The 'Pivot' Theory to Practice

In 2002 during my first year of service as an Air Force officer, I invested $100/month in the GI bill.  That $1,200 investment has paid big dividends in my life.  Ultimately, it funded my living expenses and 100% tuition of my Doctoral Degree as a Doctor of Business Administration (Project Management Emphasis) in 2016.  The ROI on the initial $1,200 funded over $75,000 in education benefits not to mention the other qualitative benefits I've received as a result.  One of those is the great honor of writing this blog.  In 2002, my budget was tight, and the GI Bill wasn't something I was originally planning to do.  It was a bit "out of scope" of my current thinking. 

I want to ask you all a question today.  The concept of scope is generally understood in predictive environments, and in agile/iterative/dynamic environments it is pretty much understood how we deal with changes.  However, what if an issue becomes so severe that it impacts the life of the project, and nobody is managing it?  Or, like the GI Bill, the opportunity has such a great upside that we need to embrace it.

Does that by definition become part of your scope?  The choice is either to absorb the responsibility or the project will be at severe risk.  Yes there may be an initial bump in resources and effort spent, but in the "long run" of the program it will save TONS of those resources and effort.  More succinctly stated:  an small investment at the front end will pay HUGE dividends at the back end.

I welcome your thoughts.  What have your experiences been in this area?