Scope creep (also called requirement creep, feature creep, and sometimes kitchen sink syndrome) in project management refers to uncontrolled changes in a project's scope. Project Management is the discipline of planning organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives For all other uses see Project (disambiguation. A project, as defined in the field of Project management, consists of a temporary In Project management, the scope of a Project is the sum total of all of its products and their Requirements or Features This phenomenon can occur when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented, or controlled. It is generally considered a negative occurrence that is to be avoided.

Typically, the scope increase consists of either new products or new features of already approved product designs, without corresponding increases in resources, schedule, or budget. In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need As a result, the project team risks drifting away from its original purpose and scope into unplanned additions. As the scope of a project grows, more tasks must be completed within the budget and schedule originally designed for a smaller set of tasks. Thus, scope creep can result in a project team overrunning its original budget and schedule. Budget (from French bougette, purse generally refers to a list of all planned expenses and revenues

If the budget and schedule are increased along with the scope, the change is usually considered an acceptable addition to the project, and the term “scope creep” is not used.

Scope creep can be a result of:

• poor change control
• lack of proper initial identification of what is required to bring about the project objectives
• weak project manager or executive sponsor
• poor communication between parties

Scope creep is a risk in most projects. Change control is a general term describing the procedures used to ensure that changes (normally but not necessarily to IT systems are introduced in a controlled and coordinated Project Management is the discipline of planning organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives hiyaA project manager is a professional in the field of Project management. Executive Sponsor (sometimes called Project Sponsor) is a role in Project management, usually the senior member of the Project board and often the chair Communications management is the systematic Planning implementing monitoring and revision of all the channels of Communication within an Organization, Risk is a Concept that denotes the precise probability of specific eventualities Most megaprojects fall victim to scope creep (see Megaprojects and risk). A megaproject is an extremely large-scale Investment Project. Megaprojects and Risk An Anatomy of Ambition (ISBN 0521009464 is a book by Bent Flyvbjerg, Nils Bruzelius, and Werner Rothengatter dealing with the Scope creep often results in cost overrun. Cost overrun is defined as excess of actual Cost over Budget.

See also

• Cost overrun
• Creep (project management)
• Featuritis
• Megaproject
• Megaprojects and risk
• Mission creep
• Software bloat

References

• Wideman Comparative Glossary of Project Management Terms by R. Cost overrun is defined as excess of actual Cost over Budget. Creep (as in functionality-creep, feature-creep, mission-creep and scope-creep) is a problem in Project management where the initial Feature creep (or feeping creaturism) is the proliferation of features in a product such as Computer software. A megaproject is an extremely large-scale Investment Project. Megaprojects and Risk An Anatomy of Ambition (ISBN 0521009464 is a book by Bent Flyvbjerg, Nils Bruzelius, and Werner Rothengatter dealing with the Mission creep is the expansion of a project or mission beyond its original goals often after initial successes Software bloat, also known as bloatware or elephantware, is a term used in both a neutral and disparaging sense to describe the tendency of newer Computer Max Wideman P. Eng. FCSCE, FEIC, FICE, Fellow PMI