Thursday, December 6, 2012



Analyzing Scope Creep

The first step toward a successful project is to develop a plan that allows the project team to do the work required to produce the desired results in the available time for the available resources (Portny et al., 2008). 

 

     In high school and well into college I worked as a floral designer.  Floral designing has become one of my passions and I now work as a floral designer doing weddings when I can.  Floral arrangements for weddings can be a very big project depending on the size of the wedding.  I have to work with the stakeholders (bride and family), and wholesalers to order flowers and supplies. In order to control scope creep I have the bride and family members who are paying for the flowers sign an agreement after reviewing the project with them.  Scope creep is the natural tendency of the client, as well as project team member, to try to improve the project’s output as the project progresses (Portny et al., 2008).  Another way that I try to control scope creep is by meeting with the bride a few days before the wedding to go over all of the arrangements and flowers involved in the wedding.  I not only can have scope creep from the stakeholders but also from the suppliers.  I have to call ahead to the wholesalers and make sure they are carrying the flowers that the bride is asking for.  If the wholesalers are not carrying the flowers then I need to work with the stakeholders to figure out what other options would work for them.  I believe there are many risks involved when taking on this type of project.  
      A project like this can be difficult because I am the project manager, SME, and the designer therefore, I have to make sure that I schedule my time appropriately, use a change of scope document signed by the stakeholders, and have open and clear communication.  I also make sure to review the time line, analyze the task list, identify the start date for the task, and be flexible (Stolovich, n.d.).    

Resources

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Stolovich, H. 2009. Creating a Project Schedule. (Video Presentation) Laureate Education Inc.