5 ways to avoid scope creep on an engineering project

Automation System Integration Blog tells how to avoid scope creep. See these points of advice and diagram from Anthony Baker to keep your next machine design, panel build, software design, or other engineering project on track. Add your advice below.

By Callisto Integration September 11, 2013

If you work in an engineering project-based world, I am sure you have heard the term “scope creep.” Specifically, it’s when additional scope items are added to a project along the way. These might be amazing things, valuable additions that are core to the success of the project, but they are still scope creep and should be handled very, very carefully.

Chart the scope

Having said that, one of the best ways I’ve found to describe the dangers of scope creep is pictorially. Pretend the squares in the image represent a bar chart.

In green is the original scope for the engineering or system integration project, what was in the SOW (scope of work), and everyone agreed do. As you’re working through the project, “VOILA!”—new and amazing scope items come to light. A lot of budget is still available, and these additional tasks seem easy, so you do them—there’s the yellow.

Bad day in project management

Then the bad day comes. You get toward the end of the project, the budget is 90% used, and the client (internal or external) pulls out the SOW document and says something like, “Hey, do you remember line item 126b, where it said you would supply XYZ components? Well I still want that.”

BUSTED. Now you can’t do anything, the green changes to red, and the clear project control you thought you have had all along goes out the window.

Avoid project scope creep

Avoiding project creep is straightforward, if not always easy.

1. Know your scope. If you haven’t read the quote or SOW 10 times, you don’t know your scope.

2. Know your dollars, in real-time, all the time.

3. Get the client used to change orders, but do it gently. When yellow comes along, write it up. Even if you give it away, ensure you are keeping a log along the way. You cannot do this retroactively. It NEVER works when you come to the end of the project, have more project than budget and/or time, then say to the client, “Remember all those nice things we did before?” This NEVER works. EVER.

4. Talk dollars all the time. It can be uncomfortable, but you have to build a relationship that can be friendly and talk about money too. (See a neat book by Dan Arielly about Market Norms Vs. Social Norms for reference.

5. Live to the scope of work (SOW). First get this done, 100%, and then talk about what you can do afterward.

For good project managers (PMs) out there, I’m sure there is a bigger list, but I’ve found if you follow these top five ways to avoid scope creep, you will have a good start.

Engineering interaction: Have additional advice? Use the comment box at the bottom to add to the list based on your experiences.

The Automation System Integration Blog aggregates expert advice from Callisto Integration, providing manufacturing consulting and systems integration. This blog provides integration advice in plant-floor controls, manufacturing execution systems (MES), and manufacturing consulting, from the factory floor through to the enterprise. Andrew Barker, P.Eng., Callisto Integration, compiled the advice. www.callistointegration.com

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