Thursday, December 5, 2013

Analyzing Scope Creep




Scope creep occurs in a project when the client or project team members attempt to change the scope or output of the project at some point during the project’s life cycle (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008). These changes in scope have the potential for negatively impacting the project’s schedule, budget, or final product. A project manager may choose to respond to scope creep by taking an approach of going back to the original statement of scope documents and simply saying “no” to the change in scope (Laureate, 2010). Saying no to a project change in scope is not always appropriate (Portny, et al., 2008). Knowing how and when it is appropriate to say “no” to scope creep is key as scope changes in a project often times may be inevitable due to various demands of the client or out of necessity for meeting other requirements or issues that occur during the lifecycle of the project.

The project background…
While working at a non-profit vocational rehabilitation organization I was given the opportunity to work on a project for developing a job skills course. My role in this project was to develop and design the curriculum along with eventually facilitating the course upon completion of the course design. The other individual involved in the project functioned as the project manager and was the quality assurance and supported employment program manager. The project was approached very informally with very little documentation. The planning phase of the project consisted of an initial meeting between the project manager, our organization’s executive director, and me. During the meeting we identified the scope of the project which entailed the development of a job skills assessment and skill development course that would be facilitated to the consumers served by our organization and taking place once a week for a period of four weeks on an ongoing basis. The content of the course needed to include assessment of current skills and career interests as well as components that addressed job skill development and job readiness.

Scope creep…
The project was progressing smoothly with bi weekly meetings between myself and the project manager. During the design phase of the course however we were notified that the organization would be going through an accreditation process with Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) International. CARF is an accreditation agency that provides accreditation services to health and human service providers to ensure the providers are effectively meeting quality standards (CARF International, n.d.) As a result, our stakeholder, the organization’s executive director requested that the scope of the project be changed to include content that she felt would be important for showcasing the organization’s approach for providing additional high quality services to the consumers we were serving. The executive director requested that the course content address additional topics of resume writing and effectively filling out job applications, dressing for success and effective interview skills, and skills in maintaining employment. The course still needed to be completed by the original deadline to ensure it was in the process of being facilitated when CARF International arrived for accreditation. The original intentions of the project manager and myself were to eventually create courses that addressed these other proposed topics following the completion of the original proposed project and not within the short time period we were given. Because this was a situation where saying “no” was not an option it ultimately resulted in me needing to spend additional hours designing and developing content to address these other areas. Ultimately the final product was delivered on time, but over budget due to loss of productivity in me not being able to perform other daily essential job functions that needed to be delegated to a part time employee thereby paying them for additional hours. Additionally, the project was not completed to the standards in which I would have liked and resulted in the need for redesigning portions of the course following the initial implemented that was completed during accreditation.

If I were project manager in this scenario…
Scope creep or a change in project scope does not always end in negatively impacting the project. When approached correctly, a scope change can be effectively controlled and managed to minimize the potential negative impact on a project by going through a formal process called a change control system (Portny, et al., 2008). In the project scenario that I described, the project scope creep could have been managed more effectively had the project manager followed a different approach. Looking back on the project, if I had been the project manager I would have done more during the planning phases of the project to clearly define the scope with the stakeholder and obtained a more formal approval of the scope and timeline. By doing so this would provide an original scope document to refer to when the stakeholder brought forward the need for changing the scope of the project. Having documentation and following a more formal process for the scope change would allow me to approach the situation more effectively without going into panic mode trying to figure out how address the change within the originally defined schedule and budget (Greer, 2010). Following the formal process would also give me the opportunity to analyze the impact of the change on the project including the quality, the costs, and the timeline and to discuss the impact with the other individuals working on the team and consider alternatives (Greer, 2010). This would then allow me to discuss the impact with the stakeholder and recommend possible alternatives such as allowing additional personnel to work on the course development or presenting prototypes for accreditation for the latter proposed topics allowing for further development at a later time with better quality. Additionally, it would make them fully aware of how the change will impact other aspects of the project so that they could make the determination of whether or not they want to proceed with the change based on the impact (Greer, 2010).



