How to Make a Statement of Work (SOW).
For effective execution of your work plans, it’s important to keep things on track. A statement of work (SOW) is the ideal way to create a planned roadmap that everyone on the project can stick to.
With Adobe’s various statement of work plans for Word, PDF, and other formats, you can start your plan with ease. Read on to learn how to outline your deliverables and help boost your team’s efficiency.
Download free Statement of Work plans.
Finding it a bit confusing to build the perfect statement of work? Download an example from Adobe’s library of diverse statement of work plans and tailor it to suit you and your team.
What you’ll learn:
- What is a Statement of Work?
- Why is a Statement of Work important?
- How to create a template Statement of Work.
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- What?
- Why?
- How?
What is a Statement of Work?
A statement of work serves as a comprehensive document detailing what certain workers/team members will deliver as part of a wider project. It can also serve as a legally binding contract of delivery between the company and the client.
Diving deeper into the specifics of a statement of work, each plan has certain factors built into it, such as deliverables, deadlines, fees, and personnel objectives. These all come together to help you execute the groundwork of a project.
Why is a Statement of Work important?
A statement of work acts as a guideline to stick to. Without a proper SOW in place, plans can unravel, and people can lose sight or even miss out on important parts of the project.
Remember that a statement of work isn’t just a guide, but a legally binding document. This ensures that the company and the client respect their partnership. It also directs everyone to follow through on the planned work and agreed conditions and timelines. A few key benefits of a SOW include:
How to create a Statement of Work.
Ready to create your statement of work? Here are a few tips and tricks to help.
Important sections to include in your Statement of Work plan.
While a SOW is generally built to suit your purpose and industry, it should follow a certain structure that’s easy to digest for all stakeholders. Here's a step-by-step guide to creating the basics of the template:
- Start with an Introduction.
This shouldn’t be limited to the starting point and end. Instead, design it as a sort of preface that summarises the whole project in a way that everyone can digest. This will help each stakeholder find reference points when the project begins. - Background information on the project.
Do your due diligence on every aspect of the project. As the leader at the steering wheel, you need to have a good understanding of what’s happening with every part of the work plan. With this knowledge, you'll be able to set clear definitions of goals and actions in your SOW before distributing it to others. - Purpose of the project.
Define the goals that you want the project to achieve in a crystal-clear manner. An abstract idea of “complete this” or “improve that” won’t work. Instead, set exact values for deliverables and objectives that can be measured. - Location.
Clear instructions on where you’ll be operating are vital for resource planning, logistics, and legal reasons. If you start a plan without defining the tangible point you’ll be working from, you might run into unaccounted hiccups later on. - Timelines.
To ensure the scope of your work is efficient, you should also create schedules and timelines that both you and stakeholders can reference. Whether it’s for a specific task or the whole project from kick-off to completion, a schedule allows you to look back and gain insight from a project. - Communication lines.
Ensure that there’s a definitive and formal method of communication between every required interaction point. This also involves setting restrictions to prevent unaccounted communications. - Logistical requirements.
Try to iron out as many logistical problems about equipment, resource, and personnel arrangements as you can. Doing this helps to ensure smooth execution when the work starts. - Payment details.
File a detailed record of financials that prevent accounting and billing errors and ensure involved parties are compensated on time. - Signatures.
Finally, don’t forget to get a signature from the involved parties to make the statement of work legally binding. With Adobe Acrobat Sign, you can sign documents from anywhere to help drive speed and efficiency for this stage of your SOW.
Top tips for your Statement of Work plan.
Now that you have a clearer idea of what a good SOW contains, you can start creating your own. As a good starting point, you can use one of our statements of work templates as a guide.
Here are a few extra tips to help you along the way:
- Clearly outline tasks with comprehensive yet simple wording to avoid confusion.
- Remember, detail is king. Leave no stone unturned and try to be as specific as possible to avoid future disputes.
- Use consistent language and checklists. Keep track and remember to proofread to ensure you haven’t missed anything.
- Add detail, not rigidity. Projects can always throw curveballs at you, so draft accordingly to allow for flexibility and anticipate change.
- Identify stakeholders and ways to communicate. Engage with them regularly for insights that can help refine your SOW.
Download free Statement of Work plans.
Finding it a bit confusing to build the perfect statement of work? Download an example from Adobe’s library of diverse statement of work plans and tailor it to suit you and your team.
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