Small describes the request, not the work.
The first addition was a bench. A stakeholder pointed out that visitors might appreciate somewhere to sit. Another asked whether seated visitors would need refreshments. The refreshments required power, plumbing and someone who knew where the stop valve was.
A third stakeholder felt that the visitor experience began before arrival. This produced an access road. The road prompted a transport discussion. A director with a loyalty account asked whether direct flights had been considered. Each contribution took less than a minute to say.
Our change process classifies requests by the amount of effort required to make them. The runway therefore qualifies as minor. The director mentioned it while putting on a coat.
Preserve the deadline as a historical artifact.
The project team asked to revisit Friday. Leadership declined because Friday had already been communicated. Unlike roofs, foundations and passenger facilities, a communicated date is structurally immutable.
We advised splitting delivery into phases. Phase One would include the original shed. Phase Two would include everything necessary for the shed's new purpose. When the client asked whether Phase One could accept international arrivals, we explained that this was a dependency rather than an incompleteness.
The shed remains the central asset in the project plan. It now represents a very small share of the project, but it is the only part with an approved budget. We therefore put its photograph on every report.
Give every addition a parent.
A request becomes particularly difficult to refuse when it is described as necessary for a request already accepted. The lounge needs seats. The seats need space. The space needs a building. The building needs a fire strategy. Nobody is expanding the scope. Everyone is merely finishing the previous sentence.
One engineer drew a line from the new facilities back to the bench. This made the cumulative change visible, so we replaced the drawing with a list of individually approved improvements. The list is long, but every item is small.
The engineer then offered three choices: remove something, move the date or fund the added work. The steering group requested a fourth choice that would preserve all three original promises. We called it accelerated coordination. It requires the same people to attend more calls.
Protect the original success criteria.
Friday arrived. The shed had a roof and a door, and the opening ceremony went ahead. The mower stayed outside because the interior had been designated a premium passenger lounge.
The client asked where to put the garden tools. We have opened a new project to determine that. Its first requirement is a small shed.
