Scope creep, shopping-style!

ByElizabeth Harrin Last updated: Project scope

I try really hard not to let scope creep impose upon my projects, so why is it so difficult to stop it in the rest of my life?

Despite my efforts to keep my language skills up since moving back to the UK from Paris, my French is rusty to the point where if it was a sword it wouldn’t even cut through jelly. The latest series of Un Dos Tres is still in it’s cellophane, and surfing the website of Le Monde just highlights how much of my language I have lost.

So, new plan. I don’t have time to watch French TV (too much CSI, Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries to keep up with) so I will be making better use of my commuting time.

Last weekend I went to London’s quartier français to have a look in the Librarie Française for the next Alex Rider book. No luck. Arkange was out of stock – they had the previous one in the series and the next one, but not the one I needed to read next. Not to be put off from my mission to read more in French, I spent ages looking at the other books by Anthony Horowitz before choosing Devine Qui Vient Tuer (the English title of which is South by Southeast, which bears no resemblance to the French at all).

Hurrah! I had a book to read on the tube by an author I like. At the till was a big pile of Stephenie Meyer books, including a translation of her latest, The Host. I think it is going to be hard to read, given that it is all about the end of the world as we know it, but I picked it up and paid for it anyway.

I was still disappointed that they didn’t have Arkange, and then I noticed another French bookshop across the street (they don’t call it the quartier français for nothing).

They did have Arkange! So I bought that too.

Forecasted budget:  £7.45
Forecasted deliverables:  One book.

Actual budget:  £23.20
Actual deliverables:  Three books.

Total overspent:  £15.75 or nearly 320%!

On the plus side, my tube journeys are not so boring any longer. I’m 116 pages into Arkange and Alex has escaped two attempts on his life already, and I just know there will be a couple of others before he saves the world again…

Elizabeth Harrin wearing a pink scarf

Project manager, author, mentor

Elizabeth Harrin is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management in the UK. She holds degrees from the University of York and Roehampton University, and several project management certifications including APM PMQ. She first took her PRINCE2 Practitioner exam in 2004 and has worked extensively in project delivery for over 20 years.
Elizabeth is also the founder of the Project Management Rebels community, a mentoring group for professionals. She's written several books for project managers including Managing Multiple Projects.