The scope of a project is the sum of all the products and their requirements or characteristics. It is sometimes used to represent the totality of work needed to complete a project.

In traditional project management, the tools to describe the scope of a project are: the product breakdown structure (EDP or PBS) and project descriptions. The primary tool for describing the scope of work on a project is the work breakdown structure.

If the project requirements are not fully defined, if they are not well described, or if there is no effective change control, scope or requirements creep can occur, generating what is known as the "Laundromat Syndrome."