Scope creep control and variance analysis in project management

Project Management and Scope Control

Every experienced project manager can attest to the constant threat posed by a phenomenon known as scope creep, wherein the prudently planned objectives of a particular project are unwittingly permitted to swell in a seemingly independent fashion. When budgets slowly begin to balloon and an unending stream of employees are added superfluously to a project's staff, the scope of a project, or "all of the work involved in creating the products of the project and the processes used to create them" (Schwalbe, 2011), has experienced scope creep despite the project manager's best intentions. The five-pronged process of project scope management currently advocated by industry experts includes (1) the collection of specific requirements, (2) a precise definition of the project's scope, (3) the creation of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) document, (4) verification of scope via inspection and acceptance of deliverables, and (5) the ongoing effort to control scope throughout the life of the project. Utilizing project scope management "includes the processes involved in defining and controlling what work is or is not included in a project," and this skill is especially important for business operations because "the project team and stakeholders have the same understanding of what products the project will produce and what processes the project team will use to produce them" (Schwalbe, 2011).

In order to maintain strict scope control throughout the duration of a project's life, it is important to utilize an important tool known as variance analysis. This technique involves the comparative measurement of planned performance and actual performance to formulate targeted improvements to the project's performance. Controlling the scope of any project is essential if the inevitable changes which tend to occur are to be predicted, adapted to, and mitigated. One of the most overlooked aspects of scope control is the regular improvement of user input, because ultimately it is the user who will levy the final verdict of success or failure for any given IT project. Fostering a genuine sense of cooperative collaboration between the employees working on a project and the users who will be receiving the finished product is the mark of a competent and qualified project manager, because when users are encouraged to contribute to the process of developing a product, the unnecessary changes which lead to scope creep are drastically reduced. One of the most critical aspects of project scope management is known as scope verification, and because this process "involves formal acceptance of the completed project scope by the stakeholders & #8230; the project team must develop a process for scope verification that meets unique project needs" (Schwalbe, 2011).