I’m sick of it. Sick of hearing the scope of this, the scope of that, it’s in scope, it’s out of scope, scope creep, full scope, MVP scope, we need more developers to get the full scope in time, we need more time to get the full scope with these resources. Scope ad infinitum.

Why are you so upset, you might ask?

The reason is simple: thinking in terms of Scope, Time and Budget encourages bad behaviours.

For example, delivering a pot of crap filled to the brim within timeline and budget is considered a success! Yu’ve got to focus on timelines and accurate estimates, you are not required to give a shit about what the customers really need but just to make sure you deliver the full scope, to the brim.

(Image from Claudio Perrone @agilesensei stolen from this beautiful piece of work that everybody should see)

Instead, if you think out of the box, happen to talk to the customers and understand that what you are building is actually a pot of crap that they don’t want, you have failed, your product didn’t deliver the full scope, you are a failure, shame on you!

I don’t want to work in an industry that thinks in these terms. Am I quitting? No? I want to change it.

Do you want to help me? Start thinking about ideas to shift the conversation from scope, time and budget to measures of success that are meaningful. How about value to customers? How about ability to adapt to their demands? How about development team’s happiness? How about <%add your idea here%>?

Tag these ideas #WhyScope and let’s discover a better way to describe success for a product delivery team.