Tips & a Template for a Project Scope or Design Document
Use this annotated list of contents and the tips on writing to your audience to guide your preparation of a
project scope or design document for stakeholder review.
Before you begin …
Think through all the elements of your design and the results from your analyses: the learner
audience, the overall instructional goal, the different contexts (performance, learning, cultural
and theoretical), and the content. What do you know about the project, the learner audience,
and the performance context, and how can you communicate that information in a way that will
inform but not bore all the different stakeholders reading your document? Do you need to find
out more or discuss the project further with your team to define it more precisely?
Decide on a format for your document and for the project content. A concise report with a onepage executive summary highlighting the key points is generally a good approach. For
conveying the content, you can use an outline form, a prototype, a flow chart, a hierarchical
map, or any other content format that works for the type of content you have identified. Since
content detail can often overwhelm your audience, it is a good idea to include it in an appendix
to your report, or via a virtual link provided in the report.
Contents:
I.
Introduction – The introduction includes information on the background of the project, a statement of
the need for the instruction and the intent of the instruction (what will it accomplish for the target
learner?), and the assumptions about learning upon which you are basing your design. Also includes
the overall instructional goal for the project and any sub-goals for your teams’ portion of the project.
All statements are substantiated with quotes from the needs or learner analyses or from the literature.
II. Learner Analysis – Identifies the target learner and how that learner was identified, whether all
learners are assumed to be similar or if there is any diversity in the learner population, the prior
knowledge and experience of the learner with respect to the topic of the instruction, and the
applicable learner characteristics and needs. Summarizes and substantiates conclusions based on
learner analysis data.
III. Performance, Learning, Theoretical & Cultural Contexts – Describes the performance context where
the learner will use the knowledge and skills s/he gains through this instruction, and the learning
context where the learning will take place (whether face-to-face, blended, or virtual). Describes the
alignment between the performance and learning contexts and how it is anticipated that this will
affect the instruction. Addresses whether the learning context is compatible with learner needs and
characteristics. Identifies the theoretical basis and assumptions about learning that form the basis of
your design, and addresses the societal and/or organizational cultures that will provide a context for
your instruction.
IV. Content Analysis – Provides a paragraph or two that addresses how the content was determined,
verified, prioritized, and sequenced. Includes a flow diagram or concept map that clearly illustrates
the terminal outcome or objective, the supporting objectives and knowledge, the prerequisites, and the
relationships between those elements. Uses either numbering or some other means to illustrate the
sequencing of the instruction.
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V. Aligned Outcomes, Assessments & Strategies – Provides a detailed, three-column table listing all
learning outcomes (left column) aligned with the assessments for each outcome (middle column) and
the instructional strategies (right column) designed to enable the student to master the assessment. All
outcomes are identified by type of learning outcome, and, preferably, numbered.
VI. You may also want to include the following sections in your design document: a one-page executive
summary, the media/technology that will be used to present and deliver the instruction, an
implementation and evaluation plan, a project schedule and budget, and applicable appendices.
Gearing Your Document to Your Audience:
The way you introduce and communicate your project purpose and scope depends on the nature of the
document itself and your stakeholder audience. First, consider the status of the instructional
design/development project:
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Is it a new project just being proposed?
Is it approved but requires funding?
Or have you been assigned to define the scope of an approved and funded project?
In any of these scenarios, the document you produce will be in the form of a proposal and the
communication style should be authoritative and persuasive. You will communicate the problem, your
proposal for a solution to that problem, and the support for your solution.
Next, consider for whom you are writing the design document, and what information they need or are
likely to want to know as they contemplate a decision on your proposal. The audience for your document
will likely be key stakeholders who may have decision-making authority over the approval, funding, or
scope of your design project. Frequently, you will have several different stakeholders who must make
different decisions on the project. For example, your readership may consist of senior management in the
organization who will decide whether:
1. They concur with you about the nature and seriousness of the problem or gap you’ve described in
your proposal;
2. The solution you’ve proposed is likely to address and solve that problem or gap; and
3. The solution you’ve proposed is worth the resources required to implement it.
Middle-level individuals who authorize manpower hours, assign specific talent to the project, or authorize
the purchase of equipment or software for your effort may also read your proposal. Immediate supervisors
reading your document may merely be checking it for completeness and accuracy. You may also be
writing your document for colleagues who will work on the project with you, and who need a common
language to facilitate discussions and agreement on project purpose, goals, and development plans.
Your design document needs to convince stakeholders of the worth of the project; its relationship to an
identified problem, challenge or gap; and its relationship to the organization’s overall mission or goals.
Your document should also be geared to address any other stakeholders who may be responsible for
approving the use of the resources required. Don’t be shy about asking for resources – you may get them
or, in the process, you may find out about alternatives that will be valuable to your effort. Finally, include
information in your design document that relates to how you visualize working with any other colleagues
involved in the project, whether that is other individuals or organizational entities (in the present or
future), another design team, or with the course facilitator.
Engage the Reader’s Attention:
As you develop the introduction to your design document, you must engage your reader’s attention. To be
successful in this task you must consider the identity of your reader. Who is your reader and what is their
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interest in the instruction you propose to develop? Will your reader be interested in how the product
aligns with or supports overall organizational goals, how it relates to other instruction currently in place
or being developed, how the development or implementation of the instruction will impact the
organization’s workflow, or other issues or multiple issues? Identifying this information will prepare you
to present your introductory information with the reader’s interests in mind. If multiple stakeholders will
be reading and signing off on your design document, try to address all their interests but in a concise
manner, using headings that the reader can use to focus in on the issues in which they have a primary
interest (and to skip those with which they are not concerned).
