Describe
a project, either personal or professional, that experienced issues related to
scope creep. In a former career I managed a residential
treatment program for adults with mental illnesses. I supervised the staff and
residents of a ten-apartment facility, provided counseling, assisted with
activities of daily living, and participated in inter-disciplinary planning and
treatment for each resident. The need for mental health care far outpaced available
resources, and the CEO continually scouted for new properties to acquire and
convert to accommodate our long waiting list.
Such a property was found not far from my facility, and I was flattered when the CEO asked for my help in establishing the new facility. He explained that I would maintain my current duties and also be responsible for interviewing, hiring, and training the new staff. I would also supervise them until a manager was hired and trained. I had a good deal of experience and a solid team, and I was confident that I could take over the additional responsibilities without compromising either program.
What specific scope creep issues occurred? Almost immediately my role at the new location changed from temporary manager to design consultant-construction site supervisor-accounting rep-professional cleaner-building superintendent. With each passing day I found myself making decisions I had neither the qualifications nor the desire to make.
What interior paint colors do you want? Sally can decide.
We need to order furniture. Let’s ask Sally to do it.Such a property was found not far from my facility, and I was flattered when the CEO asked for my help in establishing the new facility. He explained that I would maintain my current duties and also be responsible for interviewing, hiring, and training the new staff. I would also supervise them until a manager was hired and trained. I had a good deal of experience and a solid team, and I was confident that I could take over the additional responsibilities without compromising either program.
What specific scope creep issues occurred? Almost immediately my role at the new location changed from temporary manager to design consultant-construction site supervisor-accounting rep-professional cleaner-building superintendent. With each passing day I found myself making decisions I had neither the qualifications nor the desire to make.
What interior paint colors do you want? Sally can decide.
What equipment do we need to set up the new office? The new kitchen? The residents’ bedrooms? Have Sally develop a list. Give Sally the corporate credit card. Let’s have Sally be there to take delivery.
There are bats in the fireplace. My invoice hasn’t been paid. We found mold in the basement. The porch foundation didn’t pass inspection. Call Sally!
How did you or other stakeholders deal with those issues at the time? My staff stepped up and took on extra responsibilities. The contractors became progressively less motivated, less patient, and less concerned with quality. The CEO went on a 14-day cruise with his wife, and I quit exercising, dusting, and cooking decent meals; I drank too much coffee and slept very little, always with a pager by my side.
Looking back on the experience now, had you been in the position of managing the project, what could you have done to better manage these issues and control the scope of the project? What I could have done better is to actually manage the project instead of scrambling to keep up with the scope creep. I lacked project management experience, and I was so focused on the overwhelming need for more formalized mental health support that it didn’t occur to me to refuse (or question) any of the tasks that were dumped on me.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have drafted some type of work breakdown structure (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008). I would have listed Level 1, 2, 3, etc., tasks and sub-tasks and identified and allocated resources for each. I would have outlined an appropriate chain-of-command and sought approval for each of these documents (Greer, 2010). And I would have said “no.”
“No” to hauling office furniture up a flight of stairs. “No” to manually seeding the acre lot using an old rusty spreader so we could save a few bucks. And absolutely, positively, “no” to checking to see if there really were bats in the fireplace. Yeah, there were. There sure were.
Resources
Greer,
M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your
projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.
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.
