Time Core · Project management · Module
Defining the work
What is being done, what is not, and what would count as finished — the agreement everything downstream depends on.
The idea
How it works
Most project failure traces to a scope that was never agreed. Everyone assumed a shared understanding, and the difference emerged three months in as a disagreement about whether something was in.
The exclusions do most of the work. A scope stating what is included is interpreted generously; one stating what is excluded is not.
Working with it
In practice
- 01
Write the exclusions
What is deliberately not being done. This list prevents more disputes than the inclusions do.
- 02
Define finished before starting
What would have to be true for this to be complete, in terms someone could check.
- 03
Have the sceptic read it
Someone who will have to deliver it. Their questions are the ambiguities.
- 04
Record what changed and why
Scope change is normal. Scope drift is scope change nobody recorded.
One level in
The components of defining the work
A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.
The exclusions prevent more disputes than the inclusions. Write what is deliberately not being done.
The other modules in project management
Sequence
What has to happen before what, what the project depends on that it does not control, and which chain determines the date.
LearnRunning it
How progress is established, how change is handled, and how a problem becomes visible before the deadline rather than at it.
LearnClosing
Ending the project deliberately: confirming it is done, releasing the people, and recording what actually happened.
Learn