Page 1 of 1 In a web developer's vocabulary, there are two words that shrivel the heart and strike fear into the mind: project creep. These words are scary because they are also - in many a designer's brain - inevitable by-products of any web site project.
What is project creep? It's the addition of features/tasks to a web site production cycle, after the budget and specifications have been approved. Project creep is also referred to as scope creep and - no doubt - several other expletives which won't get mentioned here. Project creep is not limited to the cyber-world either; it can occur in any project that has a development or production cycle, such as building a house, renovating a room, expanding a garden bed.
You may be wondering, "So my client asks me to change a couple things - so what? He (or she) is the client. The customer is always right, and the changes are really not very substantial."
My answer: "Time is Money". Your time as a web professional is valuable. It's worth something, or at least it should be. Small changes here or there may not seem like much, but if you track all these "little things", you will discover that they've added up into a substantial time allotment - perhaps a day or more, by the time the project is finished. This is work that you basically did "for free", because the changes were outside of the budget you created in the first place.
Even if you believe that customer service is more important than billing for these small items, you should still understand - and help your client understand - that time is still, well - TIME. Every minute you spend making changes is a minute you are not using to complete the project.
It's usually pretty easy to spot the BIG changes to a project. And in most cases, clients do understand that very large changes will require a new estimate. However, sometimes the client request seems like a small thing - to the client. That one little change they asked for may have a ripple effect on the production cycle, requiring 5 or 10 or 15 other changes to the already completed back-end of the site for example.
While to some degree, a certain amount of scope creep is expected, there are ways to manage and minimize the problem. These methods all stem from a single word: communication.
Stephanie Sullivan's article, Writing a Web Estimate, talks about the importance of getting information from your client before you begin a project. One sure way to head off major project creep is by supplying very specific details in your estimate or proposal, that outline exactly what you will be doing for the fees you are charging. Equally important, is telling the client what additional fees may apply if the project specifications are changed - or added to - after the estimate has been approved.
Prior to writing this article I did a survey of several web professionals, to see if there were any common practices for managing project creep. Here's what I found:
Proper communication on a project is essential. Good web sites aren't built in a day - in most cases we are talking weeks, or even months. It's important to keep the development team, and the client, up to date on the status of the project. This helps people stay focused on the project over time, and not the really cool software application they just read about, or the wild commercial they saw on TV ("Could we do this on our site?")
I try to supply the client with tangible elements as the site progresses. In the beginning, it's a flow chart, describing the site architecture, then design mock-ups or story boards, then a click-through wireframe of the site and so on. This gives the client the opportunity to see how the project is moving and keeps them on track.
If you are building a dynamic site, try to create static html mock-ups of dynamically-driven pages, to help the client visualize how the data-driven pages will display, or function. While this may seem like redundant work, it isn't. Many clients do not understand the intricacies of a data-driven site, and will have difficulties visualizing how the pages will look. If you go through this process, you are helping them, and also yourself, because you and your database programmer have a much better idea of the final product.
As you can see, effectively managing project creep is all about communication. Clear, consistent communication with the team and the client will enable you to minimize project creep and manage any changes that do occur.
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Keywords
project creep, scope, estimate, client, production cycle, estimates, contracts
