Why does scope creep occur?
Systems help solve business needs for a company, but business is dynamic–there are continual changes in the operating environment that affect business processes and decisions. This also impacts changes in the business need from the system. One of the more common reasons for scope creep is insufficient requirement analysis, wherein a lot of hidden needs are not identified. These later come out during the lower level design when the hard choices on low level process designs are made. So, how do we manage scope creep and improve chances of project success? There are some very simple things to keep in mind to allow for better management of scope creep: 1. Set project expectations with the customer stakeholders. 2. Decide and document the agreed project deliverables and requirement areas that are NOT included. 3. Document requirements and review with the customers before any sign off. 4. Decide and document how the users will use the system (in fact, get test cases from the users at the re
