So now, imagine the starting Project Scope is 2000 person-days of Work units, and then imagine that three weeks into the project we discover the need for a new feature. We simply add a set of new tasks into the Project Plan, with estimated Work-units for each new task. We then re-sum the Project Scope. Voila. New day, new tasks, new scope.
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- [note::See "The Iron Triangle"]

Projects progress as as tasks are completed. We quantify this with work units. Halfway through the project duration, we hope that half of the project’s Work Units are complete and that half remain.
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To track progress, we keep track of Work Units remaining. Each assessment cycle, as we complete Project Tasks in a Critical Action plan, we record the remaining Work-units for that task as zero. For example, suppose we have a task to complete a drawing for a new part, estimated at one person-day of work. Whether it actually takes a half of a day or two days, when we complete the task, we set the remaining work to zero. By setting the remaining work to zero, we are getting credit for completing one person-day of Project Scope. In other words, we get credit in our plan for completing the estimated number of work units, not the actual number of work units expended. As long as the project estimates are reasonable, this works fine.
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If we did not finish the Project Task, we simply estimate the Work Units still needed to complete the Project Task. If we didn’t finish our drawing, and we still have half a day’s work left, we set the remaining work to 0.5 person-days. I’ve seen remaining work be larger than the original estimate, when tasks have run into some obstacle. This is okay too. It’s reality. If remaining work builds up, we need more capacity to get the project done on time.
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Backlog tasks have their full estimated Work Units remaining. Incomplete tasks have their recently estimated remainder Work Units remaining. Sum these all up to get the Remaining Scope.
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Each week, we calculate the Cumulative Work Plan as follows: divide the current Project Scope by the Project Duration and multiply by the number of weeks that have elapsed since the project started. For example, if a Project has 2000 Work-units of scope, and is projected to take 40 weeks, then by the end of week 9 our Cumulative Work Plan should be 2000 Work-units / 40 weeks multiplied by 9 weeks, or 450 Work-units.
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We can easily calculate the Cumulative Work Complete as the Project Scope minus the Remaining Scope.
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Two simple plots (Project Scope over time, and Cumulative Work Complete and the Cumulative Work Plan over time) make a great start to a weekly project progress report. Annotated, they tell a great story about the project.
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Project Scope: The sum of the Work-Units for all tasks in a project at any point in time.
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Remaining Scope: The sum of the remaining Work-Units for all tasks in a project at any point in time.
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Project Duration: Number of weeks that the project is scheduled to run.
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Cumulative Work Plan: The cumulative amount of Work-Units that should be complete at a given point in the project, to be on track for timely project completion.
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Cumulative Work Complete: Project Scope minus Remaining Scope.
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