Scope is the total amount of work needed to deliver a project.
Scope creep is when project deliverables increase over time.
What started as a single deliverable becomes five.
This impacts budget and schedule and leads to burnout.
It comes from people learning more about the project and then modifying what why need.
One way to avoid scope creep is to be very clear on your scope. And scope is more than just a list of what the project will do.
In my experience, there are 7 types of scope:
1) Product scope – Functions and features of the product or a service.
2) Project scope – Work that must be done to deliver the product or service.
3) Customer scope – People and team who will receive the product or service. Who’s job will change, who needs to be trained?
4) Location scope – Which locations or areas will receive the product or service.
5) Software scope – Which IT systems or software applications will be modified, upgraded or changed.
6) Document scope – What documents will be produced? User guides? Process flows?
7) Out of scope – Most important! Be clear on what the project won’t deliver and why. Maybe it’s a future phase. Set expectations with all you customers and stakeholders.
