I have been learning a
lot about “scope creep” in a Project Management course I am taking. Scope creep
is “the natural tendency of the client, as well as the project team members, to
try to improve the project’s output as the project progresses” (Portny, et al,
2008, p. 346). As an eternal optimist and a bit of a perfectionist, I am a very
guilty scope creeper – I just want everything to be the best it can be! Prior
to this course, I had not really heard of scope creep; however, knowing about
it now, I can see how project managers I have worked for before have worked
successfully to keep me from going down this road. I actually cannot think of a
professional project I have worked on where the scope was allowed to creep in
any significant way. Big kudos to the PMs I have worked under!
Looking at my personal
life, I have a few more examples. The most recent is the house that my husband
and I purchased six months ago. As first time homeowners, we have grad visions
for our new home. While, I have adhered to and been successful with some key
aspects of project management (priorities, budget, delegating), I am guilty of
allowing my scope to creep.
Recently, we agreed to
paint the living room walls. We built it into a moderately busy weekend, but there
was a large enough window to complete the painting as planned, we already had
the paint, and we were going to be out of the house for much of the weekend –
allowing the paint plenty of time to dry before needing to move furniture back
in. The good news was we painted in record time! We were ahead of schedule and
on budget – Project Manager win!
Sadly, I did not stop
there. We had planned to paint the ceiling in a couple more weeks, but since we
had finished so quickly, I talked my husband into doing the ceiling as well!
While we didn’t go over budget and came in just a hair over the allotted time
schedule, we did so with mixed results: the client (my husband and me) went
into our next project (a night out on the town with friends) a little grumpier
than planned, with sorer muscles than anticipated, and created the hassle of
squeezing around furniture left in the hallway upon returning from the night
out. And a stubbed toe while navigating the furniture in the morning to brew
the coffee needed to get the room put back together.
As the project manager
on our future house projects, I must manage my tendency to allow the scope to
creep by:
- recognizing the creep,
- identifying the impact the change might have on
other areas,
- contemplate alternative options that could
achieve the same end results,
- evaluate the benefits and disadvantages of making
these changes, and
- clearly communicate the changes to the
stakeholder for sign off (Portny, et al, 2008).
References
Portny,
S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., &
Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and
controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
