Project Management, Business Scope Creep - Essay Example

Scope Creep Project Management Assignment September 28, 2007 Number Word Count 842 Introduction Project Managers often face the questionregarding completion of Project. "Are we there yet" is a familiar query often faced by Project Managers, especially those who have managed complex, daunting projects. Too often complex projects are undertaken without clear goals and direction, which further complicates the answer to the query as to when the project team has arrived at its desired destination. Every IT project is carried out with a set of deliverables, and has a required closure time. Prior to this sign-off phase, there are tasks and activities that must be accomplished in order to complete the project successfully. These tasks establish the Scope of a project. It is important to understand that there is a relationship between the three basic constraints of a project: time, cost, scope. Difficulty arises due to the fact that management of a project requires that the project's Scope, Schedule and Cost are managed simultaneously. A common mistake that project managers often make is that they don't realize the critical relationship between these three elements. Since a project schedule is closely connected to the delivery time and scope of project as will be discussed in the latter sections of this paper, a little variation in the scope can affect delivery and in turn affect the success of the project. This edging forward of scope to accommodate more requirements that were not included in the initial planning of the project while maintaining the same time frame for project delivery, is referred to as Scope Creep. Scope creep can stultify a project and if uncurbed, can prove to be fatal for the project. Scope creep is frequently viewed as one of the top reasons for project failures. This paper will discuss Scope creep in details and will also highlight the reasons why it occurs and what are how it endangers success of an IT project. 2 Scope Creep Defined Scope creep is generally defined as "the propensity for a project to extend beyond its initial boundaries". It is the unexpected or uncalled-for expansion in the size of a project. When the customer's expectations change so that the previously agreed upon set of deliverables is exceeded in features or functionality, the project is said to be suffering from what is referred to as "scope creep". Scope creep appears during the course of a project in different ways. It can occur through many minor changes, or it can take place because of a profound change in approach to the design of the project. Regardless of how it takes place, scope creep is damaging to the overall project budget and schedule. It lead to cost and schedule overruns due to increased project scope. The outcome of scope creep is most likely extra design charges due to additional design work. The scope creep can be categorized into two types given below, based on the users who initiate changes to project scope: 1. Business Scope Creep 2. Technology Scope Creep 2.1. Business Scope Creep Systems are configured to solve the business needs of a company. Due to continuous changes in market dynamics, the requirements that were previously defined at the start of project may change. Outsourced or built by in-house development team, in all IT projects, the project team is expected to gather requirements from the users and other key stakeholders of the system. This requirements analysis phase is characterized by meetings, interviews, and questionnaires with the client about the existing system and what is expected in terms of functionality from the new system. In most cases, it is often difficult for business users to imagine or foresee the new system till they see it functional and running. Only then are they able to come up with some requirements for the system and not before that. When the users see the new system for the first time, changes may be needed because any new applications will at first be unknown to users. Many a times, the user perspective is to always look for things that do not work, rather than the things that do work in the system. Hence they will ask for those things that to become operational even if they don't require it to conduct their usual course of business everyday. When such changes (or functionality) are requested by the user, it expands the scope way beyond what is really required. 2.2. Technology Scope Creep The scope creep created by technologists can be broadly classified into two categories: "Customer Pleasing" This is the phenomena which occurs when the project team is busy pleasing the customer and try accommodating all their requests even if they are not really required in the system. "Technical Gold-Plating" Developers often try to act as perfectionists and search for the most optimum solution rather than following a sufficing approach. They add features and functionality that have not been specified in the approved requirements definition and hence increase the scope of the project. With this discussion on what Scope Creep is and its different types, the causes of scope creep will be discussed in the following section of this paper. 3 Causes of Scope Creep Following are some of the root causes of scope creep as identified by many Project Managers: 1. One of the factors which can lead to scope creep is an absence of a defined and disciplined procedure for change management (Kerzner, 2001). In absence of documented and applied change management procedures, a scope is created in which no one is really sure what the deliverables are to contain. People working in the project team may be function with a completely heterogeneous set of presumptions as to what is to be produced at the end of the project. Without a documented, approved and enforced change management process that is backed up by senior management, clients, and the project team, functionality may be added to the system without using any unified approach. This makes the scope very hard to contain and can very well lead to "scope creep". 