Image courtesy of http://agilepm.com/managing-scope-creep-in-agile-projects
Last summer I was asked to be part of a medical fraud project for
our company. The original scope of the
project was to teach investigators about no-fault medical fraud occurring in NY
and extrapolate for the rest of the country.
The training was to be 2 1 and ½ hour virtual classes run on web-ex with
a facilitator, of which I was going to be one of them. Our initial scope was to identify some of the
fraudulent billing practices of medical providers and train investigators how
to recognize them.
What we ended up with was, 6 two hour training modules on the computer,
and 6 web-ex sessions each lasting 2 hours long.
The scope crept up from just the billing to include durable medical
equipment to deceptive medical practices and fraud perpetrated by the medical
office as a whole, how to conduct a site visit, and, fraud perpetrated by the
patients themselves. Each module was
essentially the same with all topics addressed.
By the end of the 3rd module,
people were bored and instead of learning, most multitasked through the
training segments. It was painfully
obvious by the lack of engagement and participation. The stakeholders kept adding more and more,
and the designer of the project didn’t really push back.
In the end, it was an encompassing training course, but I
personally felt that because the scope was so large, that it was a broad brush
stroke over the entire subject instead of getting down into the details and
really teaching the participants what was desired in the first place, which was
how to look at the billing and search for blatant and discreet errors in coding
and charges.
If I had been the project manager, I would have agreed that the
other topics brought in are valuable, but that each one in its own right deserved
a training module. This would have allowed the designer to focus on one main
topic at a time which could have then been delivered to create the largest
learning impact. After that, then
another topic, and then another could have been added at a later date. The training would have been segmented, and
in the end, an all-encompassing case study could have been presented to check
the learners understanding of all the subject matter.
These are 10 steps to help with curbing scope creep.
1.
Educate your staff.
2.
Clearly define the project.
3.
Gather all relevant information.
4.
Define the objectives and
deliverables.
5.
Assign a project sponsor.
6.
Create an approval process.
7.
Stay on track.
8.
Create a good communication process.
9.
Understand when change is necessary.
10. Schedule regular meetings.
Scope creep can lead to project
failure. It can inflate costs, time and
resources. The desired outcome can be distorted
because the project morphed into something it was never intended to be. Learning can be compromised and the finished
product can have less depth because of the breadth of the project. Careful steps must be taken by the project manager
to ensure that scope creep does not overtake the entire project.
References
Heidi,
ReplyDeleteWhat you described seems more like snowballing into an avalanche scope, instead of just creeping. We had a 3 day training at the end of the school year last year, and it was at a time most of us would rather have been putting final grades together for our students. It was 7 hours every day, and by the 3rd day we had all mentally checked out. We had a refresher this fall, and I could not remember anything from the end of the year training. I still remember things from 1/2 day trainings we have had over 5 years ago though.
During several of our trainings I often wonder if those responsible for setting up the training really know the needs of the staff, or what is the purpose for the training. We just had one on school safety where the presenter seemed completely unprepared, and I felt that I learned nothing. I did learn to keep the classroom door locked, but we learned that 3 years ago.
It is a shame to waste money on preparing trainings without making sure they are necessary or that the presenters will offer something for the correct audience.
Heidi, first I have to say, I love the image that you used for your blog. I also enjoyed reading your post as I think that this type of scope creep is common in education and curriculum or course development and it is something I can relate to. Specifically you stated: “The desired outcome can be distorted because the project morphed into something it was never intended to be. Learning can be compromised and the finished product can have less depth because of the breadth of the project.” The ADDIE model is meant to be used for instructional design because it guides the development of the training based on careful analysis and design for the particular outcome. In your situation, the initial analysis, design and development was for the one particular module. The addition of the other modules should not have been done if they were not included in the initial analysis and design. I had a similar experience in which our district was asking staff to rewrite the curriculum for the Career and Technical Education classes. They paid a group of teachers to develop a model unit for one course. The staff writers did a lot of learner analysis and background as they designed their units and the product was excellent. The problem came when the district decided to blow up the project from one unit to an entire course. They just replicated the one unit with different material. The initial analysis and design did not demonstrate that this would be a functional course, yet that is what the district made. The proof of the problem came with the evaluation of the course not being successful. If the project manager for this curriculum design had taken the time to separate the projects, so that the scope didn’t creep so far with the initial plan, I think it would have been more successful.
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