No One Likes a Scope Creep
“No One Likes a Scope Creep” By Poornima Vijayashanker Two weeks ago I talked about dealing with deadlines that are doomed, and I …
“No One Likes a Scope Creep” By Poornima Vijayashanker
Two weeks ago I talked about dealing with deadlines that are doomed, and I talked about how to create more realistic deadlines before committing to a project. A number of readers wrote in asking, “What if I’ve already got a project and I’m going to miss my deadline?”
In exchanging emails with readers, I identified that the most popular reason people were going to miss a deadline was because of scope creep. Some of you might already be familiar with the term. Scope creep is a byproduct of complexity. It happens when you don’t anticipate every scenario, miscalculate how long it will take to build something, or don’t include the time it takes to learn how to build. It’s also caused when new things are added to a project. It’s OK if it happens, it’s only natural. But it needs to be tackled, because the original deadline will be aggressive, and there isn’t time to do it all and still deliver a quality solution.
Today I’m going to talk about how to handle scope creep, and I’ll walk you through a scenario that I had recently, with one of the students in my Lean Product Development Program, Lindsey, a freelance designer.
Lindsey, recently started to work as a freelance designer, because she wanted to set her own hours, and work on a product idea she has. As the holiday season kicked into full gear, Lindsey was really worried that she wouldn’t be able to meet a deadline she had committed to, for one of her clients. I sat down with Lindsey to understand the situation in greater detail. Here’s how our conversation went.
Me: “Hey Lindsey, it’s great that you’ve been attracting clients and building your business!”
Lindsey: “Yeah it’s really given me a lot of freedom to pursue my own product idea, and I was making a lot of great progress, until this month.”
Me: “What happened this month?”
Lindsey: “I have to finish a project for one of my clients before the holidays.”
Me: “I see. And why do you have to finish the project?”
Lindsey: “Well it’s a deadline I committed to at the beginning of the project, and the client has new projects coming up in Q1 of 2015.”
Me: “Will you be able to finish the project on time?”
Lindsey: “I’m afraid I won’t.”
Me: “What is preventing you from finishing on time?”
Lindsey: “Well there were some things that came up that we hadn’t anticipated, and I’ve had to do quite a bit of re-work as a result.”
Me: “And it is critical that those things get addressed?”
Lindsey: “Yes, otherwise we cannot ship.”
Me: “What makes them so critical?”
Lindsey: “Well one of the features is tied to monetizing their product, and another is an improvement that came up that their customers have been requesting for a very long time.”
Me: “OK. So if they are so critical to the business, then they probably want the highest quality right?”
Lindsey: “Yes.”
Me: “And if you do a rush job then chances are it will impact monetization and affect the experience for existing customers?”
Lindsey: “Yes. Also I’m concerned that if I tell them I won’t be able to get it done, they’ll fire me!”
Me: “Well hold on a sec. Why did they hire you? I know there are a LOT of designers available.”
Lindsey: “Yes there are. But they liked the quality of my work, and I also have expertise in their particular vertical: fintech [financial tech].”
Me: “I see. So they trusted you and value your expertise.”
Lindsey: “And now I’m letting them down!”
Me: “How?”
Lindsey: “By not being able to meet their deadline!”
Me: “Hold on a sec! You said they hired you because they value the quality of your work and because you have expertise. If they do really care about quality, and that is a priority to them, then they’ll need to understand that it will take some additional time. Especially since you mentioned there were things that came up.”
Lindsey: “True. But I’m concerned that they will see this delay as me being unprofessional.”
Me: “No. This called scope creep. It’s when the scope of a project gets bigger. When that happens you either have to change the deadline, or if the deadline is critical, then figure out what is a priority, and cut out what isn’t to meet the deadline. Since there were some things that came up in the course the project, its only natural that the deadline needs to get pushed back a bit if those things really are a priority and need to be incorporated. It would be unprofessional if you failed to deliver altogether. You should also mention to your client that you care about the success of this project, and you don’t want to deliver something that is of low quality. It’s after all a reflection of you.”
Lindsey: “Yeah I do want to see it succeed! I’ll have a chat with my client and see what they say.”
After Lindsey and I finished chatting, she reached out to her client, and scheduled a meeting. Before the meeting Lindsey prepped what she was going to say to handle any pushback they’d have regarding the project scope and deadline.
During the meeting, Lindsey told them that the deadline was tight due to the additions. If they were still a priority then the deadline would need to be pushed back. Her client was a little defensive initially, but came around once Lindsey mentioned that she cared about delivering a quality product. She was committed to seeing the project through, she just needed more time. Her client appreciated her commitment to quality and that Lindsey was clear in communicating how she felt.
If you’ve faced this situation before, here’s what you want to think about:
- Why did someone choose you to work on this project? If it was because they trusted you, then they should also trust you when you tell them what is and isn’t possible. This is especially important to do if someone seems to be unrealistic or overly demanding.
- Did the scope of the project expand? If there were additions then either the deadline needs to be pushed back to accommodate them, or the additions need to be prioritized with the rest of the work.
- Focus on the outcome and show your commitment to it. Too often clients and managers think you’re just being lazy. But if you communicate that you care about the quality of the project and are committed to seeing it through then they understand you’re just asking asking for more time, not shirking your responsibilities.
- Explain what will happen if you try to do everything as per the original deadline. Will it jeopardize the quality of work, and cause you to have to fire fight later? People need to know what the consequences are of their choices!
- Don’t hesitate to walk people through a new timetable. Sometimes it’s better to ship small pieces of the project.
Now I want to know when was the last time you were in a situation like Lindsey? How did you deal with the new additions to a project?
Let me know in the comments below!
