Realized a client's 'quick add-on' cost me 6 hours of labor last quarter

Found a stat that said 73% of scope creep comes from verbal requests rather than written ones, and it hit me that I've been nodding along to every 'hey while you're here' without tacking on a dime.

3 comments

3 Comments

val9745d ago

And honestly that 73% number feels like it's just the stuff people actually admit to. The rest of us are probably sitting on way more uncharged hours from "oh by the way" requests. I had one client who would say "while you're in there" before I could even blink. At this point I just start every project by saying no to everything that isn't written down. Learned that lesson the hard way after too many late nights fixing "quick things.

iris_barnes875d ago

Hearing that stat is honestly wild to me. 73% feels way too low though, tbh. I swear every verbal "real quick" turns into a whole afternoon gone.

pat_harris4d ago

Why not just start saying "send it to me in an email and I'll add it to my list" whenever someone hits you with a "real quick"? @val974 is right, if it isn't written down it probably wasn't that quick to begin with. I've been doing that for years now and it cuts down on at least half those surprise hours. The people who actually need something done will follow through, and the rest just move on to someone else.