What is a product scope document and how to write one?

What is a Product Scope?

Product scope is document which aligns teams and stakeholders with details of the product/feature to be delivered along with requirements, assumptions, constraints and acceptance (success) criteria.

In simpler terms a scope document includes details on:

1. What problem are we solving and why?
2. What to build? - Detailed description of the solution in terms of features, user stories, use cases and functionalities.
3. Details of team members and stakeholders inviolved.
4. Data points to validate the proposed solution and measure success.
5. Timelines and estimates.

How to write a Product Scope?

Although there is no specific format of writing a scope document as it varies across companies and also every product manager has their own style of writing a scope document.

Now let’s understand how everything comes together to give structure to a scope document.

1. The Product Intermission

   1. What problem are we solving and why?
   2. How will we measure success?
   3. Job Story
   4. Scope Overview

The product intermission is a breif summary including the problem statmemt that we are trying to solve along with the details/data that why solving this problem is important which may include business impact, customer value, cost optimization etc. It also includes the success metrics for the feature/product which would help us measure success of the release.

It may include a Job Story which is one line statement explaning the problem statement from the user’s point of view and highlighting the value derived by the user from this release.

It may also include a Scope Overview of the solution & the delivery process in terms of intent, actions and outcomes.

1. Team Members, Stakeholders, Milestones and Estimates

   1. List of all the team memebers & stakeholders involved in the release.
   2. List of all the milestones with timelines of ideation, scope documentation, designing, development, testing and going live.

2. Design

   1. A mockup of the product/feature that is to be developed.

   This is essential to get an idea of what the end result should look like and help predefine what we are trying to bhuild in terms of design and flow.

3. Scope - User Stories / Use Cases

   1. User Stories - User stories are description of a user’s requirement written from a users perspective. They describle how a user may possibaly approach to use the solution.
   2. Use Cases - Use Cases is a specific way in which the solution could potentially be used. We should aim to write use cases to cover all the possible ways the feature/product could be used.

   The detailed scope document covers user stories and use cases of the feature. It helps create clarity in terms of what are the possible ways the user may be allowed to use the feature and where to limit the usage, providing details about all the possible scenarios of the user flow and feature usage.

4. Future Scope

   1. The possible future iterations of the release.

   Keeping the above four points in mind while writing a scope document is always benificial as it covers almost everything from identifying the problem to delivering a solution.