Effective Software Project Management

Traditional Versus Extreme Scope Change Management

You already know that scope change is the bane of the Traditional project manager. Every scope change request brings with it the work needed to generate the project impact statement as the deliverable from having processed the change request. Schedules need to be revised—sometimes creating significant problems if they cannot be rescheduled to meet the new requirements within the constraints of time and money. Negotiating the changes into the schedule often requires numerous meetings and additional replanning. Think of all the time that was wasted planning parts of the project that are now changed or even eliminated from the project altogether. Think of all the time that was wasted building out parts of the solution that are no longer needed. It is no wonder that there’s such a high probability of failure.

You already know that scope change is the lifeblood of the Adaptive project manager. If possible, it is even more important to the Extreme project manager. The Extreme project calls upon the customer, the project manager, and the development team to be fully engaged and committed to the project.

Warning

The Extreme SDPM strategy is high-risk. Ideally the team must be 100 percent assigned to the project and co-located.