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Project Management Week 6- Scope Creep Just Pitch It
Scope creep can pervade the simplest of project. Even home
projects. The key is to realize what it is and determine if changing the scope
is worth the changes in time, budget, and needed resources.
So, a few weeks ago I opened my refrigerator looking for a
bottle of salad dressing. I located what I was looking for and was seconds from
pouring the dressing on my salad when my husband told me he thought it was expired.
Upon closer inspection, sure enough the salad dressing had expired. I then
reached for an alternative bottle of dressing to find that bottle had expired
as well. A few days later I went to grab a yogurt and noticed that it had expired.
Feeling frustrated I decided that when the weekend came, I was going to go through
my refrigerator to get rid of all of the expired items.
Weekends normally are spent with my family doing activities
outside. I figured I could go through my entire refrigerator in 15 minutes
which would leave plenty of time for our family to go to the beach after I was
done. When the weekend came my family was busy getting their beach gear
together and I began the great refrigerator purge. Everything was going well
until I noticed a spill in one of the compartments in the door. I reached in to
clean the spill and noticed that it extended the entire side of the door compartment.
I then proceeded to move all of the items out of this compartment and noticed
that the spill was rather sticky and was molded to the bottom of all of the
items, so I decided to wipe down all of the items before putting them back in
the compartment. When I went to the next compartment, I saw another spill and
proceeded to pull every item out and wipe it down along with the compartment
area. I then noticed in the crisper drawer
that some celery leaves had come loose and were on the bottom of the drawer, so
I took everything out and washed the drawer down. This continued until I had
literally wiped every surface down and every glass or plastic jar in the refrigerator. In the process, I noticed some dirt under the
refrigerator and decided to move it and clean the floor and walls behind it. My
small 15-minute project ended up taking me 70 minutes to complete. What the
heck happened??
Scope creep! As I began working on my project of removing
the expired items, other things came up that I thought should be taken care of
and I let a small project turn into a major investment of time. Needless to say, my family was not happy with
me as they had to sit and wait until I was done. Although the outcome provided me with a very
clean refrigerator it cost me extra time and resources (extra cleaning solution
and cleaning cloths). It also created some disappointment and frustration with
other stakeholders in my home, due to the failed delivery time of my completed project.
Being a project manager requires the ability to manage budgets,
time, resources, scope, and people. In my quest to complete my project I failed
to effectively manage my time, scope, and to meet the expectations of the stakeholders
in my home. In the future, before letting
scope creep take over, I would want to evaluate all of these factors and
consult with my stakeholders if I am considering making changes.
Looks like you need to 5S your refrigerator! No need to be embarrassed, most people (including myself) have something in their home that can be better organized (kitchen draw, basement, workbench, garage, etc.).
ReplyDeleteYour project reminds me of one my wife and I are currently working on. Our house is a Queen Anne Victorian, and is just over 100 years old. The home has all its original woodwork and several pocket doors. We’ve been in the home almost 30 years (showing my age, I know) and got frustrated every time we went to paint a room. When picking a color, we would have to first make sure it went well with the orange-looking shellac that is on all the doors, trim, etc. Well, after 29 years we decided to paint the trim and pocket door in our living room.
Wow!! What a difference. The room is so much brighter, and the color on the wall now matches the sample swatch. The room doesn’t feel depressing to me anymore. Instead, it feels cheery. If you haven’t guessed it, the project didn’t stop there. We’re now in the dining room. We painted the trim and pocket door, and ordered new carpeting and furniture. The carpet will be installed tomorrow (yeah!) and the furniture is scheduled to arrive early November. The dining room also got new blinds, curtains and curtain rods. And we’re not stopping there! We’re going to carry the dining room color into the kitchen, and plan to hang wallpaper in the foyer/entry way. Talk about going over time and budget!
I can easily argue our home improvements were long overdue, but then… why did we have a project plan? Our plan was to paint the trim and pocket door in the living and be done with it by X date. We allocated costs, created a schedule, and implemented. We didn't revise our plan, schedule, or budget as the project grew. Instead, we just let it get out of control (sort of like you, when cleaning your refrigerator). A Contingency plan would have been helpful as well. For instance, we did have a slight hiccup in the dining room -- we needed a second gallon of paint and the store we bought it from is closed on Sunday’s. Luckily we found a store a few towns over that sold the same paint, but (to my point) created a another set-back in the process. In addition to what you already noted, a project manager needs to be flexible – in order to meet customer needs. And in my case, I was too flexible with my customer/wife which created major scope creep, that is still creeping through my house today.