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Discussion Topic: Scope creep....when your project changes

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 Josh
(@orleron)
Posts: 95
Trusted Member Admin
Topic starter
 

....and not always for the better.

Using what you have learned in the Scope Management lecture, what situations have you encountered where a project suffered from scope creep? What did you do in that situation? What did you do right? What could you have done better?

This does not have to necessarily be a medical device project. It can be a school project or an extra curricular activity.

Spiral Medical Development
www.spiralmeddev.com

 
Posted : 30/10/2016 3:16 pm
(@djr32)
Posts: 39
Eminent Member
 

My capstone project AudIQ was about to suffer from a small scope creep, which is when the changes, continuous or uncontrolled growth in a project’s scope. Before the development of the mobile application, we had laid out our customer need for the project and then prioritize the customer need which is most important to accomplish. For instance, one of the scopes for the mobile application was the game script or storyboard of the game. This scope was needed to be finalized before the GUI programmer worked on the game and before the back-end database programmer created the structured relational database. The first semester of the capstone we created a storyboard and how the levels would increase. However, we realized the game did not need game levels. Thus, the way we handled this change was by only changing the organization of the database because it was not fully created. At the time was only a very small prototype. However, if the entire database structure was created for the old version, there would be serious changes. One way to fix this would be having two people work on the database instead of one. This situation to an extent could be avoided if our team planned the storyboard of the game well. However, certain situations cannot be predicted until the team started to work on the project. Thus, changes to project scope can effective a project is delayed.

 
Posted : 10/04/2017 12:03 pm
(@talha-chaudhry)
Posts: 39
Eminent Member
 

During the initial design phase of our capstone project, we laid out what we wanted to accomplish in the limited amount of time we had. Our scope at the beginning was actually too large so we cut it down before we began development to only the essential customer needs. For example, our project was a smart cast that was designed to monitor the healing process of a fracture through sensors. We initially had planned the use of 4-5 sensors, but we ended up only going with 2 for both hardware limitations and focusing on essential customer needs. This did not mean we didn't experience scope creep later in the project. Our PM wanted us to develop an algorithm to evaluate the sensor data after it was collected. Development time was limited enough, so rather than make any promises, we told our pm that we would only develop such an algorithm if development of the product was finished ahead of schedule. We felt we handled that situation right and prevented a serious issue with scope creep. However, there is one situation regarding scope creep that, in hindsight, we should have included in the initial design phase. The way we were collecting data was through an sd card embedded in the hardware on the cast, but we had no method of time-stamping it. Our pm wanted us to timestamp the data, so we planned to add a RTC (real time clock) component. The issue here was that the circuit and software flow diagram were already created in the design phase, and materials had already been bought. So we had to rewrite the software, rearrange the circuit, and ended up going slightly over-budget. In hindsight, I wish I had thought of the timestamp issue in the initial design phase and prevented this ordeal.

 
Posted : 11/04/2017 6:42 am
 tn58
(@tn58)
Posts: 72
Trusted Member
 

I am a project coordinator for the ELA program. The program was initially started to put students with below a 2.5 on a academic probation list and to hire tutors specifically these students. This would allow the students to make appointments with tutors just for them and help them excel in their academics. This program is funded by the new jersey state and every dollar spent must be reported. After organizing the program, making a timeline, checkpoints, assigning budget to the program, tutor pay hours, etc. I started the program in fall 2016 and now after one complete semester, it was determined that this program did not need to hire tutors because 90% of the students used resourced already provided by the university. The downfall for this was that the hired tutors were trained and attended workshops for this position but unfortunately their services were use used as expected. This creep resulted in money that could of been used to assist students who needed financial assistants (as this program is students from unrepresented background). As a project coordinator, I could of researched all the available resources and surveyed where students went for tutoring. This would allow me to pick tutors from those centers and ask them to work extra hours if need be. However, overall this position was an excellent experience for leadership skills and time management.

 
Posted : 11/04/2017 10:03 am
(@myton)
Posts: 77
Trusted Member
 

Before we started our Capstone, we first did research on the ins and outs of the project. We first looked at current technology, ways on improving it, and if it was feasible. After coming up with the idea, we then created a schedule which would become the skeleton of the project. The schedule was the timeline which told us when things should have been done and when they should have been done. When creating the schedule, we factored in each individual part of the project. However, what we didn’t factor in was the time it takes for us to learn and the availability of the people who were assisting us. Our capstone project was the design of a controller for a robotic arm aimed to assist people with limited upper extremity mobility. We divided the project into 3 parts: hardware, electrical, and software where we first prioritized the physical models since 3D printing would take a while. Then we dealt with the electrical components since it could only be wired when the physical components are attached to them. Then, we last focused on the software where little did we know that RS-232, a type of serial communication, would provide us with a lot of trouble. In the beginning of the project, we thought that we could easily understand and deal with it based on the literature that we read, however, when it came to the time when we had to work on it, the system became more complicated due to the inherent software within the robot. This caused the project to be delayed a lot. We didn’t completely understand the difficulty that relates to the RS-232 communication and that was one of the scope creeps that we encountered. Thankfully, we were still able to present a project at the end of the semester.

