My Experience with Scope Creep

I define scope creep as changes to a project that cause it to grow beyond its original intent.  These changes can come from new technologies, the client or team members (Portny, Kramer, Mantel, Meredith, & Shafer, 2007).

At the moment, I am involved in a project that is going through some changes.  Our client wanted a newer interface for their courseware that could be used with all devices.  That in itself was not a problem.  We started working on converting all courseware to this new interface, however (to my knowledge) there was never a discussion about standards and conventions that would be used with this new interface.  For example, what colors would be used and how, how would lesson menus be setup, and how would prompts be worded.  This was a recipe for scope creep.

As developers, since there really wasn’t any guidance, we just used the standards we used in the past, but then came to find out that some things did not really transfer well.  What ended up happening was everyone was doing something a little bit different, so there was no continuity between lessons.  The management realized the problem and provided us with a document that solved some of the issues we had already encountered.

By not having a design document, we were doing double work.  Along with that, as new issues were discovered, we (the developers) would come up with a solution, inform the project manager for approval or disapproval.  The problem with that was, the approved solutions was never passed on to other team members.  Again, this caused double work.

To prevent scope creep, a simple solution would be to have a design document from the beginning.  The document could have been based off a prototype lesson that addressed any nuances.  Another action the project manager could do is hold short weekly meetings with all team members to ensure they were aware of any changes to the standards.  Plus, during the meeting, the PM could get status reports and feedback on any issues (Laureate Education, n.d.).

I think that in most cases, the right tools and communication can mitigate many project problems.  Scope creep comes in many forms but it is the project manager’s responsibility to keep the project within its original boundaries.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Monitoring projects [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Portny, S. E., Kramer, B. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., & Shafer, S. M. (2007). Project management. Chichester, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons.

Where to go for Project Scheduling Help

Project managers have a variety of responsibilities and have to wear different hats depending on what the focus or issue of the moment is.  So how do they get a handle on the chaos and keep things organized?  Fortunately, there is a lot of advice and tools available online.  I did an online search and found a couple of sites that may help those that need a little help in keeping things organized before they get out of control or new comers that are looking for advice. 

One site that offers a lot of information on leadership and management skills is MindTools.  According to their web page, they provide online training in leadership, team and personal development training to individuals, and business worldwide.  I thought this site would be useful because of the ‘toolkit’ section.  This section offers articles on different topics like time management, project management, and strategy tools.  This site could be useful to anyone wanting to improve their management or daily work skills.  Unfortunately, you need to be a member to get full access to all of the articles.

Another site I found was PROJECTinsight.  It is actually an online project management software tool.  Not only does it offer all the project management tools like budgeting, collaboration, prioritizing, and scheduling, it also has a section that explains common project management terms.  This is not a free site either.  When it comes to making budgets and reports, software tools like this can be very helpful in overcoming project challenges. 

The last site I found was actually a personal finance site but it contained a section ‘management & leadership’.  The site was The Balance.  I thought this would be useful because the articles give beginners information on the project process.  Right now the information is limited, but maybe in the future more articles and tools will be added to make this site worthy of being bookmarked as a project management resource.

Projects come in all sizes and each have their own challenges.  The Internet offers tons of information and resources for businesses and project managers to overcome those challenges.  When it comes to project management, time is a scarce resource (Laureate Education, n.d.).  The tools and articles in the above sites can aid project managers in setting priorities, setting schedules and timelines, and communication.  In turn, that will help with time management and project success.  

Reference

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Creating a project schedule [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-successfully-manage-your-first-project-2276127

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_01.htm

http://www.projectinsight.net/project-management-basics/project-management-schedule