Scope creep is the scourge of project managers everywhere. Projects can be made difficult to deliver by creeping additional requirements, features, and resources – which can lose organizations money and decrease satisfaction levels of colleagues, customers, and clients. 

Scope creep can also make the original aims of projects difficult to impossible to achieve, not to mention driving the stress levels of project managers through the roof. In this article, we will take a closer look at what the scope of a project is, how and why scope creep can occur, and how project managers can plan and manage resources to avoid scope creep’s negative consequences.

What can scope creep look like? 

One of the most famous and frequently-cited examples of real-world scope creep was Denver International Airport’s botched introduction of a new fully automated baggage handling system. This project was characterized by a staggering over 2,000 design changes, which rendered it something of an unwilling and unwitting ‘poster boy’ for scope creep. 

The design changes resulted from all relevant parties not being involved in the initial resource planning stages and project managers choosing to ignore fundamental issues with the project. This somewhat imperfect storm meant that the project was completed 16 months late and some 250% over budget – and even after its launch the system was plagued by problems and was largely replaced by a manual system. 

Another example of scope creep can be seen in the extension of the Canadian city of Kitchener’s main library. The contractor ultimately took legal action against the city and the project architects, claiming that the 54-week delay to the opening of the new library was due to a substantial number of last-minute changes. The contractor claimed that an excessive number of design changes, including 307 proposed changes as well as 273 more formal change orders and hundreds of requests for information, made it impossible to keep the project on time and within its budget.

What is the scope of a project?

A project’s scope depends on its type and size but typically refers to all the work required to successfully complete a project. The scope is defined at the planning stage of a project – and should include the likes of documenting project goals, resources, deliverables, costs, budgets, and deadlines. Many projects use a work breakdown structure, which helps identify all individual tasks and activities.

Read more on initial planning in the Project Implementation article.

At the outset, project initiators can put together a scope statement or terms of reference, which is a planning document that defines the scope of a specific project. The scope statement typically explains the boundaries of a project and its planned resources, establishes responsibilities and reporting lines, and sets up approval procedures for specific activities and project stages. 

For multi-stakeholder projects, in particular, a Statement of Work (SOW) is one of the first documents created by project initiators, which lays out the entire landscape of the project before planning and execution. 

What is scope creep in project management?

Scope creep – which is also known as feature creep or requirement creep – is when the work of a project starts to exceed or “creep” over the initial boundaries of what it was set up to achieve. Scope creep is what occurs when a project’s requirements increase over a project lifecycle and can cause serious issues, particularly if changes to a project’s purpose, resources, and delivery are undocumented. 

Scope creep through unauthorized or unrecorded changes can use additional resources to what was planned, affect productivity, prevent deliverables from being achieved, and lead to budgets being exceeded. Also, a project completed in an uncontrolled, disorganized way can potentially look very different from what was agreed upon at its initiation.

How does scope creep occur?

It is clear that undocumented and uncontrolled changes to projects are common causes of scope creep, but it is critically important that projects are clearly laid out in terms of purpose and scope at the outset. Vague and undefined scope statements or terms of reference and unclear statements of work can blur project boundaries and create the conditions for scope creep before projects have really begun. 

At this early stage it is also wise to limit the number of stakeholders working on a project – thus avoiding the old adage “too many cooks spoil the broth” – that the number of different stakeholder opinions is kept to a minimum to keep the project nimble.

How to manage scope creep

Problematic experiences can be avoided if project managers effectively communicate with all stakeholders from the initial phases and throughout the project. The role of the project manager, as well as other team leaders, clients, and stakeholders is vital in avoiding scope creep. All parties must communicate effectively and transparently to ensure all are aware of all changes and that all changes are documented. 

Project managers must communicate effectively and manage strongly, standing their ground even if more senior colleagues and pushy clients demand that changes are made to projects. Project managers must manage expectations on what can be delivered and when.  

Effective communication can ensure that stakeholders are involved in a project appropriately and that the project’s senior sponsors are fully signed up for its delivery. Also, all parties must be kept in the loop by the project manager to ensure achievable timeframes and deadlines.

How to avoid scope creep

All this is not to say that all changes to a project plan are bad. Rather, change is inevitable and can be a positive aspect of managing projects. Agile project methodologies, for example, break projects into several phases and involve constant collaboration with stakeholders and continuous improvement at every stage. 

Undocumented changes or scope creep, however, can cause serious delivery issues for projects as a project which initially had a single deliverable can creep into having several, or uncontrolled changes can mean that a project with three features can end up having at least twice that number – as well as a growing list of stakeholders.

Changes to projects cause scope creep when they are undocumented. For instance, conversations and agreements can take place between clients and team members which in some cases even the project manager might not be aware of. 

Flexible change control processes must therefore be built into projects at their inception, documenting such conversations so all relevant parties are aware of them. Approval processes should also be watertight so they can’t be evaded to add unapproved changes and potentially lead to scope creep. 

Other best practices to avoid scope creep

1. Exercising effective resource planning before and during projects. 
2. Devising effective and documented change control processes that define the purpose and scope of projects.
3. Regularly updated project scope statement when change requests get approved. This can ensure all relevant project parties are kept aware and up-to-date with scope and progress.
4. Efficient processing, documentation, and communication of all scope changes, as well as amendments to timelines.
5. It cannot be stressed enough that collaboration with project and team leaders, sponsors, clients, stakeholders, and end users helps avoid scope creep throughout the project lifecycle!

A sleek up-to-date resource planning tool like Weekwise, which is fully compatible with Slack, can help project managers avoid scope creep’s pitfalls. Weekwise is easy to use and it is very low touch – only needing clicks, drags, and a bit of typing. It eloquently tracks your resources accurately and punctually. You can plan as far or as little ahead as you want. Various views let you see the project develop in overview or zoom in on more specifics. Graphs and charts let you see how your project is progressing.