Your first reaction might be to build a wall to ward off impending scope creep. But that’s impossible because scope creep isn’t a person or an animal you can tame—it’s an idea that can spin your project out of control.
So how do you handle scope creep on your projects? It’s your job as the project manager to act as both the project gatekeeper and the cheerleader, to monitor, manage, and report on its progress, and to guard your project estimate, scope, and timeline with courage and diplomacy.
Before we explain what scope creep is and how it affects a project, let’s start with a simple definition of project scope.
In project management, scope simply means the boundaries you set around your project to meet project goals on time and budget. These boundaries define what will be delivered by when, how you’ll get the work done, and what project success looks like.
Scope creep is when a project’s scope changes beyond what everyone originally agreed upon. The PMBOK Guide 7th Edition defines scope creep as “when additional scope or requirements are accepted without adjusting the corresponding schedule, budget, or resource needs” (PMI, 2021).
Scope creep negatively impacts projects in several ways—usually because the work increases, but not the budget or time frame. Scope creep is notorious for stressing out team members, pushing projects over budget, and taking time and focus away from the original deliverables.
So what does scope creep look like in the real world? Let’s say your project was originally scoped for 3 deliverables, but now it’s grown to 5 because a stakeholder asked for a change. That’s a simple example of scope creep in project management.
Here are a few more scope creep examples you might encounter:
Scope creep happens for a variety of reasons in project management. Common causes for scope creep can include:
Understanding all the different ways project scope might go sideways can help you identify and address scope creep as it arises and adjust plans or expectations as needed.
Any change, additional request, or new requirement can trigger project stress for any project manager. But remember: You’ve got a lot to fall back on.
Do your due diligence by reading and understanding your project scope document, building a project plan based on that scope, and completely vetting it with your team and clients. This will make it easier to prevent project scope creep in the first place.
TeamGantt tip: Keep a file shortcut or local folder on your desktop so you can refer to key documents quickly. This should include copies of your most recent plans, scope of work, and estimates. Having them handy will save you time as opposed to wading through folders.
The initial steps of a well-constructed project management process will truly carve a path to success for you and your project. Don’t ever be shy to stop a conversation and say, “Let me refer back to the scope/plan and get back to you.”
No one should expect you to have every detail committed to memory—especially if you’re responsible for more than one project. So take your time instead of jumping to provide an immediate answer, and always remember a solid response is going to have the best impact.
Here are the 5 best ways to stop scope creep from wrecking your projects.
Begin with the end in mind. Be sure your team and stakeholders understand and agree on project scope and goals, and document it in a formal scope of work.
Being aligned from the start will go a long way toward preventing scope creep down the road. That’s because it makes it easier to decline a new idea that isn’t in scope or, better yet, steer clients in another direction that’s more appropriate for the project’s goals and scope.
Learn how to write a solid project scope document.
It’s a whole lot easier to mitigate scope creep when you have a clear plan in place from the get-go. So take time to outline every step you need to take to get from the beginning to the end of your project on time and budget. A gantt chart provides a great visual tool for building your plan and monitoring scope as work progresses.
Just don’t let all the work you put into your plan go down the drain by succumbing to every new issue and request. That first version of your plan is your baseline, and you don’t just make these things up!
If you’re doing it right, you’re basing it on your estimate and scope. Sure, plans can change, but referring to that first plan as your baseline will often help you argue the case for more time or budget when new scope starts to creep in. Stick to the plan, and use it as your project’s roadmap.
Easy drag and drop features with templates for faster scheduling. Plan a project in minutes, collaborate easily as a team, and switch to calendar and list views in a single click.
Create your free plan
Saying no to a client may seem scary—but sometimes it's the best way to help your client achieve their goals. And it can be a powerful tool for preventing scope creep too.
If you receive a change request that will throw the project off track, it’s okay to say no. Just position it as a conversation, not a declaration. Clearly explain how the change will negatively impact the project, and discuss options for the best way to proceed.
A date is a date. Missing deadlines will most often cause an impact, whether it affects your resourcing plan, next delivery, or final deadline.
Don’t fear the conversation about timeline issues and impacts. Talking things out while a change is happening will help everyone understand what’s affected.
Review your baseline plan with your team and stakeholders, and discuss how unexpected changes will impact future deadlines and the overall project schedule. Then work together to determine how to move forward.
This is equal parts setting expectations and creating process. If you’re in a larger organization, you might be required to complete a series of approvals (read: documentation) to ensure everyone on your team agrees to a change in plans or timeline.
On smaller projects with smaller teams, it’s often easy to merely take everyone’s word for it and keep moving on with the changes. In that instance, you might consider creating a “paper trail” associated with a particular conversation or change in scope.
Use your judgment here, but it’s never a bad thing to write a change request for a non-scope-related change. It can be a good way to cover your bases and ensure no one will go back on what had been verbally agreed to via email.
Any good scope change request will include:
Download our free change request form template.
Sometimes scope creep happens no matter how much you plan or prepare. When it does, it’s important to document everything and communicate with your team and stakeholders.
Let’s take a look at how to address scope creep when it pops up on your projects.