 
Posted : 15/04/2017 1:25 pm
(@gingeranderson)
Posts: 78
Trusted Member
 

While working at General Dynamics Electric Boat, I was tasked with just replacing a component on a system on the submarine. It was just a simple change out of a component that they said was an old, deteriorated component that was clogging the system. I wrote the procedure and charged the "account" that it was under to get the job done (we call them shop orders). Later that week, someone stated that the initial problem with the system was still persisting and asked if I could replace another component on the system. I wrote the procedure and charged the "account" that these simple replacements fall under. Again, the same thing happened where someone called and said the initial problem was still persisting. I then was tasked was taking the entire system out, taking the system to a facility, trouble shooting the system, and then replacing the system after I found the problem. By then, this problem was no longer in the scope of the "account" or shop order that I was using. I had to find another money source for this type of job because the scope crept that much. The problem was eventually solved but it all started with just a little job changing out a component.

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 5:35 am
(@akshay-sakariya)
Posts: 41
Eminent Member
 

During the capstone first we started with research on the 3D Bioprinter and out put of the project. We first looked at current regular 3D printer and then we did the market research. After coming up with the idea, we then created a high level schedule which would become the 3D Bioprinter of the project. The schedule was the overall time lines about the project which task is first and which one is the last. we have come up with 3 designed about making 3D printer into 3D Bioprinter. Once we had designed, we evaluated with our customer need, doing that we have our final designed to work on it. Our team then did the technical research about what software to use and all. Our capstone team created document requirement and test plant. Last week we test out our first demo to see our test result.

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 5:56 am
(@rgp29)
Posts: 53
Trusted Member
 

For my capstone design project, my team and I were in charge of designing a wearable watch and an app in order to help autistic children incorporate into society. The team was doing everything on time. However we applied to different grants at the beginning of the semester, by the time we found out that we had received the grant, the semester was already ¾ gone. The people from the grant told us that there was more possibility for this product to succeed in the market if we only created the hardware or the software. So we met with our adviser and in fact, there is a bigger chance of the product to be more effective if we only created the hardware. All the time that my classmates and I had invested in designing the wearable watch was gone because we would now be using an existing watch and then just create the app. This delayed us because we had to go back and redo the documents that we had done before based on both software and hardware. Although it created more work, I think this change was for the good of the project.
Let me know what you think!
Sincerely,
Roberto Pineda.

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 6:09 am
(@krp76)
Posts: 76
Trusted Member
 

For a project we were working on it was a smaller part of a whole, which was analyzing viral clearance for a legacy product process. At first we did the initial research and looked through historical information within the company processes to see the logic and rationale behind the current process. We then created a rationale based on the research and information we found and contracted the studies to a international vendor since, BSE and TSE studies are not done in the United States. After finalizing the study and creating the protocol based off the manufacturing process we had to increase the project scope. This was a result of us receiving a video of the current process much later than requested (about one month later). When we actually analyzed the video of the process we realized that a key element in the process was not being done as described in the protocol and this may effect the experimental setup that was planned. This caused us to redo the finalized protocol and increased our timeline by about 2 months since it had to go through the round of approvals once again and we had to justify the reason for the change. In this situation we should have pushed harder to receive the video and assumed that it may not have been exactly as described since it was an external site we should have expected the worst case scenario.

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 6:36 am
(@bb254)
Posts: 113
Estimable Member
 

During my Finite Element analysis course I worked on a project which had a scope of collecting data to show effects of osteoarthritis. I had a timeline of around two weeks to complete this project, so I wanted to keep the scope simple. However, after hearing my classmates projects and how complex they were I got worried that my project was way too simple. I tried to make it more complicated by making the scope specific to South Indian Women over the age of fifty so that I could relate the project to my mother who has this illness. Since I made this little change in the scope, I had to conduct a lot of research to find data and information on osteoarthritis which ended up taking three or four days. As a result, I started panicking and my model was not running the FEA. I kept having to edit my model and come to campus and run the simulation for over 8 hours. I realized that if I just kept my scope simple then I would have saved time researching and could have focused more on the actual model. However, I was blessed with great friends who helped me and stayed up with me to get the project done on time.

