Scope Creep
We’ve all worked on it. That project from hell.
The project when we started with a great idea, and it’s morphed into something else.
It typically doesn’t happen all at once. And it often happens with the best of intentions.
Any time I think of any product, especially a digital product, I’m reminded that one of the agile principles is that “simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential”. It’s so easy to add more. It’s so easy to add just one more button, one more field, one more bit of information that will help our customers.
It’s easy to add more. Too easy.
The real trick is not to add more, but to take more away. To limit the visual noise, and help accomplish a specific task. There’s a reason that one of the foundations of human centred design is “don’t make me think”. Seriously. The real trick is taking stuff away. Making it ridiculous easy to accomplish a task, without oodles of visual noise competing for my attention. This is where great designers set themselves apart from good designers. They’re able to allow me to accomplish what I need to do in a way that the technology isn’t even apparent to me.
What impresses me the most when I use an application or system is when I don’t even notice the technology. It’s just invisible, and I’m able to accomplish my task. I wrote about this a few weeks ago regarding doors – specifically what makes a door a Norman Door.
But today, I wanted to share a great video about scope creep. This is an idea that the initial concept and outcome of a project or initiative grows and grows, and as you’ll see, ends up with a product that serves none of the original needs. While it’s might be considered a great product at the end, the purpose and objective has been lost, and it no longer serves the purpose for which it was needed. Maybe that’s because needs have changed. Or maybe not.
While starting with a design thinking approach allows for something to start with a customer need, it can be important to keep that goal and objective in mind.
In any case, here’s a link to a humorous video from the movie “The Pentagon Wars”, showing the evolution (and scope creep) of the US Army’s Bradley Armoured Personnel Carrier, which started in 1968 (although the earliest specifications date back to 1958), to the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The Bradley Armoured Personnel Carrier was put into service in 1981.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXQ2lO3ieBA
I hope you enjoy it, and can get a bit of a laugh before you go and look at some of the products your company has made, or is currently making…