In Scope?
Twelve things you are asked for that nobody wrote down. Some are the job, some are a change, and three were never scope questions at all.
1. The client asks you to re-send last week's summary because they cannot find the email.
2. In a workshop, a participant asks you to explain a term you used. It takes four minutes and improves the session.
3. A stakeholder asks for the finding on page 40 to be moved earlier because it matters most. No new analysis.
4. A one-page extra summary for the board, from analysis you have already finished. Half a day.
5. The client asks for your model in a different format so their team can use it themselves. Two hours.
6. A fifth workshop, where the proposal said four. The client treats it as obvious.
7. A new subsidiary has appeared and the client would like it included in the assessment. Roughly a third more work.
8. Halfway through, the sponsor asks you to change the methodology to one that will produce a more favourable number.
9. The client asks you to bring forward the deadline by two weeks, keeping everything else the same.
10. The sponsor asks you to leave one finding out of the report. It is accurate and it is unflattering to their own team.
11. A friendly manager asks you to look at a system belonging to a different client, “since you know this area”.
12. The client asks you to sign off a control as tested when you reviewed the design and never tested it.
Educational, and not contractual or legal advice. Engagement terms, delegated authority and sign-off rules differ by firm and they govern. What transfers is asking whether a request changes what you promised — and whether agreeing to it is even within your gift.