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Jory MacKay
Jory is a writer, content strategist and award-winning editor of the Unsplash Book. He contributes to Inc., Fast
Company, Quartz, and more.
September 06, 2018 · 10 min read

9 Steps to Write a Scope of Work (SOW) for

Any Project and Industry
🎁 Bonus Material: Scope of Work Template

Write your own? Use our template!

We've prepared a free template to help you
write your own Scope of Work. Download it
and follow along the article.

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4/24/2020 9 Steps to Write a Scope of Work (SOW) for Any Project and Industry | Planio

Whenever you’re collaborating with people outside your organization, it’s all too easy for
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miscommunication or presumptions a project off course. whyusa scope
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A SOW brings together everything from work details, to schedules, terms, and expected
outcomes to not only define exactly what should be done on a project. But also to protect
you from the dreaded scope creep where features, additions, and nice-to-haves balloon
your project beyond what you’d initially planned.

Think of it like a map that can guide the completion of basically any project you can
imagine—from a website redesign to building a new app or feature.

In this guide, we’ll run you through everything you need to know about how to write an
effective statement of work for any project and any industry.

What is a scope of work? And why do you need one?

Scope of Work template and outline

› Section 1: Introduction
› Section 2: Project Overview and Objectives
› Section 3: Scope of work
› Section 4: Task list
› Section 5: Project Schedule
› Section 6: Project Deliverables
› Section 7: Adoption plan
› Section 8: Project Management
› Section 9: Success Criteria and Sign-off

5 must-haves for effective SOWs

How to use a SOW with Agile Project Development
Final thoughts on writing a solid SOW

What is a scope of work? And why do you need one?

At its core, a scope of work is a document that covers the working agreement between
two parties. Usually that’s a client (aka you) and an agency, vendor, or contractor (aka the
outside team you’re working with).

As a project manager, you’ll use a SOW to make sure expectations are clear and agreed-
upon, and that both you and whomever you’re working with know exactly what they
should be doing. To make that happen, an effective SOW should include things like:

Project objectives: Your problem statement. What is it the issue that you’re facing
and what do you want to achieve with this project?
Schedule/Milestones: When is the project starting and when does it need to be
finished by? What are the major milestones or phases of the project that you’ll be
able to track and measure progress by?

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Individual Tasks:What exactly needs to get done in order to go from where you are
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now to a finished project?
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the website mockup? Or usable code on a staging server that you can implement
when you’re ready?
Payment Information: How much is the project going to cost and how are you going
to pay the team you’re working with?
Expected Outcomes: The answer to your problem statement. Are you looking for an
increase in traffic, conversions, or sales? What is the business objective that you
want to hit with this project and how will you measure and report on it?
Terms, conditions, and requirements: Define the terms you’re using in the SOW and
any conditions or requirements that aren’t already made clear.

While a project proposal helps get you buy-in for internal projects, a SOW is used when
working with outside teams. Therefore, it needs to be especially clear, use language
everyone understands, and set detailed tasks, deliverables, and other services.

A good SOW avoids some of the biggest project management traps, such as:

Confusion, miscommunication, and disputes over scope

Misinterpretations of expectations and needs
“Selective Amnesia” of what was said and the need for expensive rework

It’s a lot to ask. But if you pull it off, an SOW will ensure you, your stakeholders, and the
outside teams you’re working with all have a clear idea of what a “successful” project
looks like, and how you’re going to get there.

Scope of Work template and outline

Alright, so we have a basic understanding of what a SOW is and what its purpose is. But
what does it look like in practice?

Write your own? Use our template!

We've prepared a free template to help you
write your own Scope of Work. Download it
and follow along the article.

Download Free Template

A SOW is a detailed doc that the people you’re collaborating with will reference back to
throughout the project and therefore needs some very specific information to be
valuable. Here’s a basic outline of what you should include:
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Section 1: Introduction Features Pricing & Sign Up Security About us Support Login

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down. What is the type of work that is being done? Is it a service that’s being performed
or a product that’s being built? Who are the parties involved.

The introduction can also cover the types of formal agreements that the SOW can be
used to create later, such as:

Standing offer: An agreement to buy a service or product at a certain price for a

certain time.
Contract: A more formal, legally binding agreement based on mutually agreed
details.

