How to combat project scope creep

Photo by Lastwear - Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License https://www.flickr.com/photos/52053074@N00Why Projects Keep Inflating and How to Fight It How to Combat Scope Creep..

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Why Projects Keep Inflating and How to Fight It

How to Combat

Scope Creep

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A project’s scope is all about parameters.

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It is a documented set of:

project boundaries, schedules, and major deliverables.

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But a project’s requirements tend to grow uncontrollably…

this is

scope creep.

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What are the 4 Sources of

Scope Creep?

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When there is no clearly-defined and controlled project scope, the project will mutate

1 Vagueness

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Combat it:

Lay out all project boundaries in the Project Scope Statement that goes into the Project Initiation Document

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2 Weak Leadership

Stakeholders may try to change the scope to suit

their needs if they sense that you lack experience,

or are not a strong project manager.

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Combat it:

Stand your ground

when people demand to inflate the scope

Communicate strongly

through body language during meetings.

And if your meetings are virtual, keep in mind these

virtual communication tips

Click h ere!

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While stakeholders may want

the same end product, their

motivations vary wildly.

3 Differing Stakeholder opinions

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Combat it:

Limit the number of

stakeholders

When demands

increase, determine

their motivations to

arrive at a common

ground

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4 11th Hour User Feedback

If you involve your customers late in the process, they will give you feedback you didn’t anticipate Instant scope creep

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Combat it

Collaborate with

your customers

early and often, so

you deliver exactly

what they need and

want

Click h ere!

SCOPE CREEP IN ACTION:

One of the worst examples of scope creep is the

Denver International Airport project.

Read our blog post on how scope creep

led to that project’s failure.

15 www.wrike.com