Worked scenario
Scope grew by a request at a time
Fixed-price project erosion is caused by reasonable requests granted individually by people who cannot see the accumulated total.
3 min read
A project is scoped and priced. During delivery the client asks for adjustments. Each is small, each is granted, and nobody is tracking the sum.
The person agreeing cannot see the total
A developer accommodating a request has no view of the eleven previous ones. Refusal feels disproportionate for something so small, and it is — individually.
Logging without bureaucracy
The point is not to make change hard. It is that the running total exists, so that at some threshold the conversation happens while there is still margin to protect.
Margin during, not after
Project profitability calculated at closure is a historical fact. Calculated during delivery, against effort booked so far, it is a decision point — and the difference between the two is the entire value of tracking it.
What changes
- Change requests logged against the project with effort estimated
- A running total of accommodated scope, visible to whoever agrees the next one
- Client informed of cumulative impact rather than each item
- Project margin visible during delivery, not after
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