Defining Scope with a Context Diagram

The main goal of all business analysts is to uncover unknown risks and requirements during the requirement discovery phase. But as many business analysts will surely attest to, sooner or later, the problem of scope creep inevitably arises, unless one takes concrete steps to prevent it.

On his website, Tom Ewer defines scope creep as, “the process by which a project grows beyond its originally anticipated size.”

Project Managers are not alone in their quest to manage scope creep; Business Analysts are concerned as well. In most cases, things start well enough, but as requirements elicitation progresses, stakeholders may begin to ask for more requirements, or they may even presume that the extra requirements fall within the scope of the project. In both cases, they may expect the costs and delivery time frame to be the same.