What does scope creep mean

Scope, or project scope, is made up of the requirements of the final product being worked on during any given project. Scope is both what the project will produce and the work required to produce it.

Scope creep can be caused by a number of different factors and is nearly impossible to eliminate altogether due to this. However, managing scope creep is one of the most important aspects of the project management role. This may seem like a question that could be answered with a single word, but the reality is that scope creep is not inherently bad nor is it entirely avoidable.

After all, even the most well-defined and researched project plan is not going to be created by someone who can foresee the future. As the project is carried out, requirements can change due to a number of uncontrollable environmental factors depending on the nature of the work. Rampant scope creep can cause projects to become delayed, go over budget, or bloat to completely unmanageable levels.

This can create a situation where the project extends past its original purpose into a completely new beast. While allowing for some scope creep is important, letting it run rampant can quickly lead to disastrous results. Scope creep is often blamed on a few different factors, the primary of which are poor initial project planning, over-eager clients, and unrealistic executive expectations.

The reality of project management is that projects will always be in a state of some flux throughout the entire process. Time frames and deadlines that are impossible to achieve. Lack of a project scope statement. Scope creep examples Unauthorized changes are one of the most frequent causes of scope creep. If Chrysler had incorporated the product delivery schedules, i.

The Denver International Airport is probably the biggest victim of scope creep in this blog post. The luggage handling system failed on a big scale principally due to four warnings from various associated parties all being ignored. Plus, key stakeholders, i. The set timeframes and deadlines were never going to be achieved. Out of these three real-world examples of scope creep, this one was easily the most expensive. There are many ways to handle scope creep on a project:.

View Full Term. By clicking sign up, you agree to receive emails from Techopedia and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. By: Dr. By: Kaushik Pal Contributor. Dictionary Dictionary Term of the Day. Random Forest. Techopedia Terms. Connect with us. Sign up. Term of the Day.