You're faced with scope changes mid-project. How can you negotiate with clients to limit them?

First analysis - whether the scope was expected or not. If expected, then what was the risk/ mitigation already planned and if not expected, then clarify the requirements. Next step is to assess the impact on project timeline, budget and most importantly human resources. Create clear picture/ stats of deviation from original scope and contract. Negotiate hard on trimming the scope as much as you can. Try convincing the phased approach or prioritize/ restructure the complete scope. The key for negotiation is to minimize the hit on timeline. The additional money for the scope will help you to either ramp up or sail with existing resources; changing project timeline might bring huge repercussions to the client.

>Establish a clear and concise service agreement at the project's onset, detailing project objectives, deliverables, deadlines, and the costs for each. >When faced with necessary scope changes, be prepared to negotiate and compromise, ensuring that both parties have a mutual understanding and agreement on the modified project scope. >Take care of benefits of managing client expectations and scope changes and act accordingly

Previous signed agreement/contract with client can be leveraged to stay within the boundary of agreed scope of the project. If team is using agile methodology, this might be easier to handle by de-prioritizing equivalent effort of work from project deliverables scope which is not as critical as new request. Clear communication about the timeline, budget, and resource impact to current project due to the change of scope can help client understand the implications of their request. Negotiation with client to roll out new changes in next iterative phase right after current project (with defined timeline) should be explored.

When unexpected scope changes arise mid-project, address them head-on with your client. First, clarify the request and its impact on the project timeline, budget, and deliverables. Express your willingness to explore options, but emphasize the importance of adhering to the initial agreement. Negotiate by proposing alternative solutions that fulfill the client's needs within the existing scope, or suggest phasing in additional features in a future project iteration. By presenting clear data on the impact and offering alternatives, you can effectively guide the conversation towards a solution that minimizes disruptions and protects your project's health.

Negotiate scope changes by reaffirming project goals and timeline impacts. Clarify additional costs or resources needed. Document agreed-upon changes in writing to manage expectations. Offer alternative solutions or phased implementations to minimize disruption while ensuring client satisfaction.

Usually customers have a pain points you can work with. Its can be money, its can be schedule, its can be business commitments in front of the partners or investors. Changes usually can affect one or several of them. And if you can in adequate manner convey it to customer and explain in depth consequences of such a changes, in most cases you would get positive reaction and collaborative approach to grapple with any non vital change. You need to combine 2 talents: 1) innerstand what you can do and what not 2) have enough patience to explain it

While working on a project as a consultant you have a mandate to set boundaries and recommend only must have features not all features.

En caso se haya aceptado una modificación en el proyecto, es importante definir con precisión en qué consiste el cambio. Para ello, le recomendaría: Documentar con exactitud los objetivos, plazos y entregables actualizados del proyecto. Esto nos permitirá tener claridad sobre los compromisos adquiridos y evitar confusiones futuras. También, es fundamental asegurarnos de que todos los involucrados en el proyecto, tanto del lado del cliente como del equipo de trabajo, tengan una comprensión clara de lo que está dentro y fuera del alcance de la modificación. De esta manera, podremos gestionar las expectativas de manera transparente y evitar inconformidades o malentendidos a lo largo de la ejecución del proyecto.

Avalie o impacto de cada mudança potencial no projeto, bem como a urgência de implementá-la. Dê prioridade às mudanças que têm um impacto significativo e que precisam ser feitas rapidamente. Todas as mudanças precisam estarem alinhadas com o objetivo do projeto.

Prioritizing changes empowers you to: 🧿 Focus Negotiations: Address the most critical changes, ensuring core objectives are met. 🧿 Manage Impact: Minimize disruptions by tackling changes that have the least impact on budget and timeline. 🧿 Maintain Value: Demonstrate your commitment to delivering value within the agreed-upon scope. 🧿 Prioritize Changes: By understanding their priorities, highlight how smaller changes can still achieve key goals. 🧿 Emphasize Impact: Actively listen to their desired changes. Explain the impact (time, budget) each has on the project. 🧿 Offer Alternatives: Suggest alternative solutions that fit within the original scope or propose a phased approach. Was it useful?👍

Clear communication throughout the project is key. By actively listening to initial needs and clearly outlining expectations (including a change order process), you can: 🧿 Identify Potential Issues Early: Open communication allows you to address potential scope creep before it balloons, making negotiation easier. 🧿 Maintain Client Trust: Transparency builds trust. By clearly explaining impacts and offering alternatives, you show respect for the client's needs while protecting your own project boundaries. 🧿 Offer Alternatives: Present alternative solutions that achieve similar results within the original scope. This demonstrates flexibility and keeps the project on track. Did it help?👍

Set Expectations: Ensure the client understands the impact of scope changes on the project’s success, cost, and timeline. Document Everything: Keep a record of all scope change requests, discussions, and agreements to maintain clarity and accountability.

The customer should be informed, abt the impacts of scope changes like timeline,budget,resource redistribution or new resource . A clear documentation and confirmation from the client is necessary for avoiding future conflicts .

Sometimes as a PM we need to be empathetic and understand that change being requested is critical for Business functionality. However if it cannot fit within the budget and timeline, we should explore the route of workarounds before we start pitching for Change Request. I remember a situation where during Design review, extra functionality was requested in the Business process which required significant extra efforts. We proposed providing a report to the users which they could filter in different ways to get needed information without extra cost and time, rather than systematically achieving the same within current implementation scope and rather adding this in phase-2. It was acceptable and we went ahead without a change request.

Prioritize Changes: Work with the client to prioritize the requested changes. Identify which changes are critical and which can be deferred to a later phase. Suggest Phased Implementation: Propose implementing changes in future project phases or as part of ongoing project maintenance to manage the current scope effectively.

Documentation, traceability of changes and impacts, and communicate the impact to everyone… then change management after changes are approved.

Recomiendo mantener en todo el proceso una comunicación abierta y transparente con el cliente, escuchando atentamente sus necesidades y evaluando con cautela el impacto de los cambios solicitados, pero sobre todo, es fundamental que TODO esté documentado, cambios, adendas, acuerdos y comunicaciones relacionadas con el alcance.

Building a strong relationship also plays some part here. Build a strong, trust-based relationship with the client. When clients feel valued and understood, they are more likely to be reasonable with their requests.

1 - Solicito a formalização ou formalizo a necessidade a mudança solicitada. 2 - Realizo uma pré validação para entender se a mudança é realmente importante de ser realizada durante o projeto. 3 - Com um time multidisciplinar mapeamos os impactos de esforço, custo e prazo de incluirmos a mudança versus o impacto de não realizar a mudança. 4 - Apresento o racional de avaliação do impacto da mudança com esforço, custo e prazo para o patrocinador do projeto e demais stakeholders impactados e deliberamos em conjunto avançar ou não com a mudança.

A change management plan establishes a formalized process for approving or rejecting proposed changes. This ensures that all project scope, timeline, or budget modifications are thoroughly evaluated. Also, consider sending project updates to avoid scope changes as a whole. Regular project progress reports are crucial in keeping the project aligned with its original scope. These reports provide updates on the project timeline, completed tasks, budget status, and any risks or obstacles the project team encounters. When stakeholders see the project progressing smoothly and seamlessly, they are more likely to reconsider adding additional demands to the existing workload.