Handling shifting requirements.
WHAT SCOPE CREEP IS
Work growing without time or resources growing.
HOW IT HAPPENS
Small additions, individually reasonable, accumulating.
WHAT MAKES IT DANGEROUS
Nobody notices until the schedule is impossible.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
What is in scope, written down What is explicitly out How changes are requested and assessed
WHAT TO DO WITH EVERY CHANGE REQUEST
Assess its effect on time and on other work, and state it.
WHY
So the decision is made knowingly.
WHAT THE RESPONSE SHOULD BE
Not refusal. A statement of what it displaces.
WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE
"Yes, and that means this other thing moves."
WHY THAT WORKS
It converts an argument into a prioritisation decision, which is the right conversation.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Requirements changing. It is normal, not a failure.
WHAT TO BUILD FOR
Change, rather than resisting it.
WHAT TO RECORD
Every agreed change and its effect.
WHY
Otherwise the original plan is remembered and the changes are not.
