Scope Creep Is a Symptom
Nobody adds work to a project that was already winning.
[ essay ]
Scope creep is rarely greed — it is anxiety that the current bet will not justify the spend.
Week three of a portal MVP, the stakeholder did not ask for “more features” in so many words. They asked for SSO, audit export, and custom branding — three hedges against the suspicion that the original slice would not impress anyone at the QBR. The team treated each ask as a requirement to estimate. Nobody asked why the confidence in the MVP had collapsed.
They add scope to projects that are not visibly winning. The extra feature is a insurance policy written in story points. Fighting the ticket without addressing the belief just produces more tickets.
Treat scope requests as confidence signals first and requirement lists second. Ask what evidence would make the MVP feel safe without the hedge.
Show progress on the original promise before you negotiate the extras. Demo the thin slice. Name the risk they are actually buying down. The scope usually calms down once the confidence returns.
— JV · Dark Heart Labs.