What is Scope Creep?

What is Scope Creep?

• A. A phenomenon that occurs when the project grows beyond its original scope
• B. The future direction
• C. The sequence of steps
• D. The group of interrelated components

Answer: (A)

Scope creep is when a project grows beyond what was originally defined. It happens when new requirements or stakeholder requests are added without formal change control, approvals, or a re-baseline of time and budget. As these extra tasks accumulate, the work expands, timelines lengthen, and costs rise, often stretching resources thinner than planned. A common scenario is adding features after the plan is approved, without adjusting the schedule or budget to reflect the extra effort. Preventing scope creep relies on clearly defining the project scope upfront, obtaining formal approval for any changes, keeping a change log, and re-baselining the plan when those changes are approved. The other descriptions describe different concepts—future direction is a strategic view, the sequence of steps refers to process order, and the group of interrelated components points to system architecture—not the uncontrolled expansion of work.

Scope creep is when a project grows beyond what was originally defined. It happens when new requirements or stakeholder requests are added without formal change control, approvals, or a re-baseline of time and budget. As these extra tasks accumulate, the work expands, timelines lengthen, and costs rise, often stretching resources thinner than planned. A common scenario is adding features after the plan is approved, without adjusting the schedule or budget to reflect the extra effort. Preventing scope creep relies on clearly defining the project scope upfront, obtaining formal approval for any changes, keeping a change log, and re-baselining the plan when those changes are approved. The other descriptions describe different concepts—future direction is a strategic view, the sequence of steps refers to process order, and the group of interrelated components points to system architecture—not the uncontrolled expansion of work.