Continuing on the miniseries on subtypes of scope creep, let’s examine the last two: business and feature creep.
Business Creep: when clients change what they want after the job has started. Not asking for a larger quantity of deliverables, just different ones eg. ordered a cow but now they say they actually wanted beef hamburgers.
Feature Creep: when clients add the same quantity but with extra details that change what you need to do to reach the end goal eg. wanting cows they ordered to produce goat milk instead of regular.
While other types of scope creep usually make the order bigger, these types just change what you’re being asked to do. Because of this, they feel more like a “bait-and-switch” instead of the “oops, unplanned growth” that comes with regular scope creep.
To prevent them, make sure your contract addresses
– All goals and expectations need to be written down
– They cannot be changed unilaterally
– Details can be changed, but have a written definition of a detail that clearly precludes big jumps in expectations
– What happens if these rules are ignored
Most business problems are less scary if they are addressed before they happen. Clients are likely to agree to common-sense rules and boundaries about scope changes before the work starts. But if you wait until the trust is broken to try to set these same rules, they’ll be much harder to agree on.
Friends, I’ve got something new for you – if you would like to know more about my thoughts on other “creepy” subjects, go to www.fearless-pricing.com and ask Astra AI chatbot to tell you about effort creep, scope seep, hope creep, or over-delivery. She can take it from there.