2. The second major cause that leads to scope creep is incorrect selection of people defining the business processes. The participants must be high level managers in their departments and must have a very across-the-board understanding of the business and its issues. This group of people should be responsible for defining the boundaries of the process. The participants must also have resource allocation authority. This is essential for the easy availability of resources required to carry out the project. 3. The third cause is the lack of any formal risk analysis and planning process. If the risks and their associated effects on a project are not identified, then the potential of budget and/or schedule overruns is highly likely. 4. The absence of a formal communication plan may also cause Scope creep. If a communication plan has not been developed or is not being followed, individuals may not have key information on which to base project decisions. For example, a major milestone may be pending or facing trouble, and if the suitable persons are unaware of this issue, decisions may be made which will adversely impact the project budget. 5. To secure resources for project completion, a failing project sometimes acquires another project on the basis of "natural fit" or "efficiencies". But integration isn't free, and the efficiencies are often illusory, which result in adding to the complexity to the project scope further without providing any real benefit. 6. Sometimes scope creep is intentional. When project sponsors know in advance that they cannot secure the organizational commitment essential for what they actually want to do they may try to use a tactic known as Scopemonging. Project sponsor seek approval for something else that is linked to the bigger project, but different and less ambitious. Once that is afoot, the organization is "hooked," and the project team begins expanding the scope of that smaller effort to achieve their real, hidden agendas. 4 Effects of Scope Creep on Project Success Scope creep can have very dangerous effects on the overall performance of a project, its personnel - especially the Project Manager - and the relationship between those doing the work and the client organization paying for the finished product or system. Following are some of the effects of scope creep that endanger project success: 4.1. Budget A new airport facility, a nuclear power plant, an ERP system, etc all such projects in many cases experience budget overruns. The reason for these overruns is usually identified as poor estimation of costs. However it is not the cause always. Often the cause is most likely to be scope creep - the client requests additional functionality that arises from changing business needs or requirements that were not previously identified. All these modifications, or "enhancements", add cost to the project and consequentially lead to a "bloated budget". 4.2. Time Scope creep also has an impact on the duration of a project. Schedule lengthening increases the time it takes to complete a project and also has other side-effects. As the duration fo the project increases the cost of project also increases as the number of hours each resource is utilized increases. Usually programmers/developers are paid on an hourly basis and hence the rising cost of human resource. Also if the project is the development of a new product then increase in project duration will most likely delay the launch of the product in the market and as a result profits may diminish. Team morale problems also arise due to the fact that team members have to work excessive amounts of overtime, and turnover in staff - staff leaving and moving to other assignments prior to finishing their tasks, increases. 4.3. Quality Project quality also suffers from scope creep as team members productivity declines and the last minute work is done basically to get the job done and not with the purpose of giving the customer the best solution. Also, many of the members switch to other projects prior to completion when project duration gets extended and new members are bound to perform substandard tasks in order to complete project as soon as possible. 4.4. Endless cycle of adding more features Scope creep can also drive the project leader to fall into a catatonic state. Generally, this shows up when the project manager and or the customer have failed to agree, understand, or document exactly what the completion criteria for the project will be. The project manager will be caught in an endless cycle of have to add "just one more feature" or make "just one more change". 5 Conclusion To conclude, scope creep can have a very damaging impact on the project, the project manager and the team working on the project. Scope creep not only leads to additional costs, schedule lengthening but also results in diminishing quality of project as stress levels rise and the tasks are accomplished for the purpose of getting the work done. References Alev, David. "The Scope Went Through the Roof." Viewed September 28, 2007. http://consultingacademy.com/a07.shtm . Kerzner, H., 2001. Project Management - A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. 7th Ed. New York, NY: Wiley & Sons Meredith, Jack R. and Samuel J. Mantel, Jr., 2000. Project Management: A Managerial Approach. 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, NY USA. PMI, 2004. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). 3rd Edition. Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA: .Project Management Institute, Inc. Read More