#08 - Will / Won’t, What is in scope and what is out of scope?
What is in scope and what is out of scope?
Once I have captured the feature stories that capture the key features as outlined in my previous post:
I move onto the eighth area, the Information Product Will / Won’t.
In the Will / Won’t area I describe what will and won’t be incorporated into the Information Product.
These statements set the scope boundary and high-level acceptance criteria for the delivery of the Information Product.
The Will/Won’t statements outlines the scope and acceptance criteria for the Information Product, balancing stakeholder requirements with realistic constraints.
In any delivery, there will inevitably be desired features that can’t be included due to constraints like time, resources, or technical limitations.
By explicitly identifying and agreeing with stakeholders on these items, I can prevent future misunderstandings and disappointment.
I find it’s often more crucial to identify what won’t be included, as stakeholders generally assume their requirements will be automatically met.
This area may need multiple iterations, potentially requiring the Agile Data Team to undertake research to identify high effort or high risk features.
Involving stakeholders when deciding on exclusions ensures they understand and agree with the reasons for these decisions or the postponement of certain features to subsequent iterations.
These Will/Won’t statements help manage stakeholder expectations and concentrate the Agile Data team’s efforts to deliver value quickly.