How Public Speaking Can Aid Engineers Battling Scope Creep
“If you don’t explicitly control requirements creep, it will control you.” – Karl Wiegers in Software Requirements Scope creep is when the original requirements on which the design was based change, requiring redesign. Sometimes its effects are not felt until it is too late in the design process, resulting in rework and cost overruns. How can engineers combat the effects of scope creep? Read below to find out how: Verbal Boundary-Setting Engineers who clearly say and document what’s in scope—and just as clearly what isn’t—remove wiggle room. Scope creep doesn’t sneak in—it’s invited by silence. Have you ever heard the saying, “If it’s not written down, it doesn’t exist”? Hallway conversations, what is said in meetings, and the latest rumor mill story “go poof” after they are told. Unless the system scope is documented in some form (there are many ways to do this), it is not real. Spoken summaries at the end of meetings lock shared understanding better than silent nods. However,...
