Dic: descope

1.

(management) To strategically revise objectives downward.

Etymology: de- +‎ scope. First attested in US military and aerospace contexts.

• The arms controllers who "descoped" the Patriot bear a heavy burden. (1991 March 26, “Lethal Control of Arms”, Washington Times)

... Wiktionary, http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/descope

2.

v. to reduce the goals or specifications of an undertaking, especially as a result of funding cuts.

Citations:

1974 Senate Committee on Armed Services Fiscal Year 1975 Authorization for Military Procurement (Feb. 5-Mar. 2) p. 1282:

• The Navy will play this game by descoping the specification.

1982 Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) (July 30) “Navy Staying With Plant”:

• But Pall said the term Watkins wanted was “de-scope,” which means the Navy is taking another look at work needed on the project.

1984 Usenet: net.jokes (Jan. 23) “Glossary of NASA Terminology”:

• I’ve been collecting examples of the jargon in common use by people at NASA Headquarters.…Descope: verb, to redesign a project as a result of budget cuts (not the opposite of scope, q.v.).

2006 Joshua Holland AlterNet (July 17) “Iraq’s Reconstruction a Boondoogle by Design”:

• The 130 half-finished clinics will simply be removed from the contract—“de-scoping” is a new word one picks up quickly when looking at the hundreds of aborted projects in Iraq.

..... http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/descope/