Section 2: Project Overview and Objectives

With the basics out of the way, it’s time to address why this project is being done. Start
with an explanation of the project, the context around it, and the business objectives it’s
trying to solve or expected outcomes.

You’ll get into more details later on in your SOW, so keep this intentionally surface level
and easy to understand. As Salesforce’s Paul Cannon explains:

“If a coworker or family member cannot explain what the scope is and what
success looks like then this foundational section needs to be updated until it is
crystal clear.”

Section 3: Scope of work

The next section outlines the work that needs to be done in order to complete the
project. Again, keep this higher-level (as you’ll put specific tasks and requirements in the
next section). You can do this as either a bullet list of steps or a simple explanation.

For example, let’s say you’re contracting an agency to redesign your website. Your scope
of work section might include steps like “Design new website mockups,” and “develop
new website design.” While the next section will break these down into the actual tasks
involved such as “create new landing page design prototypes in InVision.”

In some cases, your scope section can also include technical requirements like the
hardware and software to be used.

Section 4: Task list

Task management is an incredibly important part of any project, but especially when
you’re working with an outside team. Breaking down your larger scope into more granular
actions is the best way to ensure everyone’s on the same page about what needs to get
done.

One point to remember here is that tasks are not deliverables (i.e. what you’ll receive).
They’re the actions that need to be taken. As such, each task you write down should
explain a specific action to be taken (i.e. “redesign landing page” vs. just “landing page”)

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For software projects, you’ll want to be especially diligent about going into detail. Think
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It’s also a good practice to break your tasks down into phases.

So, for our website redesign project, our SOW might have a “kickoff” phase full of tasks
around research and planning. A “design” phase with prototyping and wireframing pages.
A “build” phase around developing and implementing the designs. And a “test” phase
where we do usability testing and look for bugs.

Section 5: Project Schedule

The SOW project schedule covers more than just start and end dates. It’s a chance to
outline when, where, how, and by whom the work is going to be done. Here’s the main
questions this section of your SOW should answer:

How long is the project going to take and what are the phases/milestones?

Time is often one of the more important deciding factors when it comes to pricing a
project, so you’ll want to be clear upfront what expectations are.

Does the project have specific predetermined dates? Will it take place over a given
period of time (like “one 6-month period”). Or is there an end date that coincides with
some other event such as a change in government regulation (like GDPR) that affects
your business model?

In Agile companies, this can often be hard to do. You might be able to estimate a timeline,
but as you’re working iteratively it’s not as simple as picking dates on the calendar.

Instead, you’ll want to think beyond a fixed scope and try to create structure to the project
while maintaining the flexibility to pivot and adapt. One way to do this is to create a
schedule for the first phase or milestone and then set aside time to reassess and adapt
the SOW once you’ve completed it.

In every case, however, a SOW should never have an open-ended project schedule.
Rather, if you need to leave it more flexible you should set a maximum amount of time
that can be spent without approval/notification.

Where is the project work going to take place?

Simply put, is this an on-site or remote project? You can also list if any regular meetings
are going to take place (like a daily Scrum) and when and where those will take place.

What are the required resources for you and the contractor?

Who’s doing what (both from the contractor and your team)? Do the contractor’s current
resources match up with the project expectations? And what about you? How many
people are you going to need to help run and support this project? Don’t forget to be
realistic and allow for a decent amount of overhead.

Section 6: Project Deliverables

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It’s time to get down to brass tacks. The project deliverables section of your SOW is
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list things like:

Coded, fully functional landing page

Google Analytics setup and tracking metrics
Redesigned e-commerce page template

In many situations, you might want to combine the deliverables and timeline so that you
have an accurate picture of when each deliverable should be finished and what’s
dependent on it. This way, you get a better overall picture of the flow of the project and
can see where bottlenecks might come up.

Section 7: Adoption plan

This is something that’s left out of 90% of SOWs but is a valuable piece to include. An
adoption plan is the process for how the deliverables will be put into place. Whether
that’s the migration of your new website to your old domain or how a feature will be
brought into an existing app.

You bought into the value of the project. And while it’s ultimately your responsibility to
lead the adoption of it at your company, why not let the experts you hired help guide you?

