Scope creep refers to the change in a project’s scope after the project work has started. Typically, the scope expands by the addition of new features to an already approved feature list. As a result, the project drifts away from its original purpose, timeline, and budget.

This change in scope often comes about from small, seemingly insignificant change requests that the project team accepts to keep the project sponsor happy. Eventually, the change requests become numerous enough that they are significant or one of the requests turns out to require much more work than expected.

Scope creep can come about from:

• Poor change control.
• Lack of proper identification of the features that are required to bring about the achievement of project objectives in the first place.
• Weak project manager or executive sponsor