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, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer & Sutton, 2014). The problem with Scope
Creep is it can potentially increase costs and delay projects causing
frustration for the client as well as the project team.
On
a personal level, scope creep happens almost every time I decide to do a
project or remodel an area of my home.
As of late, I have been obsessed with home-improvement projects, on a
small scale, but nonetheless it is nothing but projects, projects, projects
around here. My husband says I have
“Project-ADD” because I often start new ones before the old ones are complete.
This
spring, I decided to redesign my raised garden and transform it into an actual
garden bed. I planned out the
dimensions, measured, picked the perfect sunny spot and purchased the outer
landscaping bricks. My yard slopes down
so I had to account for the angle and build a small retaining wall. Not only
did I want it to be functional, it needed to be pretty as well.
I
went a bit over budget on the dirt/compost as I wasn’t really sure how much was
needed, but it wasn’t too bad, easily worked around economically speaking. The
problem with scope creep came when I started to dig and place the bricks. HUGE lesson here…’call before you dig’.
Though I did not get electrocuted or reach any depths where I was in danger, I
did slice through the invisible fence wiring a few times. No big deal I
thought, a bit of electrical tape should fix that right up. Well it didn’t.
Our
lovely black lab Beck quickly learned the ‘fence’ was down and he could go and
visit the entire neighborhood. We did
not know it was not working until we got the call from the police department
that they had our dog. A
small city fine for the dog running loose, a call to the local utilities to
come out and mark up the yard and some new wiring (done correctly) and the
garden was finally complete. On a good note, I was able to plant my vegetables
in time and am now reaping the benefits of fresh produce.
Resource
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.
