You know how sometimes, you’re smooth rolling down the highway and a piano falls out of the sky onto the hood of your car? It happens to the best of us. Sometimes in midstream we
simply have to devise a new way to get to the same destination by the same time but via another route and vehicle.
That’s why it helps to maintain an awareness of the potential for mishaps and detours, as well as a healthy arsenal of alternate routes, tools and additional time — whether you are cruising in the car or building the latest and greatest web technologies.
Enough of dancing around the most dreaded word in the world of deadlines: creep — particularly, scope creep and what I like to call peep creep.
Everyone knows what scope creep is: the omnipresent phantom who puts the kink in your hose, the bump in your road and the check in your mate. In order to be prepared, you need to know the
Top 5 Causes of Scope Creep:
1. Human error: improper planning; we failed to consider such and such; miscommunication, etc.
2. Things that make you go, hmm: We thought this through thoroughly beforehand, but once implemented we realized things should be a little different.
3. The client or project owner changes their mind or direction.
4. Third-party issues that may require extra effort on your part.
5. Surprise: We didn’t realize this scenario could occur until we’d built out the product and actually started working in it from a user’s perspective.
… and now for Peep Creep: Similar to scope creep, except this involves a key stakeholder switcheroo rather than a change in written direction — reassigning developers in midstream, for instance. There needs to be time for adequate knowledge transfer as well as time to unravel the predecessor’s coding execution style.
There you have it: the creeps. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: From a quality assurance and usability perspective both creeps may actually be welcomed. If you realize you are headed down the wrong track, there’s a solid argument for taking a few steps back and re-evaluating the situation.