A Comprehensive Analysis of Scope Creep and Gold Plating in Projects

This report examines the concepts of scope creep and gold plating within project management. It defines scope creep as uncontrolled changes, often stemming from client interference or misunderstandings within the project team, impacting both project and product scope. Gold plating, on the other hand, involves adding extra features that may not be desired by the client. The report outlines causes for these issues, including client interference, poor change control, and external factors like technological advancements. It differentiates between scope creep, which alters the baseline scope, and gold plating, which, while not changing the baseline, can negatively affect project objectives. The report highlights the importance of change management processes and the potential for project delays and cost overruns if these issues are not properly controlled. It references relevant research to support its analysis.

Running head: UNDERSTANDING SCOPE CREEP OR GOLD PLATING
Understanding scope creep or gold plating
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Author Note

1UNDERSTANDING SCOPE CREEP OR GOLD PLATING
Answer to question number 2:
The scope creep indicates to the various uncontrolled changes present within scope. It is due
to interference from customer and misunderstanding from the end of project management team. It
can be project scope or the product scope. This is also called as requirements creep. Again, the gold
plating indicates to the inclusion of additional featured internationally to product that the customers
might or might never be pleased. They can take place due to the following causes. Firstly, because of
interference from client, incomplete scope statement, poor system of change control, different
miscommunication among team members, causes that are outside he organization like technological
developments, regulatory requirements and market conditions and also not performing the check on
different project activities (Moneke & Echeme, 2016).
With the scope creep the baseline of the scope can get changed. However, through gold
plating the baseline of scope stays the same. However, it must be reminded that this can put impact
of objectives of the project adversely while the change take place with project or product having no
assessment. In the later stages, this can generate issues and one can end up deploying more changes
in covering p those that are been made in previous steps. Any change passing across the integrated
process of change management is never the scope creep. At this situation, one review that and then
can adjust the additional objectives for accommodating those changes. Here, for instance, the
updating of schedule o cost baselines because of the change can be considered. Further, this take
place as the product scope gets changed. Besides, the schedule and budget is unchanged and one
never perform any analysis of impact. This can result into scheduling of delays and overrun of costs.
As one never control that, one might face issues to finish the project. At any situations, the project
might get stopped (Correa et al., 2018).

2UNDERSTANDING SCOPE CREEP OR GOLD PLATING