When Scope Creep Is a Good Thing

Most people plan projects as if they know every detail.

It’s not your fault - it’s what you’ve been taught. You define what you’re going to build, break down your product, and plan the activities.

Simple, right?

Except that’s not how the world works. Because of the unique nature of projects, you’re dealing with uncertainty by definition.

The amount of uncertainty differs for each project, but I have yet to come across a project where we knew 100% at the start.

But here’s the real issue: planning as if you know everything means that whatever you discover during execution is labeled as scope creep. Which means it’s seen as a failure.

And that perspective is setting your project up for disaster.

You see, every time you do something for the first time, there will be things you don’t know yet. And the best way to discover those things is to take a step in the right direction. It looks something like this:

As time progresses, uncertainty decreases.

For some projects, you’ll know 20% when you start. Others are more like 80%.

But note how you never hit 0% uncertainty (that’s not my lack of drawing skills). Even the night before delivery there are still some things you’re not 100% sure about.

The degree of uncertainty depends on how familiar you and your team are with what you’re about to do.

And instead of fighting it, I’m urging you to embrace it.

A recent example from a client

I recently worked with a client that reached out because scope creep was killing them, or so they thought.

They’re in the fintech space, and building something very innovative. Most of the main components are existing technology, but the way they are connecting them all is all new.

So what did they do? They built a plan based on how they thought it would all play out. That’s the best you can do, right?

Yes, as long as you acknowledge that the power is in the planning, the analysis, the discussions, and the decisions that you make. But the plan is just a way to store those conversations.

And that’s where they missed it.

They treated their plan as an exact science.

So when they started building, they naturally discovered things along the way. Some things were harder than expected or involved more moving parts.

And because they treated their plan as absolute truth, this was all seen as scope creep. This meant that change orders were made, deadlines were moved, and the team got demotivated.

Have a dysfunctional project like this one, and wondering what it would take to fix it? You’re in luck, as Project Management Unraveled launches in two weeks.

It’s a short and practical course for busy people like you, who want to lead successful projects with confidence and clarity.

I’ll show you the fundamental principles that every project is built upon. You’ll learn how you can use these to troubleshoot any project issue, no matter what PM method or tool you use.

Click here to join the waitlist and secure a special launch offer.

What they should have done instead

Remember the curve I drew at the top?

They started executing at 20% certainty but acted like it was 100%. Instead of doing that, they should have planned to eliminate the uncertainty.

Acknowledge what you don’t know, and focus on finding that out.

It goes against our nature to try and plan everything, but it’s the right thing to do.

And the best way to do that? Get going. You’ll often learn more from a week of building than from a month of analysis.

That means that your plan will include some question marks and educated guesses when you start. That’s okay, as long as you make sure everyone understands that.

Make it your team’s first priority to discover what you don’t know. Treat that as an early deliverable, and adjust from there.

Plot twist

Before you think I’ve gone mad for saying scope creep can be a good thing, think about this for a second.

I’m sure you’ve seen this in your projects before if you’re honest. And it probably was seen as a result of bad planning, rather than a small win for the team.

To make it easier to embrace uncertainty, make sure you’re clear on the purpose of the project and what the most important constraints are.

When you can use those two as your filter for decision-making, you know how to deal with what you discover along the way.

And that means that no amount of uncertainty can stop you from getting started.

Cheers,
Jasper

PS: Next week, it’s AMA time again. Send your questions and I’ll try to answer as many as I can in next week’s newsletter!