The scope is the boundary of something in business. It may apply to an agreement, contract, set of responsibilities, or project. The scope defines what is covered and what is not.

In Lean, the scope is most commonly used to refer to the boundary of what a project will cover.

Scope can define:

The time (a three-week study)
A process (assembling a wiring harness, or Station 12)
A physical location (the Midwest sales region)

Scoping a project well includes matching the available resources to the goals of the team.

Teams often have a problem with adding tasks and objectives along the way. This phenomenon is known as scope creep and should be carefully managed. If the added tasks are important, the team champion will need to add resources or remove other objectives to ensure project success.