Overcoming Scope Creep: Focus on Value, Not Fixed Scope | Martin Hinshelwood
👋 Hi, I’m Martin Hinshelwood from NKD Agility, and in this video, I address a common challenge in project and product management: scope creep. The problem often lies in using outdated practices designed for low-variance environments, where the plan is predictable. I’ll show you how shifting to an Agile mindset and focusing on value delivery—rather than rigid scope and deadlines—can help you adapt to change and stay on track.
📌 Chapters:
- 00:00 – Introduction: Why Scope Creep Happens
- 02:30 – The Problem with Fixed Scope in High-Variance Environments
- 05:15 – Moving to a Product Operating Model
- 08:00 – How Agile Helps Manage Change and Evolving Needs
- 11:00 – Why Value Delivery is More Important Than Fixed Scope
- 14:00 – Planning for Flexibility: Backlogs, Vision, and Direction
- 17:00 – Managing Budget and Time in Agile Contexts
🎯 Who This Video is For:
• Product managers and project managers struggling with shifting requirements
• Organizations transitioning from traditional project management to Agile practices
• Teams looking to balance changing customer needs with delivery timelines
• Agile practitioners seeking strategies to improve adaptability and focus on value
📖 What You’ll Learn:
• Why traditional tools like Gantt charts fail in high-variance environments
• How Agile and Lean principles help you adapt to scope changes
• The importance of focusing on value delivery over fixed scope
• How to manage time and budget effectively in Agile projects
• Strategies for using product vision and dynamic backlogs to stay aligned
💡 Key Takeaways:
• Scope creep is often a sign you’re working in a dynamic environment where fixed plans don’t apply.
• Agile focuses on delivering value by adapting to change rather than resisting it.
• A clear product vision and flexible backlog enable teams to pivot effectively.
• Success in Agile isn’t measured by sticking to a rigid plan but by delivering value to customers.
At NKD Agility, we help teams and organizations embrace Agile principles to focus on value delivery and overcome challenges like scope creep. Ready to deliver more value with less stress? Visit us today on
https://www.nkdagility.com
and let’s transform how you approach product development.
#agile #productdevelopment #productmanagement #projectmanagement #devops #agileproductdevelopment #agileproductmanagement #agileprojectmanagement #projectmanager #productmanager #productowner #scrummaster #professionalscrumtrainer #scrum #leanproductdevelopment
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If you’re struggling with scope creep, it’s probably because you’re using practices and philosophies that were developed within the context of low variance. Very little changes all the time, so you can create a plan, you can create your Gantt chart, you can run the plan, and that’s how you’re managing risk. But when your variance—the difference between what you think’s going to happen and what actually happens—is bigger than what you thought in the first place, more than 50% variance, those tools no longer work, and we start having problems with scope creep. We start to not be in control of what’s going on, and that shift towards product delivery, a product operating model, is that move away from those old ideas of scope and deadlines.
There are other tools that we use to have the same outcome because the outcome you’re looking for is a usable, working product in the hands of your customers so that you’re delivering value, maximising the value of that item. But those old tools are no longer working for us. If you’re having a conversation about scope creep, then we’re probably having the wrong conversation because it needs to be okay for the scope to change. The market doesn’t stay still. If you’re delivering a product into your organisation or into a market, whether it’s B2B or B2C or internal, then the ecosystem within which you’re delivering that product is changing over time.
It’s not only changing over time continuously, but that means that what you need is changing continuously, which means that what you have to do is changing continuously. It might even change in response to something you show the stakeholders. You show the customers, you show the users a capability, and they’re like, “Oh yeah, that’s awesome! Don’t spend any more time on that. This is the next most important thing.” Suddenly, we’re shifting direction, and maybe there’s a hundred things in your list of things to do that you know you don’t need.
So that scope creep is the good way where we have less scope to deal with, but also you might show them something, and they’re like, “Oh, that’s not what I want. I need something completely different.” Suddenly, you’ve got a whole bunch of additional work. That ebb and flow of what needs to be is the reason that Agile was created. The lean movement came out of that story of ebb and flow of delivering products. The Lean Toyota system and Agile was the adaptation of that story into the context of software delivery, which is slightly different.
It’s much easier to change software; it’s much easier to iterate on software. You can ship a new version. It’s difficult to ship a new car to the same customer because you want to change something than it is to do it for software. So this idea, if we want to be on time and on budget, then we need to consider scope to be not the thing we’re looking for. We’re looking for value. The thing we’re focusing on is delivering value to our customers, and if we’re delivering value, we’re doing the right thing.
We manage budget and time differently within the context of Agile. If we have a clear product vision, a clear direction on where we’re going, and a well-defined product backlog that we know is going to change constantly, then we can much more effectively plan what we’re doing and change direction as needed without worrying about scope.
