What is Scope Creep? Prevention
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NEW Many problems related to managing project scope arise because the project team accepts informal requirements once the project starts executing. These requirements may sometimes come from important stakeholders, and most of the time the team feels they cannot refuse to include them.
SCOPE CREEP DEFINITION
This situation causes what is called "Scope Creep" or also "Requirement Creep": an undesirable project phenomenon in which excessive, ongoing, informal additions and/or changes in requirements are allowed without a proper process leading to a continuous or uncontrolled growth of a project's scope at any point after the project has begun. It happens when the project scope grows indefinitely and the team is incapable of managing it. This growth will likely cause problems with the time allotted for the project and/or with the budget assigned to it.
CAUSES OF SCOPE CREEP
Typically, scope creep is the result of:
- Lack of proper initial identification of the project objectives
- Lack of initial product versatility
- A weak project manager or executive sponsor
- Poor communication between parties
- Poor change control
HOW TO AVOID SCOPE CREEP?
The first thing you need to do is to formalize the process of asking for new features or product characteristics. It is very important to show all stakeholders that the project has a strict procedure for considering new requirements. You need to develop a form or some digital tool to register new requirements and communicate that you and our team will analyze these requirements very carefully. The decision whether to include or exclude a specific requirement will be made only by the team using a cost-benefit rationale. It is good practice to communicate this process and all tools associated with it in the kick-off meeting of the project.
⇨ Please share your ideas and experiences wrt scope creep...
