Managing Creeping Scope

Determining and managing the scope of a project is one of the most important tasks in project management. As a project manager, it is important to understand when the scope of a project is changed due to additions or deletions to the planned work, delays, shortages in staff and budgets, or because of customer changes. It is the project manager’s responsibility to ensure that the requirements of a project are met sufficiently. While projects are handled differently in different industries, managing scope creep is essential in all industries. For example, the healthcare and nuclear industries may have projects that can never have change to the scope due to the sensitivity of the project. In other industries such as construction or machining, the project may have an acceptable tolerance range that allows for some minor changes in the scope of the project. Benefits of proper scope management include project team confidence in work expectations, time and cost management, and improved management confidence in the PM and the project team. Because each project is different, it is essential for PMs to identify tools and techniques that they can use when they encounter issues on projects. Respond to the following: As a project manager, how will you ensure that the work completed by your team will meet the project scope requirements? Share a potential ethical dilemma that might arise while managing a project. How will you ensure that you and the team respond to the dilemma ethically and that all team members have the same idea of “what is ethical” behavior in the given situation? What approach will you use when asked to change the scope of a project by upper management, customers, and other stakeholders? Will your approach be the same for all or differ by group? Justify your answer.