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Discussion on: What Causes Scope Creep and How to Avoid It

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Thomas H Jones II • Edited

When I'm asked to solve a problem, the usual interaction looks like:

1) Customer: We want "X"
2) Me: "X" can mean a lot of things. Can you be more specific
3) Customer: We want "X"
4) Me: Ok. Sounds like you might mean "A, B, C" when you ask for "X". If I deliver "A, B, C", is that going to be sufficient
5) Customer: That sounds perfect

…time passes as I work to deliver "A, B, C"

6) Me: Here's the "A, B, C" we agreed to
7) Customer: That's great. It really meets what we thought we meant by "X". But, now that we have "X"/"A, B, C" we better understand that we also want "D, E, F". Can you do that?

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.