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Product Management vocabulary · Prioritization

Scope creep

Meaning in product management, with examples

nounCommon term

In product management, scope creep means: The slow, uncontrolled growth of a feature or project as extra requirements are added after work has started, usually without changing the deadline.

In Turkish: kapsam kayması, kontrolsüz kapsam genişlemesi

How it is used

Negative and often heard in retrospectives: the delay was caused by scope creep. PMs prevent it by writing a clear scope, listing what is out of scope and answering late requests with “good idea, next version”.

Example sentences

  1. We lost three weeks to scope creep because every review added one more report.

  2. To avoid scope creep, I've added an “out of scope” section to the PRD.

Common collocations

  • avoid scope creep
  • cause scope creep
  • manage scope creep
  • out of scope
  • trade-offA situation in which getting more of one thing means accepting less of another, such as releasing faster but with fewer features.
  • requirementSomething a product or feature must do, or a condition it must meet, written down so that the team agrees on what to build.
  • PRDShort for product requirements document: a document that explains what a feature or product should do, for whom and why, so the whole team works from the same plan.
  • push backTo disagree with or resist a request, decision or deadline, usually politely and with reasons; also, to move a date to later.
  • MVPShort for minimum viable product: the simplest version of a product that can be released to real users to learn whether the idea is worth building further.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Prioritization

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