How to give scope creep the flick
By Stephanie Oley

Scoping a project accurately can be tricky, and the larger the project the more difficult this becomes. If you’ve read our introductory story, 'Project management: 6 areas to master', you’ll recall that scope management is the first step to tackle.

When done correctly, project scoping helps teams define project goals, determine constraints, and develop workflow management strategies, tasks and deliverables. A clear project scope should:

• Provide a roadmap of the project, outlining its timeline, budget, assigned tasks, project stakeholders and workflow strategies.
• Manage stakeholder expectations, ensuring that everyone is aware of the project’s goals and priorities.
• Prevent scope creep by establishing boundaries that minimise the risk of your project diverting from the plan.

What is scope creep and how does it happen?

Scope creep is the tendency for a project’s requirements to increase – or creep up – over time, often with no one addressing these changes. It occurs through a complex interplay of factors. These include poorly defined requirements, too many decision-makers, an inadequate or absent change control process, suboptimal task prioritisation, unchecked client requests, and not involving the client enough in the process. All can lead to the project finishing behind time, over budget and below quality.

According to Project Management Institute’s 2023 Pulse of the Profession report, poor project performance is responsible for a staggering 9.9 cents waste per dollar. The same report found that more than half of all projects experience scope creep. By contrast, controlling scope was rated as a top driver of project success.

A famous international example of scope creep is Denver International Airport, which in 1989 launched a $1.7 billion upgrade that was to create a fully automated baggage-handling system. However, the project was assailed from the beginning by problems including incorrect cost and time estimates, unplanned changes in design, and ineffective communication between all stakeholders. Political pressures, labour strikes and even poor weather all added the problem. The project ended up costing $4.8 billion, was delivered two years late and had a fraction of its intended functionality.

From a look at expert debriefs, the Denver airport project broke almost all the basic scoping rules described in this article. Managers ignored multiple warnings: for example, early in the planning states, a respected consulting firm and three project bidders had all declared that the timeframe would need to be double, at a minimum.

Nevertheless, project scoping strategies are readily available to overcome such issues.

7 steps to prevent scope creep

Developing a comprehensive scoping process will help your project stay on track. Below are seven areas to focus on.

1. Clarify broad objectives – Defining measurable goals and objectives is a crucial first step in project planning. This helps establish a clear direction and determine the steps needed to achieve the desired outcome.
2. Define specific requirements – A well-run project will have specific goals, functionalities and features for it to be considered successful. Defining these in detail helps to manage stakeholder expectations.
3. Define deliverables – The next step is to define a specific set of deliverables, or clarity on the milestones that need to be accomplished and the timeframe for each.
4. Identify and allocate resources – Ensuring that teams have the resources they need to perform tasks will help prevent unnecessary delays, and keep the project on track.
5. Create exclusions and constraints – Known constraints are different from risks that could suddenly appear, and should be acknowledged during the scoping process. Tasks that are outside the project’s scope should also be clearly defined.
6. Incorporate stakeholder input – By ensuring that stakeholders review and approve all aspects of the project, team leaders can more effectively communicate the project’s scope and minimise the risk of last-minute additions.
7. Create a change control process – Some scope creep is inevitable, but team leaders can create strategies to review and approve any reasonable changes to the project scope.

In the words of CCE’s team of project management facilitators, around 90 per cent of a project manager’s work involves communicating. But to do this effectively, you will need clear frameworks and an understanding of the processes involved.

You can get a good overview of scoping in the Introduction to Project Management workshop, or dive right into the Project Scope Definition and Planning workshop to understand how to kick-off and scope your project.