Scope creep is a common problem in system development projects, where the requirements and features of the system keep changing or expanding beyond the original scope. It can cause delays, cost overruns, quality issues, and customer dissatisfaction. In this article, you will learn about some of the main causes of scope creep and how to avoid or manage them.
One of the main causes of scope creep is poor or incomplete requirements definition. This can happen when the stakeholders, users, or developers do not have a clear and shared understanding of what the system should do, how it should work, and what are the success criteria. Poor requirements can lead to ambiguity, confusion, rework, and conflicts. To prevent this, you should use techniques such as interviews, surveys, prototyping, and user stories to elicit, analyze, validate, and document the requirements in a clear and concise way.
Incorporate a structured requirements engineering process from the outset, which may include tools like requirement management software to keep things organised and traceable. Using a visual requirements modelling tool can also aid in ensuring that all stakeholders have a shared understanding of the system's goals.
One of the reasons for scope creep during project development is lack of ability for abstract thinking during process of requirements gathering. You will notice that scope will start to increase once you have done some concrete work and after presenting it to requestor(s), then when they see something that actually exists and is not abstract, then they would usually come up with some additional ideas. Someone can say, so what? Well, problem is if you have moved well along in project development, some of those ideas or change requests are not easily implemented into the project without major changes in design of the project.
Poor requirements often stem from a combination of the following: 1. The overarching goal (Northstar) 2. Team dynamics and culture 3. Quality of outputs Pro-tips for the above: 1. Clearly define and regularly revisit your project's main goal to keep all team efforts aligned and focused. 2. Encourage transparency, open dialogue and constructive feedback to enhance collaboration. 3. Regularly document and share insights. This boosts the team's collective product knowledge and ensures important details aren't missed or forgotten.
Poor requirements aren’t really what cause scope creep. They make it feel like there is scope creep because no one can agree on what is required. A clearly written scope document with initial wireframes helps everyone get aligned. Not validating the scope creates more creep because people change decisions when they aren’t confident in the scope.
- Engage stakeholders early - Ensuring a shared understanding - Use techniques like interviews, surveys, prototyping, and user stories to gather and document requirements. - Maintain clear communication, validate requirements, and implement a change management process. - Continuously gather feedback, and provide training to promote better understanding.
Another cause of scope creep is unrealistic or changing expectations from the stakeholders, users, or customers. This can happen when they have high or vague expectations of what the system can deliver, or when they change their minds or requirements during the development process. Unrealistic expectations can lead to dissatisfaction, frustration, and scope changes. To avoid this, you should set realistic and measurable goals and objectives for the system, and communicate them clearly and frequently to the stakeholders, users, and customers. You should also manage their expectations by setting boundaries, priorities, and trade-offs.
Employ a clear scope management plan that includes a well-defined change control process to handle any alterations in project expectations. Engaging stakeholders in a realistic discussion regarding the trade-offs between scope, time, cost, and quality can also be beneficial.
A third cause of scope creep is lack of communication among the project team, stakeholders, users, and customers. This can happen when there is no regular and effective communication channel, feedback mechanism, or documentation system to share information, updates, issues, and changes. Lack of communication can lead to misunderstandings, assumptions, errors, and scope changes. To overcome this, you should establish and maintain a communication plan that defines the frequency, format, content, and audience of the communication. You should also use tools such as emails, meetings, reports, and dashboards to communicate clearly and transparently.
Utilise collaboration platforms that allow for real-time communication and documentation sharing among all parties involved. Ensuring that there's a single source of truth that everyone refers to can mitigate miscommunications and unclear directives.
Aside from the usual Agile ceremonies, try the following: Use instant messaging like Slack for dedicated topic channels. I organize channels for each discipline like engineering or design and also create channels for specific epics i.e. onboarding, payments, dashboard etc. Tip: Use emojis and GIFs to keep things lively! Sure, everyone's on Zoom, but consider Loom for quick updates outside regular meetings. Record a brief 2-5 minute video to share info. It's a great way to cut down on meeting hours and keep everyone in the loop. Make sure everyone's on the same page with language. Be aware of getting too technical with non-tech folks and vice versa. When discussing strategy, make sure it's clear to developers without overusing jargon.
In addition to enhancing communication, some of the best practices in this context involve implementing requirement traceability through tools like traceability matrices. These tools provide a structured method for linking requirements to design elements, test cases, and other artifacts throughout the development process. This practice ensures that the software aligns with the intended objectives, reduces the risk of scope creep, and facilitates efficient project management and quality assurance.
A fourth cause of scope creep is poor or absent change control. This can happen when there is no formal process or system to identify, evaluate, approve, and implement changes to the scope. Poor change control can lead to uncontrolled or unnecessary scope changes that affect the schedule, budget, quality, and performance of the system. To prevent this, you should use a change control process that defines the roles, responsibilities, criteria, and procedures for managing scope changes. You should also use tools such as change requests, impact analysis, and change logs to track and document the changes.
Implement a robust change control system that requires detailed documentation, impact analysis, and approval processes before any change is made to the project scope. Training the project team on the importance of adhering to the change control process can also be instrumental.
A fifth cause of scope creep is gold plating, which is adding extra features or functionality to the system that are not part of the original scope or requirements. This can happen when the developers or the stakeholders want to impress or satisfy the users or customers by adding more value or quality to the system. Gold plating can lead to wasted time, resources, and complexity, and may introduce new risks or defects to the system. To avoid this, you should focus on delivering the minimum viable product (MVP) that meets the essential requirements and expectations of the users or customers. You should also avoid adding any features or functionality that are not requested, approved, or necessary.
During MVP development, original scope and requirements can evolve, particularly with design and user involvement. New insights may lead to necessary adjustments, such as gold plating some areas while descoping others. This requires constantly reviewing priorities at a macro and micro level and having a careful balance between perceived complexity and potential impact.
Encourage a culture that values simplicity and adherence to the defined scope. Promote the understanding that additional features should only be considered once the primary objectives are satisfactorily met within the agreed time and budget.
As much as we write a goal for every requirement that is being considered, we should make it a practice to write the “no-goals” which will help in differentiating between what’s in scope and what is not.