Scope Creep Stew

What this snack represents

Started as garnish, ate the pot. Slow-cooked expansion for requirements with no adult supervision.

Plain English: Scope creep usually happens when decisions, constraints, and non-goals are not written down early.

Formula: original estimate × 2.5 creep factor

What this teaches: Non-goals, Requirement Boundaries, Change Control.

Why teams underestimate it

The shelf label works because the cost is usually hidden across clarification, review, context switching, QA, and follow-up decisions. BarkBowl makes those ingredients visible before the work is treated as free.

Time formula

original estimate × 2.5 creep factor

Worked example

One serving of Scope Creep Stew is currently modeled at 20 hours, or 20 person-hours. Multiply servings when the work repeats, spreads across more people, or needs another review cycle.

Warning label

Expands after opening.

Evidence needed

Before committing this snack, collect an owner, a reason, a time formula, a rollback or no-op alternative, and a short explanation of what the receipt does and does not prove.

How to reduce the cost

Non-Goal Crackers

No-op alternative

If evidence, authority, or capacity is missing, the mature move may be to record a no-op decision and revisit when the missing ingredient exists.

What this teaches

• Non-goals
• Requirement Boundaries
• Change Control

Related lesson

non-goals

Related field report

non-goals

Related glossary terms

Non-goals, Requirement Boundaries, Change Control

Related blueprint

Decision record starter · Open Blueprint Gallery

Copy decision-record starter

Decision: Consider Scope Creep StewTime formula: original estimate × 2.5 creep factorEvidence: [link or owner]
No-op alternative: [what happens if we do not act]
Boundary: This is a draft for human review, not an approval.
Reviewed at UTC: [timestamp]

Boundary note

This snack produces draft learning and time-burn evidence only; it does not approve fixes, validate credentials, train models, or certify safety.

Dogfooding notes

Exercises product snapshotting, time totals, TTL refresh, telemetry, learning translation, and checkout record creation.