Calcutta’s Metro The major problem facing Project Managers is providing a clear and concise vision of the project details, who’s responsible for what and the initial budget. Without this the project has little or no chance to succeed. With a proper scope statement a project has the foundation for success.
In the case of Calcutta’s Metro I believe the major problem was that the Project Manager (PM) didn’t effectively manage the project scope. A project scope according to Pinto is “everything about a project – work content as well as expected outcomes” . Since an effective project scope was not developed the project had multiple problems such as funding, construction plan, site ownership, pressure for stakeholders, and traffic flow just to name a few. The majority of the short term problems like traffic flow and pressure from stakeholders led to the long term problem of been over budget and time. Project Scope Management contains the following; conceptual development, scope statement, work authorization, scope reporting, control systems, and project closeout . Any one of these elements if properly managed and executed would have help with the success of the project. During the conceptual development the project team would have used brainstorming events that would have identified any problems to considered and plan for. With a scope statement the project team would have had a clean picture of what the project was, initial budget and responsibilities. The PM could have used work authorization to ensure that the contractual requirements and terms are known. Scope reporting would have updated the scope with any changes during the project. With proper control systems where in place the PM would have known when the project was going to be off schedule and budget. The element of project scope management that I would have focused on was the scope