TeraTech

The ColdFusion Experts: Develop | Secure | Optimize

  • Services
  • About
  • CF Alive
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Contact

  • Services
  • About
  • CF Alive
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Contact

Halt Software Scope Creep (3 secrets to project success)

August 20, 2013 By Michaela Light Leave a Comment

Have you been on a project with scope creep recently? The scope increases, that leads to late delivery of the project, budget overruns, stress, late nights spent coding when you’d rather be doing other things.  Plus all those endless changes have made to the code base decline in quality from all the work done under pressure.  Writing code is a very brain-intensive task and when people are stressed out, their code quality tends to go down.

In a recent survey of attendees of a webinar I gave on “7 ways ColdFusion projects fail”, 89% of people listed scope creep as a problem they have.

Here are three keys to avoiding scope creep problems:

  1. Clear written requirements
  2. Requirements sign off
  3. Change management system

1. Clear written requirements

So how does scope creep on a project?  You start off with one set of requirements and then you discover other ones as you're writing the code.  This is not surprising as users find it difficult to express their needs in a way that developers can understand.

What can we do about these problems and other requirements issues?  I think one of the most important things is having clear written requirements.  That's not just writing.  It's also screen shots or mockups of any screens and reports that you have in the system ­- because users often can't fully understand a written set of requirements but when they see a picture of something they can give you precise feedback that this is or isn’t something they want.

2. Requirements sign off

Next, it is important that an executive on the client side signs off these requirements and agrees that we're going to stick with this functionality until we deliver version 1.0 of the app.  I recommend printing your requirements out (do screen prints if you have prototype screens) and literally have an executive sign the paper. While this is more work than getting a verbal go ahead, I have found that each person remembers the terms of verbal contracts differently… Physically signing gets people to read what they are signing, provides a written record of the scope and makes everyone take the process seriously.

3. Change management system

If there are any changes that come up, have some kind of way of tracking them in a formal change request system.  A spreadsheet is the simplest option.  A change tracking system that you buy or make yourself might be more robust. The important point is that you track the changes and you evaluate each one.  “Okay, are we going to do these in the next version or are we going to adjust our schedule to get them done in this version with a later delivery date?”

In my lifetime as a programmer and project manager, I have seen a vast amount of scope change. I can tell you from experience that having and using a change management system is definitely one of the elements needed to avoid scope creep.

At TeraTech, our promise is to deliver projects on time and on budget. Some of the reasons that we can promise what we do is because in addition to other processes, we insist on very well defined requirements with executive sign-off. Once in project mode, we are diligent about using a change management system to keep on track.

Related Posts

  • Announcing FusionReactor 7.4.0 adds support for ColdFusion / LuceeAnnouncing FusionReactor 7.4.0 adds support for ColdFusion / Lucee
  • 011 Portable CFML with Cloud deployments, Microservices and REST with Jon Clausen – Transcript011 Portable CFML with Cloud deployments, Microservices and REST with Jon Clausen – Transcript
  • 026b State of CF Union Survey 2017 pt.2, with Brad Wood026b State of CF Union Survey 2017 pt.2, with Brad Wood
  • 017 Managing an international team, Git, CFML, Node, Joomla, Headaches and Heartaches, with Scott Coldwell017 Managing an international team, Git, CFML, Node, Joomla, Headaches and Heartaches, with Scott Coldwell
  • State of the CF Union survey 2018 (partial results)State of the CF Union survey 2018 (partial results)
  • 030 Everything CF Summit That You Need to Know, with Elishia Dvorak- Transcript030 Everything CF Summit That You Need to Know, with Elishia Dvorak- Transcript
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Filed Under: Development Approach

← Previous Post What’s new in ColdFusion world at Scotch on the Rocks
Next Post → 3 keys to Avoiding Scope Creep

Popular podcast episodes

  • Revealing ColdFusion 2021 – Rakshith Naresh
  • CF and Angular – Nolan Erck
  • Migrating legacy CFML – Nolan Erck
  • Adobe API manager – Brian Sappey
  • Improve your CFML code – Kai Koenig

CF Alive Best Practices Checklist

 

Modern ColdFusion development best practices that reduce stress, inefficiency, project lifecycle costs while simultaneously increasing project velocity and innovation.

