In my new career as an instructional designer, I have seen a number of issues related to scope creep. Working in the education field can have its share of ups and downs and all elements of my career have their own room for scope creep. Recently I worked as that ISD of a course that was running fairly smooth up until a few weeks prior to the handoff date. The handoff date is the date clearly specified by the project manager at the beginning of the project. Each person who works on the course has a specific date specifically for them. The particular course developer for this course was having a rather difficult time writing the course and her scope began to creep up on here. I had never been through this type of situation so I was just under the assumption that if she was a few days late it would be ok, but I was totally wrong about that!
Portny et al (2008) states scoop creep is the natural tendency of the client, as well as project team members, to try to improve the project’s output as the project progresses. The course developer in this situation did not manage her time as well and ended up having to extend here project period for another week. Portny et al. (2008) states that uncertainty is a lack of sureness that something will come to pass. Her uncertainty jeopardized the status and progression of the entire project because all dates had been approved previously.
The project manager had to step in and negotiate more time for me since I was set to begin my role in the design of the course a week prior. The stakeholders were disappointed that the project fell off schedule but were overall happy that the project manager took the proper steps to assure that the project would still be able to be fulfilled with minor alterations to the course schedule.
As I think back on the situation, if I were the project manager on this project, I would have had weekly status meetings with the management team over the course developers and instructional designers to assure that all aspects of the project were running according to schedule. This would have assured that even if someone was running behind in their role, alterations could have been made prior to the scoop creep period and extra days could have possibly been scheduled in for situations such as this.
Reference:
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.
Cottrell,
ReplyDeleteThis is a scenario that I've had experience dealing with as an ISD. As the project team begins to review the content, the more content they want to add. They believe that it's all relevant and must be covered. What often saves me is the SOW, Project Plan, and Development Plan which all must be signed off by each stakeholder. According to Mark Matthews of eHow, "the project plan establishes a foundation for measuring project performance, progress, and the quality of project results and defines the criteria for success in terms of required work products, quality of results, and target dates for delivery of work". This documentation and schedule really helps keep the project within scope.
Reference:
Matthews, M. "The Purpose of a Project Plan"
Hi Cotrell,
ReplyDeleteHaving weekly meetings for status review may have prevented scope creep but from reading and listening to everyone it is part of the plan. Uncertainty certainly is not good for a project but certainty is no guarantee. This quote is especially true
Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.
~ Bruce Lee, martial artist and Actor
Allowing time for completion is Ok when needed. It sure would be nice to predict the future. Maureen
Hi Cottrell,
ReplyDeleteI think your recommendation is a good one. Having weekly status discussions with the team is a good tool for the PM to keep tasks on schedule and to keep everyone informed.
Portny (2008) provides the sequence of best practices to avoid this type of schedule slip... start with the work breakdown structure and create a bottom-up resource allocation plan. This will help create a weekly task schedule which everyone on the team can follow. If a task is in the critical path, then it is worthwhile for the PM to follow-up with the task owner to ensure it will be done on time. As we've learned, if a critical step slips in scope, schedule, or money it will affect each task following it.
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.