How do you manage the risks and uncertainties associated with a project scope change?

When PROJECT SCOPE changes & are approved -- it becomes a brand-new project. An IMPACT ANALYSIS must be conducted to determine: * CPM impacts & changes * Overall milestone impact * Definition & Documentation of all changes & new features * TEST PLAN changes * Equipment, Procurement, or Purchasing changes * SWOT for risk analysis * MS/Project updates Often MINOR changes to scope have the possibility to be worked in w/o impacting overall delivery date. In fact, the AGILE PM methodology actively changes scope/features based on continuous improvement via prototyping MAJOR scope changes are more of project reset. Sometimes there are fixed deadlines (like JAN 1st) and maybe extra resources, OT, or even taking penalty need to be looked at

Hopefully, you already accounted for such a scenario by documenting it in your communications plan. Communicate early and often, keeping the team focused on the scope. When changes do happen, and they almost certainly will, communicating those changes will be simpler if you're following the plan that the project stakeholders already signed up to.

For PROJECT SCOPE changes knowing your audience & planning well in advance are key ingredients for any formal communications. Having made past business & security awareness presentations, below are some key ways to prepare: * It is important for the presenter to place themselves in their audience shoes. For business definitional needs, USER STORIES are excellent. This is based on understanding of actual users & often written in the language understood by all business users. Use graphics, images, and simplify FACTs to better unsure understanding by all. Plan well for formal presentation of all new plans, tasks, and schedules using TEAMS and other resources.

LESSONS LEARNED -- If the RCA for PROJECT SCOPE CREEP was due to planning errors that could have been prevented -- asking the following introspective "?" might be helpful: * Was failure in planning, development, testing, or implementation? * Expectation gap failure? * Was project well-defined? * Did folks participate as planned? * Were user requirements properly defined? * Were vendor promises & expectations fulfilled? * Did PROD SUPPORT interruptions or other projects impact? * Was TEST PLAN sufficiently defined? * Did any uncaught errors slip thru into PROD? * Any misinterpretations in requirements? * Did good TEST response times become slower in PROD? * Did project costs exceed budget? * What can be done to prevent future failures?

In my specific experience with technology business cases, it's important to anticipate that an initial business/investment case will require updates. Internal and external pressures and inputs within the organization are consistently changing, with the best practice being to assess business case changes on a regular basis (at least monthly). Sometimes the changes and efforts are minor, but this ensures proactiveness and readiness. Decision makers also regularly request updates, generally on a quarterly basis at minimum, but they could be more intensive, potentially weekly, for the most critical projects within the organization or those with significant financial implications.