Every Stakeholder Must Read!
It may be a surprise to you, but the decision to change product scope mid-flight can pose significant challenges that impact the project’s success.
Let’s explore the potential pitfalls of altering project scope and overview how to make your change requests with empathy and effectiveness. What is even more important is knowing when to make them and when to avoid.
Why Changing Product Course Mid-Flight is a Challenge
Disruption to Workflow
Changing course disrupts the carefully planned workflow, causing delays and potential rework. This can lead to a disjointed development process and impact the team’s well-being.
Budget Overruns
Adjusting scope often comes with additional costs, leading to budget overruns. This not only affects the financial health of the project but also strains the relationship between business and development teams.
Team Morale
Frequent changes can affect the morale of the development team. Uncertainty and constant adjustments may demotivate team members, leading to decreased enthusiasm and productivity.
Errors and Quality Compromise
Altered requirements pose the risk of errors, especially if integration with existing features or other applications is involved. Quality may be compromised as the team adapts to sudden changes, impacting the overall integrity of the product.
Impact on Adjacent Features
Changes in scope may have a cascading effect on adjacent features, requiring careful consideration and testing to ensure a seamless user experience.
Let’s dive deeper into the impact of scope modifications based on the stage of product development.
Impact of Pivoting Scope on Each Stage of Product Lifecycle
Collecting Requirements
Constant changes may lead to significant delays in the requirement collection process, which, as a result, will delay the start of development. It’s best to have a clear vision and business goals before they are handed to the Product manager. The requirements alignment and documentation is not a linear process; it’s usually accompanied by aligned discussions with the technical team on feasibility, designers on the best approaches in user experience, and other departments such as legal, copywriting, even infrastructure. Many times, the work on the requirements may affect many other workflows already started, and any changes may result in significant rework even on this stage.
Design and User Research
Changes in scope can disrupt the design process, requiring a reevaluation of user interfaces and system architecture, as all of these are connected. Different UI elements may be required for modified pieces. Additional user studies may be necessary if the modifications are significant and noticeable to users, especially if there are updates in user processes and business logic. This stage is especially important in product creation as it defines how users will be interacting with your product, and you don’t want to mess it up.
Development
Altered requirements necessitate adjustments in development planning, potentially causing delays in resource allocation. The core impact is felt during development, where changes can lead to disruptions, rework, and an increased likelihood of errors. If the technical requirements change significantly, there might be a need to recompose the team altogether, which is always a big stretch on the developers.
There are dynamics and trust that get established among devs during early development stages, which, if disrupted, need a complete relaunch if the team composition changes. It might look like nothing serious, but it will take additional time for the newly composed team to gain momentum, and it will affect team morale, without a doubt. And therefore, the time needed to complete your product.
At this stage, it’s highly recommended to reevaluate any change requests and perhaps remove features that need modifications completely if they don’t affect the product functionality, and implement them after the release as newly redone. Or wait for the release and plan the modifications first thing for the next release
Final Testing and Release
Just to explain, at this point, all functional testing was done on the micro level, and all major defects were fixed. Any even small changes that affect user processes, data, or integration may and most likely will have a dramatic if not drastic impact on the integrity of everything that’s about to be released and everything that is involved in it, such as integrations and all regression-tested features.
It’s highly discouraged to make any change requests at this stage, not only because they may introduce new defects or impact previously tested adjacent functionalities, requiring additional rigorous testing for product integrity. This “rigorousness” has an excruciating effect on the whole team, including developers, testers, product owners, product managers, and scrum masters. Because they will all want to make sure they still meet the deadlines, which will be impossible with any changes accepted by them at this time, and therefore they will have to work extra hard, work nights and weekends to satisfy your demand, and it’s almost guaranteed that in this regime they will unwillingly but make mistakes. And you will be the one to pay for some of those mistakes.
Release is a carefully planned procedure. Ultimately, pivoting scope near release can delay product launch, affecting market entry timing and potentially causing missed opportunities. But it will also compromise the integrity of your product and, what may be even worse, the integrity of your relationship with the development team.
When and How to Approach Change Requests When You Think You Have A Valid Reason
When there were market demand fluctuations noticed although their impact has not been evaluated as dramatic
If the change you are requesting is in accordance with market demand fluctuations or competitive activity, aligns with project goals, has no impact on deadlines and budget, consider incorporating it with prior assurance from the Product team that it will not be disrupting the existing workflow. If, however, your modifications make an impact on budget and deadlines, reconsider requesting the change.
When market demand changes dramatically or product in development now has more noticeable competition
Reevaluate the project’s alignment with new market conditions and plan for a controlled pivot if needed. That is the exact scenario when you need to have a backup plan before the development has started. Coordinate the impact of the pivot with the product team and be ready to expand the budget and push release dates if the product is too far ahead to pivot. If the pivot is inevitable, make sure that you have an honest conversation with the development team and explain the reasoning of scope modification to avoid unnecessary morale impact.
Respectfully but Reasonably Expect a Clear “NO” to Change Requests if…
- The change jeopardizes project deadlines and budget constraints.
- There is a significant impact on the overall project roadmap.
- The requested modification contradicts established technical constraints.
- The change introduces substantial risk to the product’s stability and reliability.
- The change is requested at the pre-release and Release stages.
If You Want to Be Successful at Change Request Procedures and Keep the Love of Your Team
Establish Change Request Agreements in Writing in the early stages of the product lifecycle
- Define when they will be considered reasonable (with validation of the reasons).
- Specify the format in which they will be submitted.
- Evaluate the impact on every stage of the product lifecycle.
- Outline damage control steps if needed.
- Determine when change requests will no longer be accepted.
Follow the Agreements!
- Prioritize changes based on their urgency, impact, and alignment with project goals. Document change requests comprehensively, outlining proposed modifications and their impact.
- Conduct a thorough impact analysis to assess implications on the project timeline, budget, and existing features.
- Collaborate with the Product and development team on performing damage control if the change implementation is inevitable and the impact may be significant.
- Ensure that you are the first to honor the agreements because I promise you, your development team will go above and beyond to make sure the business needs you vocalize are met.
Maintain Respect to Your Team
If the scope modification is absolutely necessary, and especially if the impact of it is dramatic, maintain open and transparent communication with the Product and Development teams throughout the change request process. Ensure that your team clearly understands that the reason for the request is not just valid (in your opinion) but validated by data, and that you truly appreciate their priceless effort in making it work. Embrace an Agile mindset, allowing for flexibility while maintaining a structured approach to change management.
In conclusion, while change is inevitable, altering course mid-flight demands careful consideration and strategic planning. By understanding the challenges, implementing practical advice, and following best change request procedures, businesses can navigate change effectively and foster successful project outcomes with empathy and collaboration.
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