Top articles

  • CF Hosting (independent guide)
  • What is Adobe ColdFusion
  • Is Lucee CFML now better than ACF?
  • Is CF dead?
  • Learn CF (comprehensive list of resources)

Recent Posts

  • Funny ColdFusion Custom Tag Competition (CFML Programmer’s Jokes)
  • Protected: State of the CF Union 2021 Survey Results
  • ColdFusion Development: Less Coding for Faster Turnaround
  • Protected: State of the CF Union 2021 Survey Released
  • ColdFusion Server Crashing – First 3 Steps to Fix it Fast

Categories

  • ActionScript
  • Adobe CF Summit
  • Adobe CF Summit East
  • Adobe CF Summit East 2018
  • Adobe ColdFusion 11
  • Adobe ColdFusion 2020 Beta
  • Adobe ColdFusion 2021
  • Adobe ColdFusion Project Stratus
  • Adobe ColdFusion Security
  • AIR
  • Ajax
  • AngularJS
  • Announcement
  • API
  • Apollo
  • Auto Security Lockdown
  • AWS
  • C#
  • Certification
  • CF Alive
  • CF Alive Book
  • CF Alive Podcast
  • CF Camp
  • CF Developer week
  • CF Maintenance
  • CF Summit India
  • CF Tags
  • CF Training
  • CF Vs. Other Languages
  • CFEclipse
  • CFML
  • CFML Open- Source
  • CFObjective
  • cfquery
  • CFSummit
  • CFUnited
  • China Chopper
  • CIO
  • Classes
  • Client Highlights
  • ColdBox
  • ColdFusion
  • ColdFusion 2018
  • ColdFusion 2020
  • ColdFusion 2021
  • ColdFusion 9
  • ColdFusion community
  • ColdFusion Conference
  • ColdFusion Consulting
  • ColdFusion Developer
  • ColdFusion Development
  • ColdFusion Hosting
  • ColdFusion Roadmap
  • ColdFusion Security
  • ColdFusion Webinar
  • CommandBox
  • Conference
  • Cool Stuff
  • Culture
  • Cybercrime
  • Database
  • Development Approach
  • DevOps
  • Docker
  • Fixinator
  • Flex
  • Frameworks
  • Fusebox
  • FusionReactor
  • Futurology
  • Garbage Collector
  • Google Down
  • Into The Box Latam
  • IntoTheBox Conference
  • Java
  • JavaScript
  • JVM
  • Learn CFML
  • Learn ColdFusion
  • Legacy Code
  • Load Testing
  • Lucee
  • Management
  • MAX
  • MDCFUG Lunch
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Mindmapping
  • MockBox
  • Modernize ColdFusion
  • Monitoring
  • Muracon
  • NCDevCon
  • New Intern
  • News
  • Node.js
  • Open- Source
  • ORM
  • Ortus Developer Week
  • Ortus Roadshow
  • Performance
  • Performance Tuning
  • PHP
  • Productivity
  • Programming Languages
  • Project planning
  • Query of Queries
  • Scalability
  • Security
  • Server Crash
  • Server Software
  • Server Tuning
  • Social Media
  • Spiral Web
  • SQL
  • Success Story
  • Survey
  • Technology
  • TestBox
  • Tips
  • Transcript
  • Trapeze Development
  • Uncategorized
  • Web 2.0
  • Web Application
  • Web Server
  • Webinar
  • Webmail
  • What is ColdFusion?
  • Whole Brain Development
  • Women in Tech
  • Work From Home
  • Home
  • Services
  • About Us
  • CF Alive
    • CF Alive Book
    • CF Alive Inner Circle
    • CF Alive full resources cheatsheet
  • Blog
  • Podcast
    • Podcast Guest schedule
  • Contact
  • Sitemap

The ColdFusion Experts:
Develop, Secure, Optimize

TeraTech Inc
451 Hungerford Drive Suite 119
Rockville, MD 20850

Tel : +1 (301) 424 3903
Fax: +1 (301) 762 8185

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Pinterest Follow us on YouTube

Copyright © 1998–2021 TeraTech Inc. All rights Reserved.