Have you ever started a project and
thought it was going good, until someone saw it and started giving you
suggestions on what to do? This happens to everyone, either at work or in your
personal life. This is called a scope creep, "when people suggest things
that you need to do" (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d.). It is funny how
many people give suggestions, when they are not even doing or know what you are
doing.
The
personal experience I have had with a scope creep was back when I was in my
senior year of college, while doing my TWS (Teacher Work Sample). I attended
YSU (Youngstown State University) and I had one night class a week. During this class, I had a Special Education
Supervisor who would advise us each week on one part of our TWS. She was very
good at her job, and she was very knowledgeable about the TWS. My entire TWS
was based off of my student teaching experience, which was a 4th/5th grade self
contained unit at a school close by. To start off, I had to get to know my
students and school, so I went to my teacher and asked detailed questions about
the students and school that I did not know. She was very knowledgeable about
both, since she had worked at the school for many years and knew all the
students since the first day, and I only started in January. After completing
certain parts, I could not ask my teacher for help because I needed to be able
to figure out the rest of the information by myself. I had my night class at
YSU for help if I needed it. I was the project manager of my TWS, and my
stakeholder was my student teaching teacher and my YSU supervisor. With being
the project manager, I had taken on the project management role. "The
process of guiding a project from its beginning through its performance to its
closure" (Portny et al., 2008, p. 20). Within the project, I had to have a
lot of collections of papers, activities, and observations from the students, I
was doing project monitoring. "Project monitoring is the collection,
recording, and reporting of project information that is important to the
project manager" (Portny et al., 2008, p. 317). During the completion of
the TWS, I realized my student teaching teacher was always looking at what I
was writing. She constantly told me I was not writing sections up correctly.
So, when confused I would go to my supervisor, and she would tell me it was
correct. I was caught in the middle, who do I listen to? I knew my supervisor
knew more about the TWS, but I also could not disregard what my teacher was
telling me.
Many
times, my teacher would ask me questions about my TWS, and she would always say
that is not what they want in this section. She would tell me what she had to
put in that section (20 years ago) and I would say ok, and take notes on it,
but then she would always want to check my actual binder to see if I would
include what she suggested. This was a scope creep because I know my teacher
was trying to help me, but she was not giving me the correct information, and
it was not the information I wanted to hear, but she was very persistent. It
got to the point, I ended up leaving my binder with all of my TWS information
at home, so she could not ask me questions. If she did ask questions, I would
say I did not know how to answer it because I did not have my things. Because I
listened to my supervisor, I got a passing grade on my TWS, and I was thankful
for that. I was not upset that my teacher was trying to help, it was just frustrating
because she did not know what was needed but always thought she was right.
In
the end, I am glad I did not listen to my teacher. I think it felt like I was
being disrespectful to her, but I am not sure I would have passed my TWS if I
did. I would not change anything today, because if I had, I might not be a
teacher today. If I had been a project manager then, I think I might have
handled the situation a little better, instead of a shy student teacher. With
being a project manager, you have to have authority and you have to self-confidence.
In college, I was very shy and timid, and I never spoke out. Today, I would
have told her thank you for your suggestions, I will take them all in, but I
have someone to help me with this. If I have any questions, I will come to you.
I know this was not a huge scope creep, however, it was very difficult because
this TWS grade determined if we graduated or not. I feel I made the best
choices for me, but I still felt bad about not listening to an adult who was
trying to help.
Laureate Education,
Inc. (Producer). (n.d.). Introduction to scholarly writing: Purpose, audience,
and evidence [DVD].Practitioner Voices: Overcoming Scope Creep. Baltimore, MD: Author
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J.,
Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management:
Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken , NJ :
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.