The Case of the Creepy Scope

As I do not have any professional project management experience, I must draw upon my personal life for an example of scope creep affecting a project. When my wife and I were looking for a house in Atlanta (via FL) one of my non-negotiable items was a finished basement. Once we found and purchased our house, I began remodeling the basement. My wife and I created a budget together based on the items and functionality that I desired out of my man cave. As I began installing equipment and arranging furniture, I kept “envisioning” improvements that I could make as I went along. This resulted in me making frequent trips to Home Depot and multiple purchases on Amazon.com. In addition, I returned furniture and attempted to custom build a theater platform.

This became a point of contention between my wife and I; I spent much more than we had agreed upon when we created our project budget and I was spending far too much time in the basement, which was not fair to my wife. As the manager of the project, it would have been beneficial for all involved if I had performed more research during the planning phase of the project; this would have prevented me from finding the next best item that caused me to repeatedly change my mind about the direction of my basement project. 

Helpful Instructional Design Links

Link 1: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/costs.html

This site offers an overview of the instructional design project management process, detailing the potential pitfalls and trials that designers may run into throughout the design process. It is a brief, but concise site that focuses on speeding up the design process while minimizing errors and improving efficiency. These tips can be used to help both novice and veteran designers streamline their design process; it is especially helpful for those, like myself, that have no process as of yet.

 This site specifically addresses budgeting in an instructional design project. The author breaks down the process using a specific example, but also offers the average development time for multiple types of design projects and estimations for the amount of time it takes for instructor preparation, offering valuable guidance for beginners such as myself. I recently started my own social media and instructional design consulting company and one of my struggles has been determining pricing; this site is an invaluable source and will help me determine my pricing.

Link 2: http://www.bnhexpertsoft.com/english/products/advent/module4.htm

This site offers an overview of the instructional design project management process, detailing the potential pitfalls and trials that designers may run into throughout the design process. It is a brief, but concise site that focuses on speeding up the design process while minimizing errors and improving efficiency. These tips can be used to help both novice and veteran designers streamline their design process; it is especially helpful for those, like myself, that have no process as of yet.