Can Scope Creep Ruin A Vacation?

Since I have not done much as a project manager or instructional designer in the past, I thought I would give the example of a camping trip to show how something that sounds like an easy and inexpensive vacation can also end up going over budget to keep everyone happy.

Scope creep is defined in our text as, “the natural tendency of a client, as well as project team members, to try to improve the project’s output as the project progresses” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, p. 350, 2008).  Most of us have a desire when we plan events, even vacations, to add all we would like to do in a short amount of time.

The vacation plan can start out simple, as a camping trip in a State Park near the ocean.  You can decide on which beach you want to camp near, and then figure out how much park reservations will cost, and when you need to make them.  Planning early helps to ensure that your choices will be available.  

Food choices for a beach camping trips sounds simple enough.  Hot dogs, and all the things to go with it.  Breakfast will be items that can be cooked on a camp stove easily with minimal maintenance, and clean up.  You are at the beach so what do you really need, right?  The planning seems great since it is a casual type of vacation, and economical since hotels are being avoided.

Once you are on vacation is when the scope creep happens, and the PM (usually a parent, or if with friends, the leader of the group) wants to make sure that everyone has a good time.  You notice that nearby there are some other attractions that seem like fun, such as a boardwalk, and of course everyone wants to go there at night.  It is the third night and everyone is sick of hot dogs, so the decision is made to walk to the nearby town and boardwalk, and find a place to eat there.  Everyone wants pizza!  Of course none of this is planned for, but everyone has credit cards (or the PM does).

The resort prices for pizza are higher than where you live, and at the boardwalk everyone wants ice cream, and to play some of the carnival games.  Now the budget has creeped forward, but everyone is still having fun.

The next day is fine and everyone is happy to eat hot dogs again.  However all the junk food is gone to go with the hot dogs, so someone goes into town to replenish the chips, nachos, and other fun stuff, and brings back more due to the beach atmosphere and exercise increasing appetites.  Of course the prices are much higher than at the discount club grocery store.  However, everyone is happy.

As the weekend draws near the campground gets more crowded, and the weather gets colder as it tends to do on weekends.  That night hardly anyone sleeps because of all the parties going on, and the dogs barking.  So the next morning it is raining, and everyone is in a rotten mood, and decides to drive to a motel or hotel where they can get a nice hot shower, and watch television, and have something besides hot dogs and pizza, and a quiet night of sleep for the long drive home.  Another break in the budget, but everyone had fun!

For next years vacation the planning and saving will start sooner, and there will be extra in the budget for the unforeseen events.

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. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Images:

Camping: https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRcd2edD0vMGGcB0q9gKXbuRwaLaRLnly--guk9P6bAjqhS_k2O

Hot Dogs: https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTkQYyrksvH_10zQppp6u_54SXfVRWsvm9fNPZ4y8AG5nH29FPnaw

My Search for Estimating Costs & Allocations Resources

In my search to locate some resources for estimating costs and allocating resources so that I can get some help for my project at Walden University, I saw similar blogs from former Walden students.  That is where I found the image listed above, so it was interesting to view the resources that the blog listed, too.  The blog is titled, The Lightening Blog, and it is also a blogger blog authored by Julie M. Jones, a student at Walden in 2012.

She used a resource that I also have book marked from earlier classes, and I am sure that this website will also look familiar to my Walden classmates. It is Don Clark's site titled, Big Dog & Little Dog's Performance Juxtaposition.  When you read articles on Clark's site it helps you to gain confidence to get started trying new things, like creating a budget.  Jones found an excellent resource in Clark's site since there are also other links there for more study on creating time allotments for training programs.  Some of the links lead to free resources, and there are others that you have to pay for.

One of the links went to The Elearning Guild, which is a pdf file showing results from 103 individuals who participated in a survey on developing both asynchronous, and synchronous e-Learning projects.  The survey is a time ratio survey comparing the developmental time to create one minute of and e-Learning course, along with general questions about the organization.

Here are the links for my first 3 resources:

Clark, D.  (2010).  Big dog & little dog's performance juxtaposition. Estimating costs and time in instructional design. Retrieved on February 4, 2015 from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/costs.html

THE ELEARNING GUILD. (2002). The e-Learning development time ratio survey.  Retrieved from http://www.elearningguild.com/pdf/1/time%20to%20develop%20Survey.pdf

Jones, J. (2012, July 25).  The Lightening Blog.  Estimating costs and allocating resources. Retrieved on February 4, 2015 from http://jmjidt.blogspot.com/ 

General Eisenhower and Lessons in Project Management of D-day

In our discussion posts at Walden University, one of the classmates is in the US Military and gave the following two quotes in his discussion post which led to my reply.

A German military strategist once said, “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”  Even General Eisenhower famously stated, “Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”  The point of these two great military minds really are the same, that planning is indispensable, but being prepared for what could go wrong is even more important. 

Your post reminded me of watching the Military Channel® with my father and I am always fascinated by the D-Day Normandy invasion.  That is why I have to comment on your post (even if it is the last day). The source I am using to write this is from www.history.com, and shows the importance that weather forecasting and communication with General Eisenhower played in executing the well planned mission (Klein, 2014). Only one meteorologist was allowed to have direct contact with Eisenhower, and his reports would play a vital role in WWII (Klein, 2014).

It is amazing to think of the technology used in 1944 to predict the weather and to also predict that if the invasion was postponed from June, 5, to the following day there would be a temporary break in the weather that would turn the high probability of a disastrous landing on Omaha beach to one with a higher probability of success (Klein, 2014).  The Allied forces had more advanced methods to forcast the weather than the Nazis, and it involved a chain of communication among several meteorologists (Klein, 2014).  The Nazis believed that there would be ongoing storms throughout June making and sea to land invasion impossible, so they reduced their forces guarding the beaches in their occupied countries (Klein, 2014).

General Eisenhower listened to his SME advisor about the weather, and made a decision that lead to the start of the turn of the Nazi's control over victory in WWII.  Taking a huge risk in his decision and having so many men sacrifice their lives to die for their country and the fight to eliminate the Nazi power's control of Europe proved to be the right move for Eisenhower (Klein, 2014).  If General Eisenhower postponed the invasion, it would not have been possible to be carried out for another year (Klein, 2014).  That would have meant another year of lives lost, and the horror of the Concentration Camps would have lasted longer. General Eisenhower was the PM in this project and he made wise use of those who advised him, trusted in their judgements and made the right decisions.

Reference

Klein, C.  2014.  The weather forecast that saved D-Day.  Retrieved from http://www.history.com/news/the-weather-forecast-that-saved-d-day

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