References
CARF International. (n.d.). About CARF. Retrieved from http://www.carf.org/home/
Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010a). Practitioner voices: Overcoming “scope creep” [Video webcast] [with Dr. Van Rekom, Troy Achong, & Vince Budrovich]  Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4065699_1%26url%3D
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.
Scope Creep [Online image] Retrieved December 5, 2013 from http://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/69354-is-scope-creep-an-asset/#imgn_0

10 comments:

  1. Amber,

    You are probably not the first person to have received marching orders to include additional tasks due to accreditation. Frankly, I found the request in your scenario unfair given the scope change and the unchanging schedule. However, as the saying goes, "life is not fair". I agree with your suggestion that had you initiated a formal change control process, it would have served you better in the long run. I use to think that a change control process was reserved for IT related functions. However, after reading various resources throughout this course, I have come to realize how important and beneficial a change control process was to various projects. I like to think of change control as a policing mechanism of sorts. Not only does it provide a way for Project Managers to monitor and keep track of changes, a change control process lessens the impact it may have on project outcomes.

    Robin B.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Robin,

      Thanks for reading my blog post! So very true that some things in life are simply not fair and looking back at that scenario it was a bit ridiculous to the least. Had I had the knowledge I have now and the confidence to voice how to approach something of that nature perhaps the project would have been able to take a different course and be more successful. It is interesting to see the positive impact that many of the processes and approaches to project management such as a change control process can have on effectively managing projects in many different contexts.

      Thanks!
      Amber

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  2. Hi Amber,

    Great example of scope creep...I can only imagine how demanding it must have been for you! I was unaware of all of the documents required when planning a project, until this course, and your example proves why they are so important. I agree that a more formal approval of the scope and timeline would have helped.

    Also, great picture! Even when I make my shopping list and 'plan' to only get a few things...it rarely happens :)

    Layla

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    Replies
    1. Hi Layla,

      Thanks for reading through my blog post. I thought that picture was a pretty good representation of the everyday scope creep we experience :)

      I definitely think having more documentation throughout this project would have helped quite a bit along with greater communication between myself, the project manager, and the stakeholder. Perhaps they knew that CARF was coming anyway, but just failed to mention it or did not think of the idea of adding to the scope of the project til later in order to impress the accreditation agency. If they did know that they were coming from the get go perhaps we could have devised a plan to approach the project. Hindsight is indeed 20/20 I guess and of course it is good to look back on these different experiences we all have had to analyze the challenges and success so as to not repeat them in the future if it was bad and consider how to repeat them again if it was successful (Laureate, 2010).

      Thanks!
      Amber


      Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010a). Practitioner voices: Project success. [Video webcast] [with Dr. Van Rekom & Troy Achong] Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4065699_1%26url%3D

      Delete
  3. I think that you example is a prime example of scope creep, and I think that analyzing how you would deal with now can help any future projects you might embark on. I think that you did a great job on your project and we are always our biggest critics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kim,

      Thanks so much for reading through my blog posting! That is so very true that we are own biggest critics as you mentioned. The course that was delivered was decent enough and met the expectations of the director and the accreditation agency was pleased however knowing that I could have done a better job was really challenging. Spot on though too on learning how to deal with a situation like this in future. Definitely there is a lesson to be learned both in project pitfalls as well as successes.

      Thanks!
      Amber

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  4. Amber,

    Great blog post. I am glad that your project went through & everyone was happy in the end. Sorry that you had to go through the pitfalls that you did. But ..... what you learned form this experience will stick with you forever. What you know now, I'm sure you will be more careful, and thorough with future projects.

    Cheryl

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  5. Amber, this was a perfect example of what can happen during a project and why we as Project Managers need to be privy to the tools and best practices of our trade. In too many instances, what you experienced is the norm instead of an exception. It seems like employees are required to do ridiculous things to get some projects to completion. Even after bending, over backwards and turning backflips, are you able to contort yourself enough to get the job done. Which should not be required, but can really prove to you what is possible. However, since your project clearly went over budget on time and money that will be the deciding factor next time. Lessons Learned. Right? (As I attempt to post this, I see it wants to send me back to my old blog account...so for documentation, This is Sky Blaylock...Thanks.)

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  6. Amber,

    Great picture! It sums up scope creep perfectly! One of the things I've noticed in the majority of the posts that I've read is that the planning stage is being shortened or left out all together. I've learned that it's easier to do than to plan to do, and for project managers who are seasoned, they may feel that planning is a waste of time. I can think of several steps of my job that I often overlook because I have done it so many times, but if I were to take the time and perform those steps then I would ensure that nothing gets left out. Although, as your picture and some of the other comments point out, no matter how much planning is done, scope creep can set in!

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  7. Amber,

    This is a great example of a project scope. I thank you for sharing your experiences. I am not a project manager, but this example will guide me as I embark on this instructional design.

    Thank you for sharing.
    Angee

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