As the project manager, you’re the primary communication point for all project work. If the project scope starts to shift, be proactive, and raise a flag to your clients and stakeholders. Discuss how the change affects the project and budget.
Not every project change will result in a scope change. Sometimes unexpected things happen: someone gets sick, a stakeholder has gone missing and can’t provide feedback, a baby is born! You get the idea.
If plans change (and they likely will), be sure to keep track of those changes. Don’t ever try to slip in a timeline update without notifying everyone involved. Always communicate it in several ways.
Here are some helpful strategies for communicating changes:
Update all impacted tasks, and keep notes on extensions in your newest version. For instance, if a client misses a milestone and a deadline is extended, make a note in the planned task. Most planning software includes a handy “notes” field, so it’s easy to enter a comment like this:
Baseline date was [month/day/year/]. Actual was adjusted on [month/day/year/] due to [reason].
After you’ve updated everything and double-checked your dates, make a new version and save the old one in a safe spot.
TeamGantt tip: Drag and drop tasks to update your plan and get an answer on new timing within minutes. You should also baseline your plan to keep track of the many versions you might encounter. To create a new baseline set, open the project (or projects), and click Menu>Baselines>Create New Baseline Set.
TeamGantt tip: Adding dependencies to your gantt chart can be really helpful when you have a project that requires tasks to be done in a certain order, so be sure to check those out in TeamGantt. That way, when you reschedule a task, any other tasks that depend on it will automatically be rescheduled as well. Try TeamGantt for free today!
You should always report on current timeline status in your regular status reports, so it’s a perfect spot to share the updates you’ve made to your plan. You might choose to replicate the note made in your plan or even attach the plan for review and discussion.
This document is created for your team to review/revise and check against throughout the project. Don’t forget to refer back to it and keep it up-to-date since the document can become buried in the project at times.
People hate talking about money. It’s your job to talk about things people hate. That’s just how it is for project managers.
So the best way to approach topics like budget overages and scope creep is to handle them head on and document, document, document! But it often doesn’t just start with documentation! It starts with a conversation about the work.
A change in scope should never be a surprise to you or your clients. They wouldn’t call it “scope creep” if it didn’t slowly slither up on you.
Sure, some requests are obviously out of the boundaries of your scope, and you can address them immediately. But there’s often one feature or requirement that starts as a manageable piece of scope and slowly evolves into something else.
This, my friends, is scope creep. And it’s your job to keep an eye on these things and make sure they’re not killing your budget.
When you do realize a stakeholder’s going to kill your budget, use your documentation and status reports to call out the issue.
The first step would be to reassess the budget and note where the work is trending. Take a look at the project hours and estimated effort, then check in with your team to see if they expect an overage. If so, you need to make your clients aware right away.
Even if they think they’ll hit the target, you might want to let your clients know about the potential risk anyway. It never hurts to show them you’re thinking ahead and being budget-conscious. The best way to do this is to make it formal. Create a “Risk/Issues” section in your status report so you can write out potential issues and then discuss them with your clients.
Discussing the issue might feel uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have to be. Calling things out early will give you time to think through a mitigation plan and discuss it with your clients. Plus, by not waiting until the last minute to call out the issue, you’re positioning it in a way that will help everyone involved devise a reasonable approach to the change.
You always have your scope and baselined schedule to back you up. A well-researched and planned discussion surrounding the scope creep risk will help put you, your client, and the potential issue at ease. Anything can be sorted out with planning and discussion.
Easy drag and drop features with templates for faster scheduling. Plan a project in minutes, collaborate easily as a team, and switch to calendar and list views in a single click.
Create your free planSometimes you’ll get to a point where the team can’t continue work without a budgetary change request, but the clients don’t want to agree to it. Talk about uncomfortable!
It’s never easy to proceed under these conditions, but as the project manager, you have to come up with options. Here are a few scenarios to think through:
No matter what the answer is, you’ll need the buy-in of your team and management to make the change that’s best for your project, clients, and company. It’s never an easy decision to make.
At the end of the day, everyone wants to deliver a successful product they can be proud of. So while it’s important to complete a project on time and under budget, don’t lose sight of quality. The expectations of the product you deliver should never be overshadowed by the scope or timeline.
Of course, you’ll always use your timeline and budget as the guiding light. But it’s important to set forth what will make the project a success in the eyes of your clients and team. Asking these questions at the beginning of a project will help your team set some targets within the context of your project budget and timeline:
Having goals helps you set the stage for how you can meet them within the constraints of the project. Goals can also help you gauge the validity of new requests as they come in. If you’re experiencing scope creep and the work doesn’t actually meet a goal, it’s much easier to cut it out.
A good project manager can sense scope creep at the first hint. A better project manager takes time to diagnose the scope creep, study it, and develop an approach to accept or deny it. The best project managers get through all of those steps and approach the situation with a level head.
Any project problem—scope-related or not—can be resolved with a conversation that references previous work you’ve done on your project. In fact, all the time you put into creating an estimate, scope, and timeline will make approaching any problem easier.
Learn how easy managing project scope can be with TeamGantt. Create your first gantt chart for free!
