Defining the project scope is an integral part of project planning and management. Project scope “defines all of the work, and only the required work, to complete the project objectives” (Phillips 194). It comprehensively enumerates a project’s objectives; processes and costs associated with achieving them and the duration of project tasks.
Since a project is expected to meet stakeholders’ needs, they are bound to request for several changes in the project scope. Those changes that add an extra burden on a project by way of changes in budgets, deadlines, costs, tasks or project resources, are known as scope creeps. Scope creeps are undocumented changes that tend to alter the main purpose of the project which can lead projects to fail completely. Project managers are required to protect the project scope from such scope creeps.
Scope creeps are inevitable, however; they pose a high risk to the project itself. When managers fail to manage the scope; scope creeps tend to amend agreed upon tasks and lead the project nowhere. Protecting the project scope also becomes vital when there are numerous stakeholders or when they have immense power to influence the project scope. Only valid changes should be incorporated in the project scope after appropriately documenting them and getting them approved by the management.
Protecting the project scope is also important because scope creeps make managers perform tasks that cause wastage of time, money and resources (Phillips 276). It thus becomes essential for managers to avoid performing such non-value adding activities and stay focused on the end-goal of the project. They should know which change would not contribute to the ultimate purpose of the project and what effect it could have on the project scope. They can thus, effectively protect the project scope by proper documentation, effective management, and control.
Works Cited
Phillips, Joseph. CAPM/PMP Project Management Certification All-In-One Exam Guide. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014. Print.
