For even the most seasoned project management professional, scope creep is a real possibility and a real problem.
According to PMI’s Pulse of the Profession 2021 report, traditional enterprises experienced scope creep 37% of the time while working on projects. Even their definition of “gymnastic enterprises” (which means they tend to be more flexible than traditional enterprises) experienced scope creep 33% of the time.
If you’re thinking to yourself, “That doesn’t sound good, but what is scope creep anyway?” Keep reading to find out what scope creep is, how it can impact a project and how to manage it without losing your mind.
What is Scope Creep?
Before we define scope creep, we must define project scope. Adobe defines project scope as, “a component of project implementation that helps determine goals, constraints, workflow management strategies, tasks, and deliverables.” A well-defined project scope helps provide a plan, manages stakeholder expectations, eases budgeting tasks, and prevents scope creep.
Scope creep occurs when changes are made to a project without a formal request. Oftentimes, this happens when stakeholders request sudden changes, such as adding or altering project goals after it’s already begun. These changes can greatly impact a project, usually for worse.
How Scope Creep Can Impact a Project
Minor requests or major overhauls typically make up scope creep, both of which can impact a project greatly in the following ways:
- Budget: Changes in a project always lead to changes in money spent. Whether that’s increasing the budget to outsource work to an expert or funding additional hours worked, if stakeholders want to stay within budget then scope creep is not the answer.
- Deadlines: All projects have a set deadline in place, but scope creep can make a once-attainable deadline seem miles away. Think about it, if you’re adding or changing the original plan then teams are always going to need more time to complete the project. Since 58% of traditional enterprises fail to complete projects on time, scope creep should be avoided at all costs.
- Workload of team members: If team members are racing to meet unlikely deadlines or having new tasks added here and there, the quality of work will suffer and you’ll end up with a stressed-out team. An unhappy team does not make for a good project experience or a successful completion.
Now that you’re aware of the possible impacts scope creep has on projects, let’s go over tangible ways to avoid it in the first place. Scope creep doesn’t have to be feared, once you know how to manage it.
Managing Scope Creep (Including How to Avoid It)
The main way to avoid scope creep is to have a concrete project scope that is communicated to key stakeholders as well as team members. This is the baseline that project managers continue to refer to when people suggest adding a quick item or changing a large portion of the timeline. Along with project scope, here are three other ways to manage scope creep:
- Communication: There’s no such thing as too much communication or feedback. Avoid scope creep by making sure stakeholders, team members, and each individual within the project receive frequent updates about progress. Define clear communication criteria in terms of frequency, means and timing of these updates.
- Assess and estimate: Whenever a possible scope creep occurs (any change in the project) simply respond to the individual that you’ll need to assess and estimate whether or not this will impact the deadline and cost of the project.
- Change requests: Having an official change request put in place is an absolute must to curb scope creep. This is written out specifically in your contract before the project begins, stating there’s a series of approvals that are triggered with every change request.
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