Best way to avoid scope creep as a developer with no project management [closed]

Question

I'm a s/w developer in a small internal IT department within a financial firm and have worked on a number of small-medium sized projects that have had little or no project management throughout. This seems to always result in scope creep and therefore not meeting deadlines and having to sacrifice good design/code to satisfy users/managers in the short term.

What can I do as a developer to ensure user requirements are nailed down before any code is written and that any change requests are properly managed, considering the demands and expectations of users/managers.

Thanks.

Answer 1

In this type of situation, scope creep is almost inevitable, stakeholders don't have time to help with analysis upfront and there is no formal contract. I'd recommend picking an agile methodology that allows you to constantly adjust goals and expectations. Something like scrum. The short cycles will help the stakeholders see results early and adjust requirements as they better understand the problem and they will keep you from insanity as the sprint cycle will allow you to adapt to these changes.

Answer 2

It's practically impossible to have a full featured specification before starting to code. Especially in small companies. An agile approach works better, but this should not keep you from finishing projects.

What you can do :

• Communicate as much possible about decisions being taken. Even of you think your boss should have done this. Preferably by email so no one can claim ignorance
• If new features are requested, make sure everyone knows how much time this is going to take. Don't underestimate. Make an educated guess and multiply the number with a risk factor, depending on the risk of the feature.
• When a project is reaching the finish line, make a list of tasks that still need to be done, together with a time estimate. Again, make sure everyone involved can see this list at all times.

Basically what you need to do is make sure everyone knows what you are doing. This doesn't necessarily make projects finish in time per se, but it serves as a miror to the managers, so they see what the consequences of their decisions are.

But all in all, communicate, communicate, communicate and become a sort of mini-project leader.