5.5 Validate Scope

Get the customer to formally accept each finished deliverable.

Monitoring and Controlling / Scope · ← PMBOK reference · See it on the map

Why it matters

Skipping formal acceptance leaves the door open for a customer to reject work much later, after the team has already moved on to the next task.

What done looks like

Every completed deliverable has been formally accepted by the customer or sponsor.

First time tip

Get acceptance deliverable by deliverable, not in one bundle at the end. A problem found early is far cheaper to fix than one found at the finish line.

What you need (Inputs)

• Project Management Plan
• Requirements Documentation
  How Scrum/Kanban projects satisfy this — counted from: backlog items (driftless/models/agile.py:BacklogItem) — a backlog item's description IS its requirement statement; present once any item has one, healthy once every item does
• Requirements Traceability Matrix
• Verified Deliverables
• Work Performance Data

How you do it (Tools & Techniques)

• Inspection
• Decision Making

What you get (Outputs)

• Accepted Deliverables
  How Scrum/Kanban projects satisfy this — counted from: reviewed sprints with completed points (driftless/models/delivery.py:Sprint) for an agile project, or the department's service levels (driftless/models/operations.py:ServiceLevel) for an operations-cadence one — an agile team accepts an increment at the sprint review, so a reviewed sprint that completed points is accepted work; an operations-cadence project accepts finished work against the department's own service levels
• Work Performance Information
  How Scrum/Kanban projects satisfy this — counted from: sprints under way (driftless/models/delivery.py:Sprint) for an agile project, or service levels and incidents (driftless/models/operations.py) for an operations-cadence one — a sprint under way is the work performance data an agile team reads instead of a baseline-and-actuals pair; an operations-cadence project reads the same question off its service levels and the incidents raised against them
• Change Requests

Worked example

As soon as the new shelving is installed, the director walks the room and signs off on it, instead of waiting until the whole renovation — paint and outlets included — is finished to accept anything.

Common pitfalls

• Waiting until the very end to accept every deliverable at once.
• Treating a verbal "looks good" as formal acceptance with nothing written down.
• Accepting a deliverable nobody actually inspected against its requirements.

How driftless helps

• Inspection can be run here.