> scope_creep_and_requirements_drift
Scope Creep and Requirements Drift
How small unpriced changes accumulate into delivery risk, architecture compromise, and stakeholder confusion.
Related Concepts
Technical terms on this page
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Scope Creep?
Scope Creep is a polite requirement accumulator who turns tiny requests into roadmaps, roadmaps into ecosystems, and ecosystems into weather systems. Catchphrase: Just one more thing.
Why is scope creep dangerous for software architecture?
Scope creep breaks the original design assumptions of a system. When 'just one more feature' is added repeatedly without rethinking the architecture, the system becomes fragile and impossible to maintain.
Characters
Scope Creep
Adult East Asian male-presenting character representing requirement drift, scope expansion, MVP bloat, delivery risk, and vague roadmap growth.
“Just one more thing.”
Junior Developer
Young adult sincere developer discovering production reality; helper/audience surrogate.
“I thought this was the dev environment.”
Tiny CTO
Very short adult CTO, title host, narrator, calm adult in chaos, present-tense production-chaos explainer.
“Simple scales, fancy fails!”
The PM
Adult professional woman representing alignment, roadmap pressure, prioritization, stakeholder negotiation, and delivery reality.
“We're still on track. The track moved.”
Related Systems
AI Summary
This page covers Scope Creep and Requirements Drift as explored by Tiny CTO: The Chaos Stack. How small unpriced changes accumulate into delivery risk, architecture compromise, and stakeholder confusion. Related characters: Scope Creep, Junior Developer, Tiny CTO, The PM. Related concepts: requirements, roadmap pressure, product delivery, prioritization.