Start with a Strong Problem and/or Needs Statement:
Your introduction should begin with a clear statement of the problem or challenge to be addressed by the
instructional project, along with a description of the gap between WHAT IS and WHAT SHOULD BE
and how your proposed instruction would address that gap. What needs have been identified as related to
or contributing to that gap? The needs presented at this point in the document will be broad organizational
or global learning needs as opposed to more specific needs of the identified learner groups (these more
specific statements are addressed in the next section). Present the problem and solution in terms of the
readers’ interests. For example, if the reader is interested in profits, show how addressing the need will
impact profits; or if the reader is interested in safety, describe how addressing the problem will improve
safety, etc. Ideally, you will use one-to-two paragraphs at the beginning of your design document to
engage the attention of the reader by addressing how the project relates to their interests and to the
identified problem or need.
Address Applicable Background Information:
Each project typically has background information that illuminates different aspects of your design, and
when your stakeholder audience consists of several different stakeholder groups it is especially important
to communicate this information. What background information does the reader need to know about the
project and what can you assume they already know? Do they know why the instructional project has
been proposed and by whom it was initiated? Do they know the problems or challenges that precipitated
the project? Do they know what is at stake and why the instruction is critical to fulfilling the goals of the
organization? Use clear headings to address this information so that stakeholders can skip topics with
which they are already familiar.
Describe Your Project Scope and Approach:
At this point in the introduction, you should use just a few sentences to briefly describe the scope of the
project and the approach the instruction will take in delivering the learning experience. How will the
proposed instruction address the problem you just described? Briefly describe your vision of how the
instruction will proceed or flow, and how the learner will access and use it. Include a description of any
media (print, video, audio, software, etc.) and delivery systems (Internet, classroom, laboratory,
equipment) that will be used.
Present Your Justification/Rationale:
After describing the problem, needs, project scope, and your approach in your introduction, you should
provide a justification or rationale for your instructional design. Once again, the reader’s interests and
familiarity with instructional design, as well as the nature of their position with respect to the approval of
the project, will determine the scope of your justification/rationale. Is the reader familiar with
instructional design theory and jargon? Do you need to educate them? What is their attention span? Will
they become impatient with long explanations? What authority do you have in their eyes – do they think
you know what you’re talking about? Will they assume your design is not well thought out if you don’t
give detailed explanations? What is the potential cost (in terms of time and money) of the resources you
are requesting? Will you need to justify the expense with an estimate of the return on the investment or
examples of results from similar projects? The answers to these questions will determine the scope and
length of your rationale or justification. (Note: whether you entitle this section as a “rationale” or a
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“justification” will be determined by the nature of the information you are including, which is, in turn,
determined by the identity of your reader, your relationship to them, and the authority or “power” of your
own position as the initiator of the project.)
The rationale or justification should be as clear and concise as possible. Briefly address the major
activities of the Analysis phase of the ADDIE model, summarizing how your approach supports each
analysis activity (you can give more detail on your analysis findings in a later section).
Additional Information & Sections:
Depending on the extent of your analysis data and how much of it is of interest to your stakeholders, you
may merely devote a few sentences to each of the following topics in your introduction. Alternatively,
you may choose to follow the introduction with more detailed sections on each of these topics.
Learner Audience –
The introductory section should also include a brief description of the target learner and any other learner
groups you have identified. Then summarize the information you have about their characteristics and
needs in two or three sentences. Briefly indicate how the proposed instruction and the approach you are
taking will address those characteristics and meet the needs of the learners. If you have a lot of learner
analysis data to share with an interested audience, provide a separate section on this information later in
your document.
Context –
Use one or two sentences to describe the contexts related to the project and how the approach you are
proposing will facilitate learning and transfer in those contexts. Describe the performance context first, as
an acknowledgement of its relationship to the overall goals of the project. Then describe the proposed (or
dictated) learning context and how it aligns with the performance context. If the learning context was
dictated by individuals or circumstances, be sure to address how any lack of alignment with the
performance context will impact transfer, as well as how you intend to compensate for the lack of
alignment. Note that if you are able to address context completely in this portion of your design document
introduction, it may not be necessary to address it again in another section of the document, especially if
much of the issues related to context were dictated by the situation or management decisions (e.g., project
schedule or budget). However, if you have a strong theory base and multiple contextual issues to share, it
is a good idea to address these topics in a separate section.
Content & Learning Tasks –
Describe how you determined the nature of the content, the learning tasks, and the priorities and
sequencing of the content (including any content research carried out, subject matter experts consulted,
content reviews, surveys or other data collection). Do not detail the specific content here (other than to
note broad topics for the benefit of the reader), but rather use a few sentences to provide a rationale for
how your approach will support the content or facilitate the learning tasks that you have identified. What
is the overall mix of cognitive, psychomotor, and attitudinal demands of the learning tasks involved and
how will your approach provide an environment conducive to generating or supplementing those
demands? You should address the instructional goal or terminal learning outcome in this section (break
the goal out separately for emphasis), saving the detailed chart of outcomes, strategies, and assessments
for your separate section on content, and referencing any detailed content outlines and flow charts as
being in the appendices.
Wrap Up the Introduction:
At the conclusion of your introduction, you should summarize how the project and approach you are
proposing address the organization’s goals, the needs gap identified, and the needs of the target learner.
Then use a sentence or two to inform the reader about the contents of the rest of the document and the
appendices, indicating how each of these sections will better inform them as to the importance of the
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proposed project. Finally, carefully select from among the topics numbered above from II to VI to provide
your stakeholders with additional sections in a robust design document that addresses their questions,
informs them, and supports your project goals.
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