The Heritage Center Arboretum Vision Statement is: The Heritage Center and Arboretum is a living museum including large and small trees and woody bushes with many species of historical significance to our area. This arboretum will showcase native plants, educate citizens on native plants and ecosystems, and increase value by offering shade and beauty. We will continue to improve by creating partnerships with other arboreta and by learning from ArbNet resources and other experts.
The project scope is derived based upon this vision. At the point of this book being written, some of the scope has been completed; some parts are in progress; and other parts are in the product backlog as potential work that may be undertaken at some point in the future depending on the decisions of the product owner.
As the team defines scope, they use personas and user stories to help understand how various stakeholders may use the arboretum. For example, a persona could be Sharifa who is 28 years old and just bought her first home. Her user story could be as a new homeowner—I want to see and read information about native tree species that I might then choose to plant so I can add value, beauty, and plant diversity to my home.
Work completed includes securing acceptance for level one arboretum status. Also, a master site plan with a map of current species has been completed by the arboretum sub-committee and approved. The site map shows the building, parking, patio, woods, lawn, and the 50 identified species. Approximately 20 additional species of trees have been planted with proper mulching and deer protection.
We have conducted meetings with teachers to encourage their students to use the arboretum in school projects and assignments. We partnered with the state forester to bring in representatives from more established arboreta and from communities that are considering development of an arboreta to share ideas. We created a website with information on the arboretum: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/
e2436fb5e29b4f4f8f971426d1c140f1 Work approved, but not yet completed, includes planting of three more tree species and three species of woody bushes.
The product scope can be envisioned in three parts: physical facility, partnerships, and on-line presence. While there is limited space for extensive future plantings, the project team will continue to strategically identify additional species to plant and select their locations carefully. There is room for considerable work on partnerships, both with the teachers and other communities already started, but also with other groups in the community such as churches, scout organizations, local businesses, and others. There are also meaningful additions that can be included in the online presence by sharing considerably more information and potentially in different ways.
There are a few boundaries to consider when determining scope for this project. First, part of the site is designated greenspace. The greenspace ordinance states that invasive plants may be removed, but no other plants may be added, and no development may be performed on the greenspace.
Second, the center is used for many events, so enough space needs to be free for chairs near the gazebo, for tents up to 20 feet on each side of the patio, and for taking pictures on the front porch of the building. There is also a request to only create plans that will be easy to maintain.
Student questions.
1. Create personas for other stakeholders to show what they want from this project and why.
2. Create a backlog of all of the things you may wish to propose for this arboretum. Include artifacts for all three aspects of scope: physical facility, partnerships, and online presence.
3. Using two releases per year (fall and spring are both great planting times), suggest the relatively few items you think should be accomplished in each of the next two releases.
Use MoSCoW technique to justify how you prioritize.