An execution scope is the unit of accountability in In Parallel. Every scope gets one living execution plan, one history of decisions, and one place to stay aligned over time.
If you get the scope right, everything feels calm and obvious. If you get it wrong, the system feels noisy.
In this article
What an execution scope is
How to choose the right scope
How to name it (so it sticks)
Common mistakes (and how to fix them)
Examples of good scopes
What is an execution scope?
A scope is a bounded area of responsibility—like a team, project, program, portfolio, account, or business area.
In Parallel is designed around a simple principle:
One scope → one living execution plan.
That’s how you avoid “one mega-plan for the whole company” and keep execution reality legible.
Choose the right scope
The fastest way to pick a scope
Start with the question:
“What outcomes am I accountable for executing?”
If the answer includes multiple unrelated cadences, owners, or success metrics, you’re probably looking at multiple scopes.
What makes a scope “good”
A good scope typically has:
clear ownership (one person accountable for outcomes)
a real cadence (recurring meeting or review rhythm)
meaningful decisions (tradeoffs, priority shifts, ownership decisions)
Scope types (and when to use them)
Execution scopes can be: team, project, program, portfolio, account, or business area.
Here’s how to think about them:
Team scope: when you’re managing a team’s ongoing execution (steady rhythm, stable membership)
Project scope: when there’s a clear start/end and a defined outcome
Program scope: when multiple projects roll up to a shared outcome with shared dependencies
Portfolio scope: when you need one view over multiple initiatives that share strategic oversight
Account scope: when external commitments and internal coordination need a single execution truth
Business area scope: when a function runs ongoing priorities (Ops, RevOps, Finance Ops, etc.)
Name your scope so it works in real life
Scope naming seems small, but it affects adoption: people need to recognize the scope instantly.
Good scope names
Good names:
match how people already talk about the work
imply execution responsibility (not aspiration)
are easy to say in meetings and updates
Examples:
“Platform Migration”
“Product Weekly”
“Q2 Growth Program”
“Revenue Operations”
“Customer X Delivery”
Names to avoid
Avoid names that are:
vague (“Everything”, “Company”, “Ops Stuff”)
overly strategic (“Transformation”, “Innovation”, “Future”)
disconnected from cadence (no one knows what meeting drives it)
Tip: If you can’t explain the scope in one sentence, it’s probably too broad.
Create the scope (recommended setup)
When you create a scope, you’re setting up the container the system will use to keep execution reality coherent.
Recommended steps
Create the scope (choose the scope type and name).
Add goals/commitments (1–3 to start).
Attach the recurring meeting that drives decisions for this work.
Add members and stakeholders (keep it small at first).
Once that’s in place, In Parallel can start doing the thing it’s built for:
capture signals from meetings
generate pre-reads and reports
update the living plan
create snapshots so change is explicit
Common mistakes (and how to fix them)
Mistake: Starting with “the whole company”
Symptoms:
the plan is huge
priorities can’t be ranked
updates feel noisy and contradictory
Fix:
shrink the scope until it has one clear owner and one cadence
create additional scopes later (once the first one works)
Mistake: Mixing unrelated cadences
Symptoms:
weekly ops + monthly leadership + ad-hoc project meetings all in one scope
snapshots feel chaotic
Fix:
split scopes by cadence (or at least by decision rhythm)
Mistake: Creating scopes that don’t have real decisions
Symptoms:
the plan doesn’t change meaningfully
the scope feels “stale”
Fix:
attach the actual decision-making meeting
or pick a scope where real tradeoffs happen
Examples of good scopes
Teams
“Platform Team”
“Revenue Operations”
Projects
“Billing Migration”
“Onboarding Redesign”
Programs / portfolios
“Q2 Growth Program”
“Enterprise Readiness Portfolio”
Accounts
“Customer X Delivery”
“Strategic Account: ACME”
Related articles
Connect a recurring meeting (meeting transcriber)
Define goals & commitments
Add members & stakeholders
Understand the living execution plan
What are snapshots?