productscope

Productscope is the defined set of features, functions, and boundaries that a product is intended to deliver. It states what the product will do, for whom, and under what conditions, and also clarifies what lies outside its scope. By establishing productscope early, teams align on goals and prevent misaligned expectations during development.

Typically developed through collaboration among product managers, designers, engineers, and stakeholders, productscope is captured in a formal scope statement or product requirements document. It includes the product vision, target user personas, primary use cases, essential capabilities, quality attributes, constraints (time, budget, technology), and explicit exclusions. It may be refined as market or user needs evolve.

Productscope informs prioritization and roadmapping, and it interfaces with the product backlog and milestones. Changes to scope should go through a governance process to avoid scope creep—unauthorized expansion of scope without adjusting resources. Common techniques to manage scope include setting acceptance criteria, prioritization frameworks, and change-control mechanisms.

Example: In a project to build a mobile messaging app, the productscope would specify core features like one-to-one messaging, group chats, and message search; performance and security requirements; platforms supported; and explicit exclusions such as voice or video calling if not within the current scope.