"Project Creep"
Wednesday November 4, 2009
I recently read about project creep- and then it happened to me!
Project creep- or "scope creep" - is when a project grows from its original parameters into something more. For example, you agree to write two articles, but are asked later to also market those articles through social media outlets- with no mention of adjusting fees.
Scope Creep is defined here at About.com Consulting. About.com's management page has an interesting example of scope creep here, and desktop publishing talks about preventing scope creep. So, knowing what it is-- have you ever experienced it?
PS I still cannot recall who blogged about project creep (within the last week). If that was you, let me know and I will send you a link!
I’m working against this with a major client right now. I’ve finally had to bring them back to the table to readjust attitudes, behavior and rate plans.
Thanks for bringing this up. I’d say it can be a major problem for all of us.
OMG — I can’t believe your timing. Thanks for giving a name to the nightmare I’m experiencing right now with one new client!
I had a brief initial chat with them, quoted them a rate, and now every time I turn around there’s more to the project — wordcounts increased dramatically, as did sourcing needs — and now today I’ve been told that actually, it’s a ghostwriting project in which I will need to write in the voice of a half-dozen different people! All at the same rate I originally quoted them for easy, 400-word articles.
I just hit the point where I said hey, it’s time to just stop everything and renegotiate, or I’m walking.
The antidote to scope creep is to refuse to put up with it — say stop! Say, “This would be in addition to the price I originally quoted you, since it represents more work.”
Which is what I’m telling them!
More free tips on making a good living from freelance writing at my Make a Living Writing blog on my Web site…
Carol Tice
http://www.caroltice.com
http://Twitter.com/TiceWrites
Allena,
Scope creep has has happened to me many times. Usually it involves radical edits or adjustments to a project just when I think it’s done … and the client thinks I should make those changes without additional payment.
I’ve learned to nip the problem in the bud. Depending on the client’s personality, I either: a) write up a very detailed plan at the beginning, or b) work without a plan, in an iterative fashion, making sure the client aware that ongoing changes will cost more money.
When clients have balked at paying me for additional work, I’ve reminded them of our original agreement, sharing my log of hours so they understand the time involved, and reiterated my fee.
I’ve always closed the deal by saying, “If your budget cannot cover my extra work, or paying for additional edits is not part of your policy, I do understand. If that’s the case, I’m more than willing to stand aside and let another writer finish the job.”
So far, no one has taken me up on that
Martha
Yaay, Martha! I’ve been rehearsing those lines, but haven’t had to use them yet. The one client that made me fear future scope creep ended up not hiring me after all (to ghostwrite their book). I sent them a carefully-composed (and quite stylish-looking) contract that made my terms pretty clear. And pretty generous too, from my pov– I would not have made a lot of money on it. But it would have been my first full-length ghostwriting project, and I was willing to work cheap in order to get it on my resume.
But better to lose the gig than have the gig enslave you.