Improving the project scope definition  – Visualization

Challenge & Selection

I have selected a challenge (currently a pain) which is in the beginning of our process, when we are trying  to get all the information needed from the Customer to create a project based on the three main  foundations: Cost, Scope & Time. The challenge consists of how we can be sure that we are covering and  understanding all the customer requirements and put all the information in the right way in the right  document, Why? Because right after, someone of the engineering team will be in charge of the  deployment and he needs a complete understanding of the project scope -here is the challenge-. Missing  some requirements or even details inside a requirement, can result in both: a delayed project and an extra  cost. So, during the process of understanding the customer requirements, there is a lot of people involved  and conversations. I have thought that the Visualization Tool can be very useful to understand all the  elements involved in the process, the relationships between them, the scope, the boundaries needed,  and the main elements and roles. Currently the output of the sales/presales stage are: Quote and the  Scope Of Work Document.

Application

I began the process doing the below diagram, trying to include all the elements and relationships I see.

On the left, we have the customer and his different players. First, we have the product team, who is  concern about service ARPU, service revenue, service user experience, and other financial KPIs. Second,  we have the engineering team which is concerned about the technology, integrations, people involved,  and cost/budget. Finally, we have the operations team concerned about availability and support tasks.

In the middle of the diagram, we have the sales guy and the presales guy. Both are in charge of the  customer requirement understanding and needed in order to approach and deliver the best solution for  any use case presented by the customer.

On the right, we have the deployment guy who will be doing the project deployment in itself, based on  the scope defined in the sales process. Here we have the pain when the project scope is not fully finished,  agreed upon, or including all details needed.

I met with presales, sales, and deployment people, where I got additional feedback in order to complete  the big picture, to be sure I’m including all the elements, and to understand why the deployment team is  not getting all the information needed. These guys told me a lot of things, they agreed with the  relationships, the information flow and how they can get useless information. I will tell you in the next  section all the details.

Insight & Approach

After reviewing the diagram, most of the information we have seen make sense in terms of the elements,  processes, and information flow, but we find new conditions, especially some relationships that are not  happening, we are not getting all the information needed from the customer and we are supposing some  use cases conditions. On the other hand, we found issues when we are managing multiples sales/presales  processes in parallel. All of these “noise” in the process, can finish in a non-complete scope which in the  deployment stage can be a real risk impacting both cost and schedule.

The information retrieved from the previous process, can be seen like a GAP. We will be doing a  brainstorming based on the GAP to manage both the missing information and the missing relationships.  The final goal is to improve the project scope definition doing a productive and efficient project  deployment.


Improving the project scope definition – Visualization Challenge & Selection I have selected a challenge ( currently a pain ) which is in the beginning of our process , when we are trying to get all the information needed from the Customer to create a project based on the three main foundations : Cost , Scope & Time . The challenge consists of how we can be sure that we are covering and understanding all the customer requirements and put all the information in the right way in the right document , Why ? Because right after , someone of the engineering team will be in charge of the deployment and he needs a complete understanding of the project scope -here is the challenge- . Missing some requirements or even details inside a requirement , can result in both : a delayed project and an extra cost . So , during the process of understanding the customer requirements , there is a lot of people involved and conversations . I have thought that the Visualization Tool can be very useful to understand all the elements involved in the process , the relationships between them , the scope , the boundaries needed , and the main elements and roles . Currently the output of the sales / presales stage are : Quote and the Scope Of Work Document . Application I began the process doing the below diagram , trying to include all the elements and relationships I see . On the left , we have the customer and his different players . First , we have the product team , who is concern about service ARPU , service revenue , service user experience , and other financial KPIs . Second , we have the engineering team which is concerned about the technology , integrations , people involved , and cost / budget . Finally , we have the operations team concerned about availability and support tasks . In the middle of the diagram , we have the sales guy and the presales guy . Both are in charge of the customer requirement understanding and needed in order to approach and deliver the best solution for any use case presented by the customer . On the right , we have the deployment guy who will be doing the project deployment in itself , based on the scope defined in the sales process . Here we have the pain when the project scope is not fully finished , agreed upon , or including all details needed . I met with presales , sales , and deployment people , where I got additional feedback in order to complete the big picture , to be sure I ’m including all the elements , and to understand why the deployment team is not getting all the information needed . These guys told me a lot of things , they agreed with the relationships , the information flow and how they can get useless information . I will tell you in the next section all the details . Insight & Approach After reviewing the diagram , most of the information we have seen make sense in terms of the elements , processes , and information flow , but we find new conditions , especially some relationships that are not happening , we are not getting all the information needed from the customer and we are supposing some use cases conditions . On the other hand , we found issues when we are managing multiples sales / presales processes in parallel . All of these “ noise ” in the process , can finish in a non - complete scope which in the deployment stage can be a real risk impacting both cost and schedule . The information retrieved from the previous process , can be seen like a GAP . We will be doing a brainstorming based on the GAP to manage both the missing information and the missing relationships . The final goal is to improve the project scope definition doing a productive and efficient project deployment .