The type of projects that are most prone to scope creep are those that are more complex, and longer in duration – most likely a ‘waterfall’ run project (Gatherspace.com, 2012). I cannot recall any recent projects in which it or we the team faced scope creep, but there is one that occurred several years ago, early in my IT support career. I recall while working in the IT Operations department we were in the process of deploying new laptops to those whose laptops where coming off of corporate lease that needed to be returned in order for our company to receive a particular rebate or kick-back. In the midst of the project I recall quite a few people, especially those in leadership roles or executives that felt a certain sense of entitlement requesting a new laptop, which at the time where IBM Thinkpad’s. The scope of the project was to essentially deploy these Thinkpad’s to those who were using an outdate DELL with an old configuration that was no longer compatible with the network topography that we had recently transitioned to. The scope creep that we as a department was facing was the fact that the IT Manager, who at that time was an easy going young-lady who ran two different offices and seemed to have everything under control, however her new boss was potentially the biggest problem for us at this time. Often time in projects there are some pretty common issues that can occur that can potentially cause scope creep in a project that can be addressed early on with proper planning with the team. One of those issues is being the “yes man” who tends to want to please all the customers they serve to keep them happy. Gatherspace states: “While we all want to seek approval from our customer and keep them happy, you run the risk of being a "yes man". The value in saying "yes" is critical when trying to close a sale, but after the close and during the development of a project a good project manager will resist the urge to coddle their customer by saying yes.
I do not remember anything being done about distributing new laptops to those that they were not necessarily allocated for, which leads me to think that the director at that time had the authority to make that particular call - one way or another. In looking back at that particular situation, I can see that without good project management knowledge and experience, I too could have possibly made the same mistake out of just not knowing how to better manage the process. I do think however, when working in role such as that one, fast forward ahead, it is key that managers and directors on that level have a better wherewithal about project management, in order to handle the potential risks, scope creep, and issues that innately arise as a result of being a major project.
References:
Author Unknown. (2012). Managing Out of Control Requirements and Scope Creep. Retrieved from http://www.gatherspace.com/static/scope_creep.html#1 on June 7, 2012.
