Rashmi MohanDar Es Salam, Dar Es Salam, Tanzania, United Republic Of
Majority of our Projects are tender based. So, while we draft our contract for a client there is very high level understanding of their requirements. So based on these requirements a plan is prepared, effort estimation and costing is done. Now when the project is handed over to a project team led by a Project Manager we constantly face a scope creep. Any suggestions on how to handle such situations. Saving Changes...
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Pratik AphaleProject & Service Engineer| Marine ElectricalsPune, Maharashtra, India
Hi,
From the scenario you have explained, I understand that project manager comes into picture at the time of execution phase, which is not recommended. Project manager should be involved in project from its initiating phase(in your case while drafting a contract). This helps to gain common understanding of project to PM and team.
Second thing is to look into into your scope management plan, which includes requirements in detail and what work to do and what not to do along with WBS.
Thirdly is to maintain change control board and perform integrated change control, which will help you to analyze change requests and execute only those approved by change control board.
This is what I think, more expert opinions would help for better insight. Saving Changes...
Rashmi MohanDar Es Salam, Dar Es Salam, Tanzania, United Republic Of
Hi Pratik,
Thankyou for your advice.
Scope Management plan would give better insights but the project planning including the detailed scope management plan is prepared only after the contract is signed.
So, some requirements which might seem very small and within the scope for the client might not be so for us. Saving Changes...
John KastlerPrincipal Project Manager| National GridCicero, Ny, United States
Managing scope does not begin only after the scope management plan has been created. It starts the minute the PM starts working on the project. If you suspect there are scope issues then I would bring that to your client/project sponsor/steering committee to address. You will need to detail out the issue as you understand it along with a recommended course of action. Getting this done before your contract is created is a great time as expectations have not been formalized yet. Then as your contract has been modified to accommodate this new scope you are starting off in much better shape. This is an opportunity to level set expectations with your stakeholders. Saving Changes...
George MARKProject Manager| myProNotes.comLane Cove, Nsw, Australia
There are two way to handle this:
- accept a fixed and reasonable (say 5%) scope creep as part of any normal project and just go on with the contract as agreed;
- set milestones ahead in the contract (obviously) and do not accept any deviation. If client insists then manage it with a suitable communication process.
I have signed contracts for projects for as long as 18 months all scoped and set in milestones in the estimation (=quoting) stage and I have to say that to date, the best way to manage scope creep was during regular project meetings, where I always refereed against agreed the milestones.
Any variation would be captured as nice to have and clearly communicated with the client that this is a variation from initial agreement and this will either delay the milestones and/or increase the costs for additional resources.
Pass the ball on the other side of the court and but just mention the above. Always remember you can't sell and buy in the same time.
And a final word: scope creep is what you want!!! This means extra work and extra income/budget, but only if handled properly. Right? Saving Changes...
One need to understand why scope creep is happening?
what is the cause?
Is it because the requirements was not completely understood?
Is it not clearly done during the business analysis stage or during the initiation phase?
Further, these scope creep are real needs or nice to have.
Anyhow, if the scope is not completely defined and during execution phase, scope creep occurs, then ideally this should be handled through integrated change control process and change control board should evaluate this and recommend to sponsor Saving Changes...
