Managing Project Scope Creep

Scope creep is one of the things project managers must monitor.  Scope changes can seriously affect labour productivity, project cost, and schedule performance (Safapour et al, (2019).  My institution has participated in a project in past years to provide food and beverage services and decorating services at the Governor General Award Ceremony. In the early planning stages, we partnered with the Custos of the Parish to discuss the project scope. The institution manager requested my skill in preparing centerpieces for each table made from simple fruit and vegetable carvings. To add to the aesthetics of the room, it was requested for a focal point to be created with an arrangement of local fruits and vegetables. It was also requested that I prepare breads showcasing the Jamaican culture. I made crocodile bread and a breadbasket from bread. The Governor General loved it and I was pleased. I was happy and enthused to show off my skills and give the trainees a learning opportunity. However, the project crept up towards the end when other requests were being made to stretch my expertise and team beyond fatigue. Then and there, I thought that if I were the manager, there was so much I would have done differently, like including additional help towards the end to meet these new requests. Safapour and Kermanshachi (2019) highlight best practices that would benefit this event, given the opportunity to go back in time.

Partnering – Companies may partner to achieve specific business objectives by maximizing the effectiveness of each participant’s resources (Wang 2016, as cited by Safapour and Kermanshachi, 2019). The institution Manager could have included neighboring institutions to assist in the service. This would expand the human resources and skill set and lessen fatigue on other team members.

Front-end planning - This is the process through which owners develop sufficient strategic information to address risk and commit resources to maximize project success. (Hwang, 2012 as cited by Safapour and Kermanshachi, 2019). A risk analysis would identify these risk factors in the initial planning phase, including all stakeholders in the planning, and brainstorming on these risk factors will help to identify needed resources and implement these on time to maximize success.

Risk assessment is the process used to identify, assess, and manage risk. The project team evaluates risk exposure for potential project impact to provide focus for mitigation strategies (Jannadi, 2003, as cited by Safapour and Kermanshachi, 2019). The project team could have used a qualitative risk assessment to identify the types of risk and strategize against them. Tiusanen (2017) says that “qualitative risk analysis is a management technique concerned with examining the probability of a risky event and the impact of the risk if it occurs”. Risk was analyzed in the planning meetings, and strategies were implemented to manage them successfully, but other critical areas, for example, the size of the food service team, were not considered to adequately support the project goals without causing employee fatigue. All risks have both probability and impact that characterize the risk.

Nelson (2007) says that underestimating and producing overly optimistic schedules set a project up for failure. Poor estimation also puts excessive pressure on team members, leading to lower morale and productivity. The manager needed to look carefully at the tasks required by our institution and, in turn, develop a larger team to support these needs. This practice should be avoided when managing projects. In closing, project mangers must expect the unexpected and use good judgement in manging scope creeps if they arise.  

References

Nelson, R. R. (2007). IT project management: Infamous failures, classic mistakes, and best practices. MIS Quarterly executive, 6(2).

Tiusanen, R. (2017). Qualitative risk analysis. Handbook of Safety Principles, 463-492.

Safapour, E., & Kermanshachi, S. (2019, June). Identifying manageable scope creep indicators and selecting best practice strategies for construction projects. In Proceedings of the 7th CSCE International Construction Specialty Conference (pp. 12-15).