Describe a project, either personal or professional, that experienced issues related to scope creep. What specific scope creep issues occurred? How did you or other stakeholders deal with those issues at the time? 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?
As I viewed the definition of the term scope creep, the word phenomenon stood out to me. I immediately think of the term as something big and having a major impact on the outcome of a project. Scope creep is the natural tendecy of the client, as well as project team members, to try to improve the project's output as the project progresses. (Portney, S.E., Mantel, S.J., Meredith, J.R., Shafer, S.M. Sutton, M.M. & Kramer, p.346). At the present moment I'm dealing with scope creep planning my son's first birthday party. I don't consider myself the hostess type and I rarely plan large events. Since this is my baby's first birthday I wanted to do something big. I knew first hand I wanted the party to have an Elmo theme because he loves Elmo. I googled ideas and gathered my thoughts. I knew I was going to invite alot of family and friends so I thought about having the party at Chuck E.Cheese. I called and learned it would be 12.00 per child. At first it wasn't a big deal but as I thought about it, I started thinking if I have the party at Chuck E.Cheese then I won't be able to have an Elmo party because I have to use their decorations and all I would be able to bring was the cake. After scratching the Chuck E.Cheese party, I had to start planning to have the party at my house. I've been doing everything by myself and being that I'm a procrastinator, I have one day left to plan. I don't have the menu completed, I don't have an accurate count of people because everyone didn't r.s.v.p., I have to clean up and decorate. As the time approached I thought I would have everything completed and I had all these visions in my head of how everything was going to work out and it is not going as planned. I can't even find the picture to play one of the games. Scope creep has occurred in planning my son's first birthday party. Hopefully things will come together in a day.
Portney, 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 and Sons
Hi Brandie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your Blog post. My wife stresses like you. I'm male and don't have that bone in my body. I was also raised by a Mom and family who would have a party weekly in the summer and monthly in the winter. I also live in the northeastern US where there is only two seasons. In the summer it was nothing for my Mom to have 30-40 kids at the house for lunch. When it came to a party my Mom had a similar idea like Dr. Stolovich; "Be flexible in the route you choose while you keep you eye on the destination". One of the other things my Mom did was have a master plan and several refrigerators and freezers of basic foods such as hot dogs and hamburgers. Also with any project Dr. Stolovich said to arrange a task list. I personally love lists. My wife gives me one on Sunday, and one each office day I have which has been two day a week. Keeps me on task and moving forward.
Hope you enjoyed the party!
John
References:
Video Program: “Project Management Concerns: Establishing Workflow”, Walden University, 2010
Video Program: “Practitioner Voices: You Can't Win Them All”, Walden University, 2010
Hi Brandie,
ReplyDeleteOh my. A first birthday party. Keep it simple and try to enjoy it. I have been through hosting three first birthday parties. For the first one I threw a big neighborhood party in my back yard. My husband grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for the older children and adults and I provided toddler snacks for the little ones. I set up a small pool in the back yard and borrowed extra chairs for the adult guests. I hooked up a sprinkler to a garden hose and the children of all ages had a great time running through it. For desert I had a cake for my daughter to dig into and a 1/4 sheet cake for everyone else. Paper products only so no clean up afterwards.
The most important task to to take a picture of your son eating the cake. This is what you will remember most. I like John's quote from Stolovich that advises you to be flexible. Stolovich also repeats almost weakly that we are not expected to be perfect only to do the best job possible. Apply this to your party and enjoy being with your family and friends who love you.
Anita
Hi Brandie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post. I remember the days of the first birthday party. The good news if it did not turn out as well as you planned is that he won't remember when he is older.:) I have planned a lot of family parties and have done my share of stressing out. One thing I finally realized is when family and friends are together having a good time they do not even notice some of the things that you feel went wrong (like the house not being clean enough). Now that I have learned some tools to help me with project management I figure I can use them in my personal life too, especially for planning parties. Next time it may help to list all the things you want done for the party then prioritize them. If some of the jobs towards the end of the list do not get done you are not freaking out as bad.
By the way, I hope you took lots of pictures of you son eating his birthday cake!