Is Scope Creep Interfering with Your Holiday Plans?

Scope creep can be something that many people are experiencing in their work and in their personal lives during the holiday season. We briefly mentioned the subject of scope creep in one of our earlier blogs but thought we would expand more on the topic as it is something that many people go through daily.

This is a busy time for us here at fourmangos as we help our clients get their businesses prepared for the upcoming year. But, our job can become more complicated when the scope of projects expand without proper approvals or assessments.

What is Scope Creep?

Scope creep is known as an unwanted event when an original project scope expands with additional functionality and features without any corresponding adjustments to budget, time or other project resources. Let’s look at an example that could happen during the holiday season. You plan a Christmas party for your closest friends and family and have gathered all the food and decorations you will need for the event. But what you don’t realize is that your wife invited six extra friends without consulting with you. So, when they show up to the party, there is not enough food or space at the table for them to sit. This is an easy example of how the project’s scope (the Christmas party) expanded without any adjustments to the amount of food or seating arrangements.

Change is Neither Good or Bad

All projects encounter change which is neither bad nor good. However, if the expansion of the project scope has happened without proper assessment and approval, it can become problematic. Here at fourmangos, we recently worked on a project that did not have final approval for a budget from the person who pays the bills, but we were unaware of this. After sending in an invoice for over 100 hours of work, as you can imagine, it did not go over well. We are now helping ease the pain and manage the client as they did not have the proper channels for their team roles.

The moral of the story is to make sure scope creep doesn’t ruin your holiday plans or your business success. Our team at fourmangos is happy to sit down with you and discuss the scope of your project before we begin work. We strive to provide a seamless integration of strategy, marketing, technology and creative. Contact us today!