Thursday, October 13, 2011

Analyzing Scope Creep

In previous class discussions or blog posts, I may have noted my experience with working in the non profit sector. Non profit and social services always, in my opinion, adds an air of unpredictability to job related tasks and projects, mainly in part to the clientele or consumer base served or resource availability. Expounding on my task as Internet Safety Program Director/Project Manager, the challenge for my company, in response to the need for Internet safety education and awareness for both children and parents was to reach the masses, in a set amount of time (grant and deliverable time constraints), with information and resources, in order to meet projected deliverables as agreed to with the funding sources, established partnerships, and to our Board of Directors.


At the onset of the grant/project, the same tasks (provide “x” amount of youth and adult trainings, distribute “x” amount of internet safety resources to youth and adults, and train “x” amount of law enforcement officers as internet safety facilitators) were given to 8 regional staff persons, to carry out in their regions of the state. This was a large, but manageable task in its infancy or conceive phase, with the team we had in place. Project managers must expect change and be prepared to deal with it (Portny, Mantel , Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, p346). Quickly the project came up against challenges, including product, schedule, and resource risks. The agency began to undergo organizational changes, reducing staff and cutting back on resources allocated in certain regions of the state, all of which negatively impacted my ability to maintain the project at the level as determined by the project scope. In addition, the funding source for the project and an integral partner in our internet safety work, the Attorney General’s Office, made it increasingly impossible to avoid scope creep as well. The AG’s Office saw my agency, in my opinion, as “little worker bees” that could do it all due to our office locations around the state. Their ideas grew, all the while, the agency was shrinking. I think Portny, et al, stated it best, “Another common source of change is the natural tendency of the client…to try to improve the project’s output as the project progresses…”

Now, Susan de Sousa lists, from “My PM Expert…the fast track to project success”, five reasons why scope creep occurs:

• Poorly detailed Project Scope Statement in the Project Initiation Document

• Poor Project Management Requirements have been delivered

• Poor control of the Project by the Project Manager

• Indecisive Project Stakeholders

• Too many Project Stakeholders who have differing priorities and objectives

Of the reasons she posits, I would have to note, reasons 3, 4, and 5, were the most prevalent factors in this situation. My limited experience with this size and magnitude of a project, as well as the numerous redesign changes to my agency (that I was never made abreast of in a timely manner), highlighted my lack of control over the project at pivotal times. The project was clearly affected, as well, by the stakeholders having vague goals and objectives at the onset of the project, even before the RFP was accepted.

Scope creep is inevitable with projects, but a change control system can lessen its stressful aspects (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, & Sutton, p348). It was clear that we (the agency) were not able to meet the initial deliverables as accepted in the project scope. Nearly 6 months into the first year of the project, we clearly had to make changes to the plans, timeline/schedule, and deliverables, which had to be agreed upon by everyone. Therefore having the "soft" skills to successfully managing and controlling scope creep is an absolutely vital trait for any successful project manager to have (de Sousa, 2009). It took time, but I was able to get the project, in limited capacity, back on track without completely losing the entire project. Due to a project like this, with this subject matter, never having been attempted before in our state, the goals and objectives were incredibly “pie in the sky”, from both our and the stakeholder’s perspectives. An Earned Value Analysis would have provided an accurate picture of the project, allowing me to stay abreast of the true state of the project. Lastly, I concluded that although I was given the task of being the Prevention Services Director for Internet Safety, in the evolving state the agency was in, I wasn’t fully in the role of Project Manager due to the involvement that upper management had in this and all agency programs at that time. Not excluding my responsibility, I do believe I still could have been more empowered to limit the stakeholder’s excessive demands on the project, and provided my team with more realistic project plans that would have effectively allowed them to complete their tasks with the resources they did have available to them.

References:

De Sousa, S. (2009). My PM Expert…the fast track to project success. Retrieved October 13, 2011 from http://www.my-project-management-expert.com/what-is-scope-creep.html .

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S.J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S.M., & Sutton, M.M. (2008). Project Management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NJ.

3 comments:

  1. Good post!

    As you listed the five possible reasons for scope creep, I was deciding the ones that I think applied to your project.

    I agree, the stakeholders created the largest scope creep. As you said, having the soft skills in the PM role are extremely beneficial. As we learned in our communication activity, how and what we say has a large impact.

    As I have mentioned earlier in this course, the PM has to possess and display many of the same skills as an effective leader. The exception is that a PM has to have all of the PM skills as well.

    Knowing what you know today about PM, do you think you may have handled your role differently?

    Thank you

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  2. Takehsa:
    I found the account of your experience with scope creep very detailed; but at the same time, it was so well articulated that at times I felt like I was living through the experience with you. You have identified all of the causes of scope creep in the project. This course is really a revelation for us! I am certain many of us can look back on projects we were involved in and wonder how we ever got to the closure phase.

    Getting the project back on track was a major coup for you and the team. I appreciate your decision to take corrective action by changing “plans, timeline/schedule, and deliverables” to bring the project performance back onto conformance with new plans and expectations (Portny, S. et al , 2008, p. 320).Additionally, soft skills such as the ability to communicate and interact with people are critical to the success of a project. In fact, Verzuh (2005) reminds us that, “no matter what the task, every action of a project manager includes communication” (p. 62).

    Yes it is really good to know that at times we can say no to client demands, and request that some changes be reserved for a subsequent project (Laureate Education Inc.).

    Thanks for sharing your experience.

    Sonia

    References:

    Laureate Education, Inc. Walden University. (2011).“Practitioner Voices: Overcoming ‘Scope Creep’” [Video Webcast]. Retrieved from:
    http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4894962&Survey=1&47=7389572&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

    Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

    Verzuh, E., (2005). The fast forward MBA in project management ( 2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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  3. Chris,
    Yes, after learning what I have thus far, as the Project Manager, I would be responsibility to handle this situation differently. Communication would have been key, from leadership and from me, especially regarding the scope creep negatively impacting the project. A clear and concise action plan, along with a risk management plan, would have clearly assisted me in avoiding many of the pitfalls noted. Thanks for your comments.

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