Scope Creep: What It Is and How to Prevent It

When a project begins to expand beyond its original scope, it is known as scope creep. Knowing how to plan your project and deal with scope creep are essential for you to be successful in project management.

What is project scope and what is scope creep? Avoiding project overruns

Project scope is the definition of everything that will be involved in a project to create, develop, and produce something. 

It’s what the team is responsible for achieving within the agreed-upon time for completion, costs, and other resources. When you take on a project, you typically know upfront why you are doing it and roughly what it will entail. As you go through the initiation and planning stages of the project, you delve deeper into the project activities and tasks and develop the project plan and schedule.

Scope creep is the tendency of a project's requirements or goals to grow during the course of the project, causing the eventual deliverable to differ from what was originally specified in the project plan.

Reasons for scope creep

Let's take a look at what the Project Management Institute says normally causes scope creep. 

Poor scope definition

Scope creep can happen when the scope of a project is difficult to determine or has not been clearly defined. Projects are hard to keep focused when there is a statement of work that is vague or incomplete and that lacks terms of reference, timelines, and objectives.

Lack of ongoing management of project scope

Creep can happen if important stakeholders and managers are not involved in the project enough after project initiation. If key players don’t provide input as the project evolves, then project decisions may be made by the wrong people or the project may drift without direction. 

Projects require clear decision-making and change management processes.

Lack of clarity in requirements

Scope creep often occurs because of vague or incomplete requirements. A high-level requirement definition might be considered sufficient at the time it is documented. However, when additional details are added later in the project, they may inadvertently expand the time required for tasks, or the complexity of the work. 

Lack of stakeholder engagement

When sponsors and stakeholders fail to monitor progress, or lack passion for the project, there is a greater likelihood of unmonitored scope creep.

Project duration

Project length is one of the primary factors that contributes to scope creep.

Longer projects have a higher likelihood of scope change than shorter projects do. This is why it is often recommended that large projects be divided into smaller subprojects to minimise business and stakeholder changes and decrease the opportunity for project changes.

Scope creep in software development projects

Many software development projects fall victim to scope creep. Scope creep can happen when new software is perceived as being incomplete or too limited in functionality. This can prompt requests to change features and functionality when the work is already in progress. Creep can also result from changing market conditions that show a new feature to be desirable or from pressure from stakeholders and end-users to make existing products better.

Let’s take a look at an example 

A new feature is added to an existing piece of software requiring a user to input their name and address. This data is stored in a database. A new table needs to be added, and a new privacy notice needs to be included in the software. Advice needs to be sought from the ISO27701 team on what the responsibilities are with regard to the saved data. 

One small feature can lead to the need to bring in additional experts, add new tasks, spend more money and potentially miss deadlines.

Scope creep often starts with an unexpected change in the scope of a project. That small change can be a seemingly harmless one that adds a little to the budget, timeline, or complexity of the original project. But before you know it, the scope of your project has changed so much that it no longer looks anything like your original plan.

As a project manager, you should expect changes to come along during projects. You can't do much about the unexpected things that happen on projects; what you can do is be prepared to manage change.

How do you manage scope creep? 

Scope creep is an inevitable part of many projects, but it doesn't have to be something you just accept. Let's take a look at how you can handle scope creep through effective project management strategies.

Define team goals that align with project goals

Well-defined team goals ensure that the team knows how they fit into the project. The team needs a set framework to operate within. The goals should also be SMART—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

Align individual goals with team goals

Make sure everybody on every team has clear goals and responsibilities. Even the best-intentioned team member can easily get lost in a complex project, especially when their goals are not aligned with the team goals; or they don’t have any goal at all.

Establish a solid change control process

While a perfect process is nearly impossible to achieve, following a structured change management model can help to minimise the disruption caused by unexpected changes. By creating a change control process, you can:

• Centralise change requests

• Establish clear roles and responsibilities

• Define standards so that project changes are made responsibly

Develop a stakeholder management plan

Stakeholder management can often be tricky, especially when there are stakeholders with differing opinions, priorities, and requirements. The best way to deal with stakeholder pressure is to employ a stakeholder management plan from the outset, involving all stakeholders at the planning phase and having a clear schedule for communication with stakeholders throughout the project.

Split projects into smaller chunks

Breaking large projects down into smaller, more manageable bits can help you achieve deadlines while avoiding scope creep. Projects and project phases should have clearly defined tasks and deliverables. With clear deadlines and assignments, you can ensure the project remains focused on the critical path.

How to handle scope creep during a project 

Scope creep isn’t always bad. Sometimes it can help you achieve a larger vision for your project and deliver more value. But you need to understand how to tackle scope creep when it materialises.

Determine the consequences of scope creep

The Project Management Triangle is designed to examine the trade-off of resources between the three critical components of project management—time, cost, and quality. If a new product is developed as quickly as possible, it will likely have a higher cost. If the scope of a project increases then there will be an impact on the schedule or the cost or both.

When managing a project, you need to understand how changes will affect the final product, the project timeframe, and cost.

Work out the priorities

It’s up to you to determine how changes will affect your project. If the project timeline is a priority, you might need to adjust your budget if you want to accept some scope creep. If timelines and budget are non-negotiable then you may have to resist and forecast changes.

Negotiate for more resources

If a client insists on adding something new to a project, see if there is a way more funds can be made available. You need to keep the project management triangle balanced.

Build your project management skills  

You can leverage your existing experience and have the opportunity to gain valuable skills that will help you successfully navigate a project to completion. Take a look at the Google Project Management: Professional Certificate. This course is designed for professionals looking for a deeper understanding of project management processes and methods, especially those focused around project management approaches and methodologies.