It seems that just about every project that I have ever worked on has had some form of scope creep occur. There is always some type of unanticipated issue that comes up and changes the scope of the project in some way. Scope creep is known as “the natural tendency of the client, as well as project team members, to try to improve the project’s output as the project progresses” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer & Sutton, 2008, p. 350) and these improvements can take in all shapes and sizes. I have experienced both good and bad scope changes within a project and regardless of the type of change it may be, it is really all about how the project manger deals with the changes in regards to the overall project. It is up to them to make sure that any changes to the scope will occur smoothly and effectively, while keeping the budget and schedule on track.
One project that comes to mind when I think of my past experiences with scope creep is when I was working as an instructional technologist on a government contractor with the EPA. I company that I was working for was contracted to build an online learning course in 6 months. We were hired to design and develop one course but that soon changed and we were then asked to create more than 50 courses and this all came about because they finally go the funding that they were waiting on. Having more money is always a good thing in a project because it provides a chance for more resources and work but on the negative side the project manager will need to change many parts of the project to reflex the changes.
Soon after the project plan reflected the new courses that were to be developed, EPA wanted to change the format that the training was going to be delivered and the technology that they wanted to use. This added an entirely new element to the project and many more changes to the project plan, because “when scope changes are unavoidable, the project manager should identify their impact on the project plan” (Lynch & Roecker, 2007). The problem was that the new delivery method and technology that they wanted to use was not something that we were able to do and it required much more resources then what our company was able to provide so we ended up sub-contracting out some of the work. While this was a good solution for that moment but the company that was sub-contacting did end up causing many more problems later on in the project but I will not get into that. To make a long story short, the 50 courses where not successfully completed because there was one change after another and the EPA pulled the project. It was a very stressful project that never seemed to have any structure because it was constantly in transition and the scoop was always creeping.
During that time I rolled with what the project manager and company decided to do with the project but I could tell that the project had issues and that it was not going to be successful unless someone turned things around and have more structure. Things were very unorganized and not very well documented. One issue that I had was that the project manager just gave the client anything that they wanted without really thinking of the team and what we could do. He was over promising and under delivering which is not good business practice. Looking back on the experience now, if I had been in the position of managing the project, I would been more realistic with what I could deliver and really be honest with the client and also my team. I also would have used many more documents to keep track of important project records for communication with the team and the client, this would have helped to better manage the issues and control the scope of the project more closely.
References:
Lynch, M. M., & Roecker, J. (2007). Project managing e-learning: A handbook for successful design, delivery, and management. London: Routledge. Copyright by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC via the Copyright Clearance Center.
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.
Erica Fecko's Blog 
June 10, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Erica
Great blog post!! You provided a great real life example of scope creep. I am sure that this experience and others have helped you in current jobs. You wrote, “He was over promising and under delivering which is not good business practice. Looking back on the experience now, if I had been in the position of managing the project, I would been more realistic with what I could deliver and really be honest with the client and also my team.” That is a great reflection. This connects to this week’s discussion and Dr. Stolovich’s fifth tip, “Communicate with the client.” (2010) As you point out, communication needs to be with the team as well as the client.
Thanks again for sharing!
Dean
Reference
Video Program: “Monitoring Projects” Walden University, 2010
June 11, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Hi Erica,
What a fantastic and visually pleasing post. Great job with the identification of the key issues that led to scope creep and ultimately resulted in the project being dropped. What a waste of time and resources for everyone involved! I had made mention in my blog post that there should be an emphasis on quality versus quantity. In our society we always want the latest and greatest…not that there is anything wrong with it, except when it begins to negatively affect the initial project goal. In your case, it sound that your project manager was doing anything and everything he/she could do to keep the client happy. Now as Dr. Stolovich stated one must focus on timeline, budget and most importantly keeping the client happy! However, this begs the question to what extent! In your case, it clearly was a detriment as the project was not completed nor implemented. The communication plan must be explicit and timeframes provided up front. If a client is asking for the stars and moon; it is up to the project manager to hear the client out, but also set realistic parameters to ensure it is a quality product and completed in a time frame. It is one of those situations where perhaps your company could have committed to doing a prototype for one course, pilot, and tweak and then has a stellar foundation to build upon. Great job and it sounds like they need you to lead the next one!
Karen Agrait
References:
Ertmer, P., & Quinn, J. (2007). The ID casebook: Case studies in instructional design (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Laureate Education. (Producer). (2010). Monitoring Projects. [Online]. Retrieved from Walden University eCollege.
June 11, 2011 at 7:50 pm
Hi Erica,
Working with any government agency can be stressful. I cannot imagine the disorganization on your end compounding the issues. I take on government contracts now and then but realize they are not worth the time or money. Dr. Stolovich talked about delegating the authority but retain the responsibility so for not to dump on anyone. I wonder in your case could the PM delegated a little more and focused on their organizational and management duties? I see in your future leading teams, you seem to have keen insight into the management.
John
Reference
Video Program: “Monitoring Projects” Walden University, 2010
June 12, 2011 at 11:02 pm
Hi Karen,
You are so right that it is up to the project manager, or in my case the school administration, to manage changes in a project so that it has minimal impact. Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, & Sutton (2008) suggest that “The best approach is to set up a well-controlled, formal process whereby changes can be introduced and accomplished with as little distress as possible” (p. 346). A formal process seems to be what was missing from the project that you were working on. 50 courses in 6 months seems to be a ridiculous amount of unexpected work and bound to fail. Your project manager was more interested in pleasing the client in the short term that he failed the client in the long term. Again I agree that, though it may be difficult, a project manager must be honest with the client about what the team can deliver.
Thanks for your post!
Anita
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.
June 13, 2011 at 2:36 am
Sounds like you were in a tough position. I have worked with the type of people who promise anything and have no idea of how they will deliver their promise. I try not to answer so quickly now because of this. Even if I have confidence in my ability to get the job done I try to give an answer that will give me a little time to think about the new problem. You have some great ideas to handle situations like this. As Stolovitch (2011) said keep any changes in writing and monitor the project with documents. The biggest problem was not being realistic about the ability to handle the scope changes. Being honest with the client about that is better than failing and losing the project.
Walden University. (Producer). (2011). Monitoring projects. [Online]. Retrieved from Walden University eCollege.
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