask the right questions to get the required info to proceed with the project. This could be done through Stakeholder interviews or by clarifying with relevant team members.
Identify: Identify the following specifics:

Target users
Expected outcome
Design goals based on the business goals
Ownership of activities
Process
Scope of work defined as user stories or activities
Acceptance criteria for each user story/ activity
Tech limitations
Dependencies
Assumptions
Risks
Tools
Resources

Plan: Plan and prioritize activities based on the timeline. If the timeline does not seem manageable, call out the need for a reduction in scope or a change in timeline. This should be done very critically and objectively.
Review: Review the plan with the client or product manager and get an agreement. Iterate the scope to arrive at a consensus.
Share: Share the scope with stakeholders and team members to get the work started

Get started with defining the scope for your own project right away with <https://asana.com/templates/scope-management-plan>

Do’s & Don'ts

Do’s

Don’ts

1. Keep the project scope objective.

2. Define the most important milestones.

3. Ensure everyone is on the same page in terms of project scope.

4. Ensure that there are no items without an owner.

5. Call out risks, if any.

1. Don’t be vague in the project scope.

2. Don’t close scoping without prioritization.

3. Don’t have overlapping ownership of activities.

4. Don’t write long descriptive documents.

Templates

Project scope management plan template from Asana
Project Scope Template from Miro
Project scope template from Figma
Simple Project Scope Statement from Smartsheet
Project Scope Template from Slite

Suggested Tools

GoogleDocs
Office365
Asana
Cubyts

References

7 Key Questions to Help You Define the Scope of Your Design Project from IxDF
Starting a New UX Project by NN Group
The quick guide to defining project scope—in 8 steps from Asana
Design Project Scoping Guide from Stanford DSchool
How To Define The Project Scope The Foolproof Way from MindBowser

Other Related Best Practices

Stakeholder Interviews
Alignment Workshop
User Stories