Scope Management Secrets with Brad Bigelow

What You Will Learn

Upon completion of this training, learners will be able to:

  • Effectively prepare project charters and project management plans primed to ensure visibility, achieve expectations, and deliver results.
  • Explain how to anticipate likely sources of scope change and formulate effective responses through change management.
  • Apply effective scope management practices throughout the entire project life cycle.

Description

Scope is the key to effective project management. Most projects are driven by the project scope, yet it is the most poorly defined and least understood aspect of project management. 

This training will give attendees the keys to unlock the secrets of project scope management. First and foremost is defining scope in terms of both work and products. Describing how the work will be performed is crucial to organizing and communicating with the project team and stakeholders. Establishing and maintaining a strong consensus on the products or capabilities the project will deliver is essential to effective planning and budgeting. Baselining the two aspects of scope is the foundation of good change management.

This training offers project managers the tools to master the challenge of scope management. It provides an in-depth, multidimensional approach to analyzing and managing project scope. Starting with traditional notions such as the work breakdown structure (WBS) and product breakdown structure (PBS), it reveals the complex nature of project scope and leads students through exercises aimed at providing practical tools for project planning, estimation, and change management. This training also questions some of the traditional assumptions about scope change—particularly the view that changes in scope that affect schedule and budget should be avoided at all costs. A project’s ability to change could be its most significant advantage. The tension between these two perspectives is at the heart of the shift to agile and other more adaptive project management approaches. 

This training enables project managers to achieve a more expert—and more effective—appreciation of how to define and manage scope and to anticipate problems before they crop up.

AGENDA

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    • Scope Management—The Basics and the Not-So Basics
      • Scope Management: The Basics
        • Projects and project management versus operations
        • Key definitions
        • Why scope management is the heart of project management
        • Scope and project life cycles—predictive and adaptive
        • Scope management according to the PMBOK® Guide
      • Scope Management: The Not-So Basics—Why Scope Is Complex
        • Where projects come from
        • Understanding the project’s why
        • How projects relate to benefits
        • Work scope versus product scope
        • Work aspects
        • Product aspects
        • Other aspects of scope
        • The importance of a holding space
        • Baselining scope
      • Scope Management: The Not-So Basics—Why Scope Is Fuzzy
        • Why scope differs from cost and time
        • Types of requirements
        • Stakeholder identification and analysis
        • How to collect requirements
        • How to analyze requirements
        • How requirements influence the project life cycle
        • Requirements tools
        • Managing requirements change
      • Scope Management: The Not-So Basics—Why Scope Is Risky
      • The know-how/know-what matrix
      • The certainty of uncertainty
      • Impact of duration and distance
      • Cognitive biases
      • Organizational culture
      • Change and risk appetite
      • Governance and decision-making
      • Responding to scope risks
    • Scope Management Throughout the Project Life Cycle
      • What Happens Before the Project?
        • Change drivers: Reasons organizations initiate projects
        • Organizational assets
        • Enterprise environmental factors (EEFs)
      • Project Initiation
        • How projects get initiated
        • Grand strategy/innovation/accidents/opportunities
        • Project initiation: The theory
        • Project initiation: The practice
        • Project failure/project success
      • Scope Planning
        • Planning scope management 
          • Project archaeology
          • Stakeholder analysis
          • Boundaries/constraints/assumptions
          • Scope management administration
          • Requirements collection/analysis
          • Creating the WBS and PBS
      • Monitoring and Controlling Scope
        • Reporting
        • Checkpoints and reviews
        • Validation and acceptance
        • Scope change management 
        • Links to other project management processes
      • Project Closure
        • Where does the project scope go?
        • Lessons learned 

I appreciated the knowledge and expertise that the instructor brought to this course. It was also nice how interactive it was and to be able to share our own experiences.

Due to the class size, the training provided an opportunity with the extremely knowledgeable and experienced instructor to have an open discussion and make the content relevant and relatable to each participant.

The instructor was very detailed in explaining the processes of the Scope Management.

PDU Allocation Table

The table below displays the number of professional development units (PDUs) awarded for each PMI® credential, as they align to the PMI Talent Triangle®. Power Skills and Business Acumen PDUs apply evenly across all credentials and Ways of Working PDUs apply only to specific credentials. PDUs will be added in full to all eligible credentials. *Please note that the asterisked row below applies to the PMI® Agile Certification Journey and includes Disciplined Agile® Scrum Master (DASM), Disciplined Agile® Senior Scrum Master (DASSM), Disciplined Agile® Coach (DAC), and Disciplined Agile® Value Stream Consultant (DAVSC) certifications.
Ways of Working Power Skills Business Acumen Total
CAPM® / PMI-CP™ / PMP® / PgMP® 10 0 4 14.00
PMI-ACP® / Agile* 10 0 4 14.00
PMI-SP® 0 0 4 4.00
PMI-RMP® 0 0 4 4.00
PfMP® 0 0 4 4.00
PMI-PBA® 3 0 4 7.00
Ways of Working Power Skills Business Acument Talent Triangle

Instructor(s)

Brad

Brad Bigelow PMP

With over three decades of experience in managing projects and programs, Brad Bigelow has worked in national and international organizations and has dealt with capabilities ranging from telephony to satellite operations, military command and control systems, software development, business change management, and typical organizational IT. He has worked as a project and program manager in multiple settings and has extensive experience in international projects in the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East. He served as a content contributor for the PMBOK® Guide—Sixth Edition, Section Lead member for the PMBOK® Guide—Fifth Edition, contributor to the 2017 edition of the PRINCE2 Manual, and recently served as a member of the Core Committee for The Standard for Program Management—Fourth Edition. He has addressed project management conferences and seminars in Europe, the Middle East, and North America and taught project management for NATO’s leading IT agency.

Training Information

PDUs
14
Level
Core
Dates
6 - 7 August 2025
Length
2 Days

Price

Member Price
US$1735.00
(US$1648.00 before 9 June)
Nonmember Price
US$2112.00
(US$2006.00 before 9 June)
Government Price
US$1565.00
Student Price
US$767.00

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