The Silver Lining in Scope Creep

Borrowed

"The promise is what gets the customer to buy. Most people (especially engineers) find this idea troublesome and are conflicted by it. Don't customers buy because of the product or service?

At the end of the day, a customer doesn't really want nor need a particular product or service; they only buy based on the promise of how they'll benefit from the product or service. For example, nobody buys an electric drill because they want one—they want perfectly sized holes and buy the electric drill on the promise that the product will deliver the outcome they want."

From "Extreme Revenue Growth" by Victor Cheng [Book]

Learned

Some good learning this week from a misalignment with a client around creative expectations. Our scope seemed clear in writing. Placeholder imagery would be used during design, and the client would provide final assets. They mentioned they'd be doing a photo shoot. We aligned on providing creative direction and a shot list along with the website redesign project.

They read the SOW closely and gave us specific feedback before signing. We even changed a few pieces to get it right for their needs. But when our designer shared designs with placeholder imagery, they looked finished. The client loved everything about the design, including the imagery, and assumed they were good to go. Why include these sorts of images in a photo shoot if they're already final? The client does not have a creative team, so no one on their side could fill this gap. To them, the work was nearly done.

The way I like to frame this: it's like the waiter asking if you'd like a side salad. You say yes, assuming it comes with the meal, then it shows up on the bill. Nobody lied, but nobody told you either. You leave the restaurant annoyed, even if the meal was delicious. Our designs made everything feel included, and the client said yes to it all.

At first, it looked and sounded like scope creep. But clients buy a vision and outcome. This client, in particular, had high expectations for what we would create together. They can read every line of a scope, but they are buying the outcome, not the tasks. The document describes the work and how it gets done, but their "yes" was to the picture of the finished site in their heads.

Given my relationship with the client through the sales process, I joined a call last week to work through it. We walked through each item and aligned. There were a couple of gray areas, so we covered those (and issued $0 change orders to document them, something I'm a big proponent of). They recognized that the creative assets required more work and were understanding of the misalignment. At one point, they told me, "Your team has been nailing it along the way … we're not asking you guys to do stuff for free... nobody is on the phone right now to nickel and dime." Felt great and not great. It never feels good when clients expect one thing and get another.

All in all, it would have been easy to read the client's initial confusion as an attempt to stretch the scope and go in on defense, losing the relationship and the opportunity. Truth is, they wanted more of what we showed them. We put together a small scope for additional creative asset development and production, and they signed it quickly. In hindsight, it's an option we should have presented from the start, and we will be going forward. Sometimes a misunderstanding is a client reaching for more of you.

& Thought

Where might a problem I'm managing actually be an opportunity I'm missing?