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How to tell a project manager "NO" to scope creep [closed]

While project managers may each have their own personality and management style, it seems that many of them have a pernicious love of sneaking in "scope creep" when they can (whether anyone is watching or not). While they usually mean well (bless their hearts), what's the best way that you've found to say "NO" to project managers?

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Don Music Avatar asked Jan 20 '09 23:01

Don Music


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What is scope creep How can it be prevented in IT projects?

An example of scope creep is that there are times when clients do not explain their vision properly which may lead to the project manager failing to specify the project scope properly. Most of the causes of this deviation can be avoided if project managers improve their task management.


2 Answers

A good rule of thumb is to always answer, "Okay. What should we drop to get this in by the deadline?" and/or "Okay. If we move the deadline to X, we can add that in."

Every change affects completion time. There's no such thing as a zero-time task. Forcing a project manager to realize that quality, deadline, or feature list will suffer every time they make a change will go a long way towards getting them to think right about scope creep.

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Yes - that Jake. Avatar answered Sep 26 '22 00:09

Yes - that Jake.


Let me start by saying that if a PM is "sneaking in scope creep" he is a very bad project manager.

Having said that...it's not your job to say no to a project manager. It's your job to ensure that he knows and understands the costs and risks of the change he is making. If the PM insists on changing the scope and adjusting nothing else in the project, get another job (because the project and/or company is doomed).

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Jim Blizard Avatar answered Sep 22 '22 00:09

Jim Blizard