My Views: Scope Creep

Change is inevitable.

Imagine you're building a tree-house with your friends. You all agree on the plan: a small, cozy tree house with a ladder, a roof, and a little balcony. That's the scope of your project – what you all decided to build.

PMBOK defines Project Scope as the “The work that needs to be accomplished to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions."

But as you start building, one of your friends suggests, "Hey, what if we add a swing to the tree-house? It would be so much fun!" Everyone likes the idea, and you decide to add the swing.

Then, someone else says, "You know what would be cool? A slide attached to the tree-house! It'll make getting down more exciting." Everyone gets excited about the slide and agrees to add it.

Now, here's where the scope creep happens. More and more ideas keep coming up. Someone suggests a trapdoor, another person wants a telescope, and another friend thinks having a mini garden on the balcony would be awesome.

All these extra ideas might seem great, but they're making the project bigger and more complicated than what you initially planned. The project's scope is "creeping" beyond the original plan, and you're adding more features than you first agreed upon.

As a result of all these extra features, building the tree-house takes much longer than you expected, and you end up spending more money on materials. You also need more help from adults because the project became more complicated.

In simple terms, scope creep is like starting with a simple plan and then adding so many new things that the project becomes bigger, takes more time, and costs more money than you thought. It's important to stick to the original plan or carefully consider new ideas before adding them, so your project doesn't "creep" out of control.

Reasons for Scope Creep

1. If the initial project requirements are not well-defined or incomplete, there's a higher chance of stakeholders adding new requirements as the project progresses.
2. Lack of Stakeholder Involvement in the initial planning and decision-making process.
3. Poor communication resulting in scope changes.
4. Lack of testing and feedback.

Controlling the Scope creep

• Clearly Define and Document the Scope.
• Implement a formal change control process that requires any changes to the scope to be documented, evaluated, and approved by relevant stakeholders before implementation.
• Engage with Stakeholders and keep communicate with them.
• Set realistic and achievable deadlines for project milestones. Unrealistic timelines can lead to rushed decisions and an increased scope creep.
• Regularly Review and Update the Project Plan.
• Monitor and Control Changes.

References

www.google.com

wrike.com

chat.openai.com

image Credits : Easy Drawing Guides

Acknowledgement

This article, My Views: Scope Creep, encapsulates the insights garnered from the knowledge acquired through online research. Within this article, I intend to expound upon my personal perspective and opinions regarding the concept of Scope Creep.

Note : I've used Canva for image creation and AI tools for better English & detecting grammatical mistakes.

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