Better Together

“Scope Creep” :The term sometimes given to the continual extension of the scope of some projects. APM Glossary

Scope creep can be a challenge for sure and the answer is to find a way to work with your stakeholders to maintain clarity. You want to add the right value and eliminate waste features wherever possible.

There are some important things to consider:

1. What is the project meant to achieve? A project needs to have clear goals and objectives (in a charter, story, or other form). Clear goals and objectives allow the delivery team to test the scope and see if it is valuable.

2. Scope needs to be defined (….eventually). There are traditional ways of defining scope with requirements and specifications and  way of managing scope. Or Agile ways creating MVPs and prototypes which take a more Just In Time approach

3. One person’s scope creep is another person’s added value.

In order to deal with this there needs to be a clear decision making structure so that the process is clear when new scope items are identified and also who has the final say

Finally remember scope management is an ongoing activity, goals and stakeholders often change during a project and it will make sense to re-visit the approach.

One person’s scope creep is another person’s added value, so engage decision-makers!!

Earlier in my career I was leading the development of a management information system for an engineering company. After several months of hard work, I presented to the Managing Director (CEO). He said, “great work the project modules are awesome but I didn’t really want them, I wanted the financial reporting that you haven’t provided!” It took several months to fix it :-(. I learned two major lessons: 1. Know your key stakeholders. Focus on providing value for the decision makers and keep them informed of any scope decisions 2. Prototype and share progress often. If you regularly get input from decision-makers you don’t creep too far off the scope path!