Do the Majority of People Control and Not Allow “Scope Creep”?

When I think of scope creep I immediately think of building a house. I know of no other example that illustrates scope creep better than what my wife and I went through 24 years ago. I know we were not alone when dealing with this unavoidable aspect of building our forever home. Of course, we could’ve just bought a pre-built house. But, how would we get everything we wanted if we didn’t build it ourselves? As it turns out, we still didn’t get everything we wanted. Enter scope creep. So, what is scope creep?

Scope creep refers to project changes that happen once the project’s plans have been defined, and work on the project has begun. When you truly understand what scope creep is, it isn’t always a bad thing.??One thing’s for sure, scope creep always involves the disconnect between your plans and the work getting done, or in my case, what I planned, and what my wife wanted, lol. When plans changed during the construction of my house, I was stuck with the added cost, or additional time it would take to complete the build. When plans change on a project we are managing in our organization, it’s not always that simple. There are usually more players in the game. We have our companies’ stakeholders as well as the client that is affected. As my wife and I quickly realized, plans will need to change. Building codes, material availability, and material cost all played a part in our final build. One thing in our control was how we would deal with it.

In our organizations, scope creep can cause projects to become so large they are un-manageable.

"If you are working on this, then you might as well do that too."

"This is a perfect time to work on this too!"

"Can you please add this item to your charter?"

These are comments we have all heard after kicking off a project; and the result is a project that once was able to be finished in a reasonable time, but now who knows??? Maybe it won't ever get done.

My wife and I quickly changed our motto to “good is better than perfect”. You need to have open and honest conversations as soon as possible about the state of the scope with both internal, and external stakeholders. Restructure parts of the project if necessary with the people doing the work. Find out if you can come to a solution that satisfies the project requirements, without adding unnecessary cost and time. Consider alternative solutions that simplify scope and complexity. Is there a simpler or better way to solve this problem? Are we gold plating the project, or doing more than the client requires? Often this can be the case. Doing more than is required often feels right, but at the expense of going over budget, or missing the deadline, are we really satisfying the client? Talk openly with everyone on your team. Meet often and hold each other accountable. Your client will thank you!???