“The dates can’t change but the scope can and will”
June 5, 2008
It’s the age old problem of managing change effectively on an IT project. The business have expectations of what functionality will be delivered, the joint testing with external parties has been locked in and the go-live weekend has been booked BUT the detailed requirements are incomplete and the functional designs are only half finished (at best).
Of course some contingency was built into the original schedule, but that was 3 months ago and the world has changed alot since then.
The same thing happens every time, just to different degrees, it’s just the nature of our business. The key to success in my view is not to get too bogged down and stay ‘Agile’. The fact is that no one is really to blame, the project plan is just a guide. If the dates can’t change and the scope creeps then the inevitable result is that what gets delivered on the ‘immovable’ date is not quite ready, a little under-cooked. Is this a problem? in some cases yes, but how big a problem can be managed.
At the end of the day the business is the one that gets affected - but remember, the immovable dates and incomplete requirements are ultimately down to the nature of THE BUSINESS and the ability of THE BUSINESS to be able to state their requirements accurately in the first place.
We’re all in it together, business and IT. When things don’t go to plan we make a new plan. It’s as simple as that!
Comments
One Response to ““The dates can’t change but the scope can and will””
Got something to say?
How very true - I also see this on nearly EVERY project I work on. It’s good to know that I’m not alone - I feel better already!