Section 8: Project Management

With most of the details on the actual project in place, there’s just a bit of administrative
work left to include in your SOW. This is where you outline and detail any missing
information that’s key to keeping you and the other party happy. This means things like:

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Payment: How and when will payments be made? Will it be by milestone and
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Reporting: Who’s responsible for signing off on deliverables, approving scope
changes/adjustments, and handling support and maintenance?
Terms: What other requirements and standards need to be agreed upon? This could
be security requirements. Exclusions (i.e. what’s not included). Or assumptions (i.e.
who owns the code at the end of the project).

Section 9: Success Criteria and Sign-off

Finally, the last section of your SOW covers how you will accept the project deliverables.
This means who will authorize them and how deliverables will be reviewed and signed off
on. You should also provide a bit of guidance and criteria around what is “acceptable”
work.

Getting this agreed upon up front might seem unnecessary, but it helps reduce the
chance of serious headaches later on when you receive something that isn’t what you
expected. Remember, a SOW is all about clarity and detail. The more you give, the better
result you’ll get.

Once that’s out of the way, all that’s left is a couple of signatures and you’re ready to get
going!

5 must-haves for effective SOWs

Before we move on, there’s just a couple points I want to make absolutely clear. Yes, I
probably sound like a broken record here, but clarity and detail are essential to an
effective SOW.

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So as you’re writing your SOW, make absolutely sure that it hits all these must haves:

. Explicit Details: If it’s not on the SOW, don’t assume it will get done. This means
including assumptions on effort, time, and resources.
. Visualizations: Wherever possible show what you’re talking about rather than try to
explain it. Visualizations, pictures, and examples go a long way in explaining your
goals and needs.
. Definitions for any terminology: Again, the golden rule of SOWs is “thou shalt not
assume.” If there are business terms, phrases, or acronyms in your SOW, make sure
they are defined.
. Time for reviews: A SOW is a plan. But at their best, plans are just educated
guesses. Make sure your project schedule and deliverable timeline has space in it
for reviews, pivots, and unexpected changes in priorities.
. Success definitions: Probably the most important aspect of an effective SOW is both
parties being aligned in what success looks like. If it’s at all unclear what you want to
achieve at the end, rewrite it.

How to use a SOW with Agile Project Development

SOWs are powerful documents for project managers. But if you work with an agile team
you’ve probably got a few questions. First off, how can you create such a detailed
document when you’re working in sprints and adapting to tests and user research?

However, a good project still needs structure. As a company that practices Agile product
development, you might not know the full extent of your scope of work from the start. And
your document will need to account for any changes, additions, or pivots that can happen
throughout the product development lifecycle.

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One way to handle this is by dividing the work into iterative phases.
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Some phases may be more detailed than others. However, each can be re-assessed and
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requirements, while later ones are estimates until you get closer to them.

Try to balance flexibility with structure. What do you know for sure? And what will only
become apparent once you’re in the project? Make educated guesses and work in
checkpoints to keep everyone on the same page and moving forward.

Final thoughts on writing a solid SOW

Whether you’re building a new product from scratch, going through a redesign, or just
getting a bit of illustration work done, a SOW is a powerful tool to keep everyone
accountable and on task. It might seem like a lot of work to do upfront, but the more you
can make clear, the easier the rest of the project will flow.

That said, there are a few final pieces of advice that can help make the difference
between an effective SOW and one that misses the mark:

Keep it brief: Detail is important, but don’t go overboard. Writing a 30+ page SOW
will inevitably mean your contractor will have to spend time going through it line-by-
line (maybe with their attorney) slowing the whole process down and costing them
money. The crazier the exclusions, clauses, and exceptions you write, the more time
it’s going to take them and the more concerned they’re going to be.
Write in the earlier stages of a project: It’s never too early to start writing a SOW.
Starting early means that the document has the chance to evolve alongside your
understanding of the project and your needs.
Bring in other people to help: If you don’t have the expertise to write certain
sections, ask for help. This might mean bringing in a technical writer if you’re unsure
of how to exactly express the requirements and infrastructure.
Be clear about what the project doesn’t include: Especially in agile software
development, requirements might be vague, so you need to be clear what paths not
to take as much as which ones to go down.

There you have it! Whether you’re hiring an agency to help you build a new app or
remodeling your house, this should help you put together a comprehensive and clear
SOW that will keep everyone on track and accountable.

Write your own SOW using our

template!
We've prepared a free template to help you
write your own Scope of Work. Download it
now to jump start your own SOW writing.

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