Project Scope Creep: To Many Choices and the Project is Slowed Down

In building our dream home from the ground up there was scope creep experienced just due to the fact of wanting to adding additional items to the house.  We started out looking for land in order to build on we had 2 weeks to look at sub lots and there were several to look at and determine if they were suitable for build a home on.  My husband and I experienced scope creep when a well-meaning neighbor want us to look at another lot and possibly consider going with a different builder then the one we had pre-selected.  My husband who is very patient went out with the neighbor to look at the land but that took a day out of his time and delayed the signing of the contract with our builder.

 

Once we selected the land then the crews came out to begin to excavate the land but it was during the fall leading into winter so there were days when the weather was optimal for building and there were days when snow began to fall as winter decided to come early to our part of the country.  On the days that the weather was inclement no work on the foundation could be done.  We experienced fairly decent weather but there was a week or two where the weather did not cooperate with our plans and work had to stop until the rains or snow let up. 

 

Once the foundation was up then we had to order windows for the house but in order to do that I have learned from my husband that we had to research which brands would be good for keeping the heat in in the winter and keeping the sun and heat out in the winter.  There were several brands like and we had to go and visit them as well.  Then we had to determine do we want double insulated windows, double hung windows, where would we place bay windows etc.  What I can say for this project there is a lot riding on the windows a homeowner selects because if the windows are of a poor quality then we would end up watching our heating bill increase because of poor insulation or our electricity bill would increase because the windows let the cool air out of the house.

 

Once the house was framed and under roof then we could focus on the inside of the house like lighting fixtures, cabinetry, flooring, etc. Scope creep came in each of these processes because we would have to go to different suppliers to check out each of these components aforementioned. For example just to pick out carpeting we would go out to the suppliers and then bring home swatches and then decide yes we like them or not but not only did we have to make the decision based on colors, patterns, wear and tear and cost per square foot.  As if all of those choices weren’t hard enough there were the helpful people at the flooring place also adding their input which added more choices and more time to selecting suitable carpeting for each room in the house.

The project of building within a time frame was also complicated by the need for change orders so if we got in cabinets that had flaws in the wood then we would have to send them back to the supplier and then wait for the new cabinets to come in and then go out the warehouse to see if what was ordered would work.

 

Our stakeholders were my spouse, me and the builders if the building of the house took to long then we would incur extra cost and time lost on the completion of the house.  Our move in date would have had to be moved up but fortunately we experience some scope creep but our builder managed to plan the building and get us into the house within our budgeted timeframe of 1 year. 

 

If I were the project manager the building of the house and the selection of the materials to build might have taken longer just because of the overwhelming nature of amount of work and the fact that without my husband who did extensive research on the building of the house I would have been lost in the beginning.  There is a learning curve for me that would have occurred and yes I would have gotten the house built. 

 

If I were building a house for a family with children I would have put more storage units in for the children; a larger pantry and more storage in the kitchen.  I would have also advise families with children to get double laundry rooms with one upstairs and one downstairs to make doing laundry easier.

Reference
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer B. E.,
(2008). Project Management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Wiley
& sons. Holboken, N. J.

Budgeting

Projects go through phases as identified by Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, Kramer (2008, p. 78),

1. Conceive: an idea is born
2. Define phase: a plan is developed
3. Start phase: a team is formed
4. Perform phase: the work is done
5. Close phase: the project is ended

Once the plan is born then the project manager (PM) can begin to define the plan by develop a work breakdown structure (WBS).  A WBS is a chart that will contain all of the tasks that will be completed for the project.  For example if a PM were developing an online course then they would either do a mind map of each task and subtask that will need to be done. Another way a WBS could be done is with sticky notes of the tasks to be performed.  I have listed two ways a WBS could be done but I am sure there are many more ways that a PM and their team could brainstorm the task to be completed; I think the most important thing here is that there is a visual representation of what has to be done.  After the WBS is completed then the PM has to develop a budget.

A budget is the financial plans, for allocating organization resources to project activities (Portny et al.2008, p. 118).  A budget for a project is harder to establish than a budget for regular organizational expenses according to Portny et al. (2008, p. 119). 

So what happens when you are new to the PM game and now your organization wants you to develop a budget because face it everything in life cost; and there everything that goes on in the project has to be accounted for.  The team members, SMEs, accountants, secretaries and anyone who works on the project has a salary and it has to be figured into the budget. If the PM is developing a course online for a client then the cost of developing the components of the course has to go into the budget.
So what information is out there to teach the novice PM instructional designer about allocating resources for a project because face it every hour cost the organization in employee salaries to develop virtual simulations, hard copy course materials, online assessments and quizzes. 

Here are two resources I found to help begin to develop a budget and a timeline:
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/costs.html#elearning
Estimating Cost and Time in Instructional Design is the title for the aforementioned website.  I liked this site because it is for IDs who are considering developing an eLearning course.  It has the time breakdowns for synchronous and asynchronous learning as far as number of hours it will take to develop a course.  This website also has suggested hourly rates for IDs, SMEs and other team members. 

http://michaelgreer.biz/?p=279
Estimating Instructional Development Time is an article written by Michael Greer who does a lot of project manager books and has this blog.  I liked this blog by Mr. Greer because it gives tips about not trusting in doing ratios when it comes to beginning to budget your time on a project.  He opens his post by stating that some of his students have suggested a 15:1, 30:1, 50:1 and 80:1 but he also states that the International Society for Performance Improvement has suggested that it could take up 1500:1 for course development.  These ratios represent X hours to develop one hour of a course. 

This article also takes into account other considerations like non-writing time; what type of course will the ID be developing. . .
These are just two websites out of many that I think would be helpful to the beginner PM in learning how to develop a resource allocation and budget for a project.
I welcome all suggestions and other helpful sites in the comment box.

Reference
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J.  Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M. &
Kramer, B. E.  (2008). Project Management: Planning, scheduling,
and controlling projects.