I gave myself
the project of straightening up
some shelves.
While I was doing that,
I was tempted to declutter
those shelves too.
I was already
looking at the shelves.
I might as well
evaluate whether or not
I needed those items,
right?
Wrong.
This is a simple example
of scope creep
and it places the entire project
in jeopardy.
Because the time needed
to complete the project
with this add-on task
just increased.
I had the couple free minutes
that would be needed
to straighten up
the shelf.
I didn’t have the entire day
that would be needed
to declutter it.
I had a choice
– Either I limited the scope of my project
or I didn’t complete it at all.
Part of being a project manager
is controlling scope creep.
Keep your team focused
on the task
you truly want to complete.