If you want to avoid the dreaded scope creep in business process improvement (BPI) work, take some time and establish the foundation, or blueprint, for the business process you want to improve. Scope creep comes into play in any project when you veer away from the original purpose of the work without an increase in time, resources, or money. You will find that it is no different with BPI.
Before starting any project it is always a good idea to have a plan so that you know the overall size of the effort involved. Whether building a deck on your house or simply painting a room, there is some pre-work involved so that you can avoid those time-consuming trips back to the home center to pick up what you forgot. Likewise, in BPI work, you need to establish the boundaries associated with a business process so that there is a clear beginning and end to the work. Setting the boundaries is one part of the overall foundation you need to establish before jumping into BPI.
When you work with colleagues on improving a business process, they inevitably think of new points as you get deeper and deeper into the work. Having established boundaries at the very beginning of the work though, will help you avoid future time-consuming discussions about the beginning and end of a business process when colleagues attempt to bring in new ideas. Unfortunately, scope creep usually occurs once you are well into the work and it always adds time and cost, so do everything you can up front to prevent it from occurring later.
If you gain consensus with your colleagues up front on the boundaries, you sort of have a "contract" that you can refer back to, so that the work has a fairly good chance of staying on track. Of course, it is not an official contract, but it will help to keep scope creep at bay.
Establishing the foundation is the second step to improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and adaptability of your business processes, so spend some time focusing on it. Create the blueprint to guide your work.