My first instructional design job could be the poster child for Scope Creep. What is scope creep you ask? These are changes or expansion in a project plan or project requirements after a project is underway (Technopedia, n.d.). Because I was new to the world of instructional design and had no clue about project management, my first experience took twice as long and cost more money than we had originally budgeted. While the end product was great, it was definitely not delivered on time or under budget.
It all started when we didn’t establish a realistic timeline. This project was an idea for a training class that a colleague and I thought would be a good idea based on a needs assessment we had conducted with several management teams. We sold this idea to our bosses and they loved the ‘idea’. We put together a rough draft of a project plan and then set it aside. When we were asked to add something to the class, we simply said, “sure” and did it. We didn’t refer back the plan often and in fact saw the plan as more of a “work in progress” and therefore didn’t have a clear sense of what was in the scope or outside the scope. In fact, we changed the scope at will – we were probably the biggest culprits of scope creep.
It wasn’t until we were called into the Directors office to talk about our timeline and progress did we really grasp that we hadn’t done our due diligence. This was an, unfortunately, painful conversation, that served as a wake-up call. It prompted me to admit that I had never run a project before and it has gotten bigger than either of us had anticipated. We tightened down the timeline, stopped making changes and got it accomplished. In this case, the scope creep was us. We just had to get out of our own way and get the job done.
References
What is scope creep? – Definition from Techopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24779/scope-creep
Aimee Windmiller-Wood - ePortfolio 
Excitement is a great way to create scope creep. Everyone gets excited about a project in the beginning. There has usually been brainstorming meetings about the project going on for weeks. Decisions are finally made and the project begins. Now, new people are added and newer ideas are thrown out. It is important to remember to keep track of those ideas. However, save them for another project. You presented good food for thought thanks for sharing.
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You are so right about excitement being a huge factor in scope creep. Interestingly, the advice I’ve been given is to set strong deadlines and know you can iterate later. I have found out though that “later” never seems to come. Have you been able to loop back on a project you completed and make changes or enhance it?
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It sounds like a learning experience 😉
I was lucky enough to have a project thrust upon me during the first year of this MA. It was a chance to put some theories into practice. I was required to use some of the O365 apps such as Planner to organize the project and the deliverables had already been defined. There was very little room for scope creep which took a lot of pressure off and didn’t give me the same freedom you described. I take your story as a word of caution. Thanks for sharing.
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It was definitely a learning experience. I don’t think I will ever forget the meeting in the Director’s office. I think I could draw every detail for you. It was so embarrassing. Our enthusiasm for the project did not help us there.
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I believe that all of us at one time or another have experienced your pain. It sounds like one of the tasks you did not complete was to brainstorm all task and dependencies for the project that may cause that task to not start on time. Do you now have kickoff meetings where all team members can brainstorm the task they will need to perform for the project to be successful?
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Great question Lisa. I have been more in the management and ID role. I haven’t had to manage a project from start to finish in a long time. However, I will be running an ID project, that was conceived during this program and plan to use all the tools and tips I’ve learned to ensure it is a success.
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This reminds me of my first experience I had as an instructional designer. Where I said yes to most if not everything the SME asked to me do. Which create scope creep in the course and one which I was overworked in order to meet the deadline. I guess one way to avoid scope creep is to learn how to say no or to look at your timeline and schedule to see if the extra request is doable or possible,
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Timeline is a very important component to consider. It is difficult to determine how much time is actually going to be needed, especially when a project is just being undertaken and has never been “clocked out” before. It is important to maybe just brainstorm about the tasks and the time it will take to complete each. Itemizing task and sticking to them will be important for beginning ID’s also.
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