Scope Creep is defined by Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, & Sutton (2008) as “The natural tendency of the client, as well as project team members, to try to improve the project's output as project progresses” (p. 350).
When I think of scope creep, I can't help but think of my school's calendar. During the spring, a calendar of events is created for the next school year. These events include school wide functions as well as field trips and grade level events. Every year our Head of School promises to keep the scheduled events to a minimum so that we can focus on teaching. Once the new school year begins additional events creep onto the calendar even though the schedule is supposed to be “set in stone”. This results in teachers grumbling about time taken away from the classroom. Most of the time the additional events come from the parents who, in our case, are our clients. These events range from additional class parties and unscheduled assemblies to school wide fundraising events. Ultimately, it is the school's administration that needs to put a stop to the unplanned additional events.
Portny et al suggest using scope control to minimize the impact of unforeseen additions. “Scope control involves trying to contain changes to project scope when that is possible and managing changes when they must occur. When scope changes are unavoidable, the project manager should identify their impact on the project plan and obtain approval from the customer and sponsor” (p.96). In our case, refusing the majority of requests and then consulting with the effected grade levels when it seems impossible to avoid a request would help reduce the impact of these unscheduled events. Sometimes the added events come from well meaning resource teachers who want to expand their lessons with field trips to museums or scheduling additional concerts at the school. These requests go straight to the office and suddenly we have an email stating the scheduled date and time of an unexpected event. No thought is given to consulting the grade level teachers to ensure it fits in with the curriculum.
Because a teacher's schedule is filled to capacity at the beginning of the school year, I believe more emphasis needs to be placed on making sure the classroom teachers have the time to cover the material expected in the state standards. Enrichment is very important to a child's education, but it has to be balanced with the core curriculum. Ultimately, it is the job of the school administration to make sure that each teacher has the time to cover the material.
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
