How to Answer: What is software scope, and what does the process involve?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Software Developer job interview.
5. What is software scope, and what does the process involve?
How to Answer
Software scope is a set of activities and actions to be performed as part of the delivery of a software product. Software scope should be well defined with phase-by-phase milestones, functionalities, and deliverable components. A question like this will be asked regardless of what experience level you are at in software development. This is a fundamental question that all software developers should know and should know well. Let me give you some clarifying pointers that you can use for a better explanation and response. Software scope identifies a few different but important elements, including what the product will do, what is outside the scope of the project (what is not to be done), what is the timeline for completion of the project, who is documenting the list of deliverables, goals, tasks, and what the estimated cost of the project will be. One more part should be covered because it comes up more times than not in an interview. Project Scope creep is when the project experiences changes or uncontrolled growth during the project. This is because the project was not well defined, documented, or controlled early in the project specification phase.
Written by Tom Dushaj on August 31st, 2021
1st Answer Example
"Software scope for me is relatively easy because, at my current company, I'm involved at every stage of the documentation and project delivery process. It is my responsibility to identify all aspects of the project scope, including but not limited to what the end product will do, what the expected timeline will be, who needs to approve deliverables at every phase, what the goals and tasks will be for assigned team members, how the features will work and their characteristics, and what the estimated cost will be for the final product. As part of my due diligence, I always draft a Project scope document that includes items that are not part of the scope of work. This helps eliminate any confusion or miscommunication with the end client."
Written by Tom Dushaj on August 31st, 2021
2nd Answer Example
"The way that I define a scope of work project is to identify milestones for a project and present them to the end customer for approval so that we don't get project scope creep or delays. As with all projects, I take a broad view of all aspects of the project to ensure it is being addressed at all levels and that we don't have any surprises. One of the safeguards that I take is to make sure the team is experienced and can deliver even under tight deadlines. In a recent project, I managed the entire project scope process all the way to the delivery of the end product. I was involved in all aspects of the project, even the customer interaction, and milestone approvals."
Written by Tom Dushaj on August 31st, 2021