In an ever-growing freelancing landscape, building a successful freelancing career depends on so many factors, and one is guiding your expectations and ensuring you are valuable to your client.
Freelancers looking to build a successful career must ensure that there is mutual and timely communication on the scope of the task or project.
Freelancers often complain of difficult terrain and have had one of many challenges, which is client scope creep. It is a situation where you agree on a specific task to be completed, and during the process of delivering the gig, the client subtly asks for additional revisions outside of the agreed-upon task.
This will lead us to discuss what client scope creep is, examples of client scope creep, the causes, and how client scope creep can be handled. Our focus will be on website developers, designers, and agencies.
What Is Client Scope Creep?
Client scope creep is an uncontrolled expansion of the project beyond the initial plan, resulting in revision of designs or presentation, and for developers, more app features and functionalities within short periods.
This results in delivering complex projects with limited resources, and it creates friction if not properly managed. Several freelancers have had issues with client scope creep, and some have attributed it to poor communication and vague project briefs.
There are different examples of client scope creep, and this depends on the industry, but some of them are:
Content Writers
For writers, a client might request a short-form article, and after completion, he decides that he needs a short copy for his social media pages, which is outside the writing scope.
Website Developers
If you are a website developer and your client reaches out for a basic e-commerce website, and upon completion, they request other features like a chatbot or more pages beyond the agreed-upon terms.
This addition mostly comes without adjusting the fee and results in extra hours unaccounted and unpaid for.
Project Managers
For project managers who have been employed to manage an app development and ad campaign, if an additional feature is sought to be added to the completed product, this is another clear client scope creep because it is outside the briefing.
These examples are peculiar to different industries.
Let’s take a quick look at some of the causes of client scope creep and how client scope creep can be managed.
Causes of Client Scope Creep
Scope creep occurs for many reasons, so let’s run through some of the common causes:
1. Poor Communication
Lack of communication destroys collaboration, and managing clients without communicating clearly and in a timely manner causes more harm than good.
When miscommunication sets in, mistakes are inevitable.
A clear example is when a branding company was contacted to finalize a branding campaign, and the required branding roadmap was not conveyed during the briefing; this can result in misaligned goals.
2. Unrealistic Deadlines or Budget
Setting unrealistic deadlines with low budgets is one of the causes of scope creep, and freelancers have had issues with agencies taking on more tasks than expected, and end up paying.
As a freelancer, you are likely to enter into contracts with agencies that pay little bucks with a large chunk of deliverables — this, in turn, hampers your profitability and productivity.
3. Not Notifying the Right People
There are instances where projects are assigned to you without the expected supervision. If, for any reason, you complete a task without the briefing of the supervisor or input on a task, you are likely to be engaged outside of the initial scope of work.
The best approach is to identify the supervisor and keep them up to speed on the project and their expectations.
Getting them involved and addressing their concerns promptly is also key.
4. Undefined Contract
Another cause of client scope creep is an undefined contract.
It’s no longer news that one of the ingredients of a contract is consideration, and where consideration is not properly stated, then having to deliver extra designs or presentations will constitute client scope creep.
These are a few causes of client scope creep, and it is time to see how you can avoid scope creep when contracting with companies or agencies. To address the causes we have mentioned above, let’s discuss how to handle client scope creep.
How to Handle Client Scope Creep
Handling client scope creep requires an already mapped out strategy to ward off clients and tasks that are not included in the initial deliverables.
Here are some of the ways to handle client scope creep:
a. Define the Scope of Work
Stating expressly the scope of work is crucial because it shapes the trajectory of your deliverables.
You should also have a workspace spreadsheet that outlines the agreed-upon task and what is expected of you as a freelancer, developer, or designer.
Specifically, for freelance designers, you should state expressly the design deliverables like “A one-pager social media design post with two revisions or a carousel post with one revision.” This way, you are free from tasks that are never part of the agreement.
b. Maintain Clear Communication
Communication is the lifeline of every business transaction, and failure to accurately communicate with your client will result in unexpected problems. Aside from stating the deliverables, when there is a need to inform your client of certain changes, then you should do so.
However, you must always include the time allotted to each task to confirm you are on the same page.
c. Know When to Say “No”
When taking on a new project that was not initially included, you have the liberty to decline acceptance. Also, you need to be able to identify tasks that you are not available to engage in when you have a task pending.
Note that not all requests must be answered with a “yes” to avoid delay or altering project scope or speed.
d. Keep Track of Progress
Task or time tracking tools prevent client scope creep, and they help to monitor the status of projects. Tools like Asana, ClickUp, Notion, and Confluence are all effective tools for managing client projects and milestones.
These strategies are one of the best ways to manage client scope creep without compromising quality.
FAQs
1. Can client scope cause problems?
Client scope creep is not just a challenge to freelancers; it wastes time and results in a loss of financial advantage.
2. How can you manage client scope creep for website developers?
Managing client scope creep can be achieved by ensuring clear and concise communication, as well as a well-defined contract agreement.
3. Are there any advantages to client scope creep?
No, client scope creep is more disadvantageous and tends to pull projects back.
4. What are the common signs of scope creep for designers?
Mostly, you experience constant revisions outside of the agreed-upon scope, with extra designs.
Start Managing Client Scope Creep
By identifying the root cause of client scope creep, you are able to manage the projects or clients effectively without losing them and getting payment adjustments.
Also, you should use tracking tools that help you to identify which projects are worth taking and making room for a professional work-life balance.
When the client understands the nature of the contract, working together won’t be a hassle. If you are having challenges with client scope creep, then this guide will help you find the best approach.
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