My son’s Turtle seem not to be doing well. I have been doing my research on how to overcome whatever issues these Red Eared Sliders are having. I have resigned myself that they are in a tank too small for them. The Project is get them a new tank and relocate them to my office in the basement. Simple, just research the tank size and save some money and buy the tanks and maybe a stand.
We have a 29 gallon tank in my son's bedroom on his dresser/changing table. He is seven and does not require the use of this furniture anymore. In the course of my research I was going to go with a $400, 120 gallon tank. I brought this to my wife like I should learn not to do when I am the PM of this project. First part of scope creep, she said put them in the neighbors pond, we spend too much money on animals we cannot hold and play with. You will not spend $400 and that is final. I had forgotten my rule of ask for forgiveness not permission. She was mad and I said I would compromise but will not take my son’s pets from him. So now it is $190 75 gallon tank.
Next scope creep really hit hard and I question scope creep on this or just poor planning. I need a stand to place the tank on because the pet store owner said my old table won’t hold the weight. After more talking to him, he said I need to raise the tank on cement blocks just in case of water and also paint them. In this cast the “project strategy” was to move this to a high level, because moving a 75 gallon take with water would be next to impossible.
The third scope creep was when I involved and not clearly communicated to my boys what the project was and nothing else. We went to the pet store and it specializes in salt water aquariums. We looked around and both of the boys said “we will have an empty tank and mom will want to sell or get rid of it”. So now I am working on a change of scope document to better help the boys understand the time, money and energy that will go into doing this also with this project. As my wife says I’m a push over and I will do the salt water tank but in a different project. This is one aspect that really has not been addressed. Some of the scope creep can really become a new or different project.
The final scope creep came when I realized I need power to the area where I was putting the tank. This also became a high priority. At this time keeping my wife out of the loop and drawing from my kids as Dr. Stolovich suggests to draw from your team. We revamped our plan and eliminated most of the issue that could arise from the team and stakeholders. (The boys are 7 and 9)
I am the PM and a primary stakeholder, but I could have and should have mapped out the steps and priorities of the project. Laying out the priorities, budget, and steps for a project will eliminate most of scope creep, even in home projects.
References:
Video Program: “Monitoring Projects”, Walden University, 2010
Video Program: “Practitioner Voices: You Can't Win Them All”, Walden University, 2010
