Scope Creep Triage Protocol (Delivery)

Scope Creep Triage Protocol (Delivery)

1. 01

   Log every inbound client request as a discrete item in the shared project board before anyone acts on it

   Requests that arrive by email, Slack, or a call need one intake lane. If a request lives only in a thread, it cannot be priced, sequenced, or declined.

2. 02

   Tag each item against the signed scope document within one business day

   Mark it in-scope, adjacent, or out-of-scope. Adjacent work is the dangerous middle: it looks small, ships fast, and quietly resets the client's expectation of what the retainer covers.

3. 03

   Estimate hours and assign a dollar value using the blended rate on the account

   A 6-hour adjacent request at a $150 blended rate is $900 of unbilled delivery. Naming the number converts a vague favor into a decision the client can actually make.

4. 04

   Route anything above the account's pre-agreed tolerance to the account lead, not the delivery team

   Set the tolerance in the contract, commonly 2 to 4 hours per month. Below it, absorb and note. Above it, the conversation belongs to whoever owns the commercial relationship.

5. 05

   Present the client with three options: absorb into a change order, trade against a deprioritized deliverable, or defer to next cycle

   Offering a trade keeps the relationship collaborative. Clients rarely want more work; they want their priority to win, and a swap lets it win without adding cost.

6. 06

   Update the scope baseline and notify the delivery team of the outcome in the same thread

   Silent approvals are how a project drifts 30 percent over budget while every individual decision looked reasonable at the time.

7. 07

   Review the month's triage log at the retainer renewal meeting

   Patterns in out-of-scope requests are the strongest evidence for a tier upgrade. Three recurring asks across two quarters usually justify a scope change, not another change order.