How to deal with scope creep
???? Ben Baker???
Telling your story in ways that align you with engaged and profitable internal and external stakeholders and dissuade those you cannot add value to from darkening your doorway.
A thought to end the week.
I had coffee with my mentee this morning like I do every month.
He was having a challenge with a client and scope creep.
We have all been there. Contract signed, expectations laid out, work underway, and then the client, either intentionally or not (and my assumption is not) asks for "one more small change."
We all know that it is not one more, because one more, turns into another one and another one and all of a sudden, the margin is out of a project, because of a bunch of little things that on their own, did not seem to be a big deal.
To make sure I was on track, I asked him one question. How well are you communicating with your client throughout the project? I got a blank stare back at me and I knew I was. :-)
For you see, most of us do not communicate with the clients during projects. We are not asking for feedback and setting ongoing expectations as the project rolls along.
"Mr Customer. We are just about to head to the next stage of the project. Do you have any changes that you would like to discuss, because at this point, changes start becoming expensive and this is why"
"Ms Customer. We are about 3/4 way through the budget and on track, are there any changes you want to discuss at this point that might delay or change the project?"
"Mr Customer. Are we better off completing the work as we originally outlined it, get it out on time and on budget and then look at a budget for changes moving forward, or would you like to delay the project and make changes now?"
"Ms Customer. We are just about to go live on the project, can you please make a final list of deficiencies you see so that we can address them all at once and make sure that we do not miss anything?"
. . . and the list can go on.
We need to realize that on-going communication, throughout the project, letting the client know where they are in terms of time, budget and achieving expectations allows for scope creep to be kept to a minimum. This is the best way to keep projects on-time, on budget and goals achieved!