Hi there,
Welcome new subscribers! 🎉
October means it’s time for a creepy newsletter topic… Scope creep. Scary for so many reasons.
⚡ Supercharge of the Week
At the beginning of every project, your team outlines and agrees upon the scope of work – including key deliverables, schedules, and stakeholders. Your scope of work might be detailed in a project plan or a tool like Notion.
Scope creep sneaks into the picture once the project kicks off. 👻 Ever have a colleague request to add additional features or deliverables in the middle of your project without team consensus? That might be scope creep.
Scope creep is when additional work beyond the original project scope is either unauthorized, not mutually agreed upon by the project team, and/or does not address the impact on project timelines and resources. 💰
It causes everything from delayed work to wasted money to potentially undermining your project’s success. Scary for so many reasons! Don’t let scope creep take you down.
Remote Octopus recommends clearly defining out of scope work at the beginning of every project. Out of scope work is a team agreement to what this project won’t accomplish. Defining it takes place while you’re also defining the work that is in scope for your project.
Your list of out of scope work might be short – or it might be on the longer side. It depends on the cross-functional teams engaging in the project and their relationships.
Defining out of scope work for remote, cross-functional projects supercharges:
Proactive Risk Management: Ensure all key stakeholders are on the same page regarding deliverables. Clarify assumptions together in advance.
Clarity: By mapping out of scope work, you’re more clearly defining the work that will be in scope. Stakeholders will be in greater alignment before the project even kicks off.
On Time & On Budget Delivery: Scope creep often takes time – and money, especially in staff time – to fix. Identifying out of scope work significantly increases the chances of your project being delivered on time and on budget.
Want to learn more about scope creep?
Dive into this awesome article from PMI or this resource from Atlassian.
🚀 Remote Octopus Resource of the Week
Ever been in the middle of a project and realized key stakeholders have opposite ideas on everything from the target audience to key deliverables? Maybe that’s happening right now!
Over 10% of resources are wasted as a result of subpar project management practices… Don’t let that be your team. Recent research shows that companies who build effective project management strategies are more likely to meet project objectives, stay on budget, and deliver on time.
Check out The Project Template!
Looking for additional Remote Octopus resources? Explore here.
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