Why Scope Creep is Complete Bullshit

Scope creep is a negative label that represents guessing errors, not malicious expansion. Avoid scope creep & related overhead using agile ways of working.

I have had it with the whole concept of scope creep. Scope creep is a negative label given to an inevitable and predictable experience that is a side effect of running projects using waterfall or traditional means.

Adopting agile ways of working can eliminate the sources of scope creep and the managerial overhead that goes along with it.

This article provides some background on the term, dives into the details of what perceived scope creep represents, and provides a better approach. That approach requires a shift in thinking and will (hopefully) make you stop using the term Scope Creep.

My Own Experience with Scope Creep

I began working as a project manager not long after joining IBM in 1985. Geez, I am old. Anyway, I took my first Project Management training course in 1993.

Prior to that time, I found that the best way to combat changes in project scope was to use the Nancy Reagan approach — ‘Just Say No’. If someone wanted to change something about a project underway, I would…