Several projects we've managed over the past few months have run into a common problem. They have exceeded the intended design goals agreed upon from inception, or what is also referred to as "Scope Creep." This is not an uncommon phenomenon, in fact the opposite is true, it's the norm. However, the impact an ever extending set of requirements has on the team working on the project can be devastating. Worse yet, this devastation can extend to the entire company. This article articulates 3 early warning signs exhibited by projects in trouble and potential solutions to the problems these indicators highlight.

The Never Ending Design Phase: Often projects that entail a design phase that goes beyond a pre-defined period of time, are destined to cause major scope creep. The rationale here is simple, when you look at it from a distance. If the design phase is extended this allows more time for discovery and also analysis. This effort often leads to additional areas of improvement or enhancements for the project. After all that is exactly what a design phase is intended to do. However, when a design phase extends into more than 1/5th to 1/3rd of the project timeframe, then your project could be headed for disaster. This rule of thumb metric obviously varies by project and industry, but the more time designers get to look at a problem, the surer you can be that they will come up with other problems to solve. The way to address this scenario is fairly straight forward, but that does not mean it is painless or easy. It requires getting all the key stakeholders together in a meeting, often a challenge in and of itself. In the meeting, you need to articulate the entire project's design goals as completely and thoroughly as you understand it. If these goals are lengthy, you might want to provide pre-reading for your meeting. Finally, and most importantly, you need to drive the meeting to get final sign-off on all the design elements for the project. Repeat this procedure as many times as necessary to get that final commitment. Without it, you're just spinning your wheels.

The Moving Target: Projects and often the teams on them, by their very nature, are date or goal driven. Therefore, a particularly difficult form of scope creep comes into being when a project's dates keep moving. Often the reason for these movements can be explained when macro factors are examined. However, from the project team's perspective, these factors be damned, their date moved. This is often one of the toughest types of scope creeps to address, because the negative psychological impact it has on a team gearing up for a date can be devastating. Oddly enough, getting more time is often worse then having less time, given the massive lowering of expectations this new extended date causes. The first step to address this situation is to reassess the schedule and to come back with a firm and immovable date, along with evidence to suggest it is set in stone. This is necessary to do the next step, which is to sell it to the team as the new and final timeline for the project. Obviously the team will face any new date with a certain amount of skepticism, however those factors that caused the date to shift, ought to be on board to help you sell this, since it is in their best interest to do so. However, be forewarned, much like the little boy, you can't cry "wolf" on timelines too often, else you'll lose all credibility with your team and on the project.

Not all of these suggestions may be applicable, or even relevant to your project. However, if even one early warning indicator helps you avoid a blind alley, it may have saved you a considerable amount of effort, in an already difficult process.