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 12:16 pm
(@ama59)
Posts: 36
Eminent Member
 

I am definitely feeling the pressures of scope creep as I near closer to my Master's defense. I made the mistake of waiting until the last month to run my most important and intricate experiment, not giving myself enough time to repeat it if something were to go wrong. Also, best case became finishing the experiment, collecting and analyzing data 2 days before the day of the defense. This would really cause the quality of my project to suffer. What I was trying to do to remedy this situation was spend the last few weekends in the lab, work through them and try to finish the experiment faster. With 2 weeks left I am realizing that the scope of this experiment was too large. What I am doing now is breaking the experiment into parts, completing the barest minimum (extreme cases) for each part and with their results make educated guesses or extrapolate the other scenarios I wanted to study. For my blood-brain barrier model I will break it up into neuronal, astrocyte, and endothelial cultures. Instead of studying all TAT neurotoxicity concentration I will just look at 3 extremes, 2ng, 5ng, and 10ng, on the cell cultures. Then I can judge the integrity of the blood-brain barrier model under HIV protein toxicity just from the results of these culture studies. That is, if at 10ng all three cell types die, I can say the blood-brain barrier will not hold up, it will become permeable. My advisor and committee have said this can be enough so I should be fine. However, if I had managed my time better I could have had more convincing and satisfying results.

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 5:29 pm
(@ta226)
Posts: 33
Eminent Member
 

For one of my graduate classes, we were given the opportunity to research one question about traumatic brain injury that we had. It started with a broad scope and eventually would narrow and focus in on our topic. My question was are there any bio markers that can detect TBI. This started with a few simple searches and I found several conflicting papers about the effectiveness of bio markers for TBI and a laundry list of different proteins to look through. Every week we needed a progress report to be posted for our topic but it seemed like my progress started from scratch each time with a new approach. This was a vicious cycle that I feel many project managers may face. The idea of trying to solve every avenue of a problem and becoming fixated, preventing the initial goal to remain unattainable. At this point it was necessary to step back, review what was the initial scope of the project, and use what had led me astray to focus in on a suitable answer and a manageable paper.

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 6:25 pm
(@hruship101)
Posts: 76
Trusted Member
 

During one of the project in my internship, I had to perform Gage R&R studies on few parts in order to validate the measuring equipment. I planned out a strategy and started working on testing out few parts. After about 75% into the testing phase, I realized that there was wrong tolerance set up in the machine for measurements. In this kind of situation, there in no way to keep the same data and validate the machine as it’s out of scope. I spoke to the set-up team, and there was miscommunication and I had to re start the study. In some situations, one ends up being helpless and just have to rethink on what’s the best possible solution.

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 6:54 pm
(@akshayakirithy)
Posts: 65
Trusted Member
 

I was one of the active member of a theatrics group. We had a fundraiser event for our city's flood reforming activities. We all concentrated on the story and script of the play. At the start we opted for a documentary where only adult only can see it. A week ahead for the play and we didn't get that good funds for even conducting the play. So we thought of changing the scope of the play which means changing a play as a comical one. Since we had a very less time we took lot of efforts to change everything. I was a leading director of the play and because of that we worked day and night and we finished it successfully.

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 6:59 pm
(@dag56)
Posts: 79
Trusted Member
 

I experience scope creep firsthand almost every day at work when quality testing premarket immunoassay instruments. After a particular instrument is built by hand in an assembly line like fashion, my team is tasked to test verify and validate that the instrument works and will meet the customer’s needs. During the testing, which takes around 18 hours per instrument if everything goes well, small conformity/mechanical/ detection issues may be discovered. Once discovered, the troubleshooting process begins which may lead to the discovery of other, smaller issues as well as the main problem regarding the instrument. In one particular example, the way the timing of which the instrument moved the sample from one onboard analytical tool to another was off by milliseconds so the motor had to be re-tuned. It was only when this occurred, that it was found that there was also a sample detection issue which also needed to be fixed. In this case, there was only two fixes that needed to occur to pass the instrument, however I have heard horror stories where 40+ hours was put into fixing all the bugs in particularly notorious cases.

In addition each instrument has individual deadlines that must be met because their shipment and preorders throughout the world have already been established months in advance. Delay on the delivery times would not only look poor on my team’s performance, but the companies as a whole. Therefore, ample time is allotted for this process to avoid most minor delays.

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 7:03 pm
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