Managing Scope Creep in a Past Project

I arrived back in the Continental United States after 3 years in Germany and went to a "combat support" unit at a very high powered Army base.  At the time I was the only woman officer and I was put in the position of Battalion Training Officer. 

The time-line I was up against was the (semi) Annual General Inspection.  The unit was to undergo the AHI in 3 months. I was given the assignment of making sure that the units' soldiers had updated training.  I was to go through records, find out what soldier needed what training, and make sure he or she was properly trained before the AGI.

In the course of the investigation I noticed that a requirement for the soldiers to participate in training where trucks and equipment, and they, were loaded onto C130 cargo airplanes experience being passengers during "combat take-offs and landings."  I noticed that this requirement hadn't been met for several years so I went to the major unit on post and asked for a training slot.  This major unit is a combat division.  This was a time before equal opportunity laws were in effect and my request was met with "Lady, no.  Not only, no, but we wouldn't waste ours slots on you signal (explicative deleted) anyway."  This was not a "words to that effect" moment, but an actual statement.

The simple "go through the records" assignment was undergoing a very rapid scope creep.  The Army base was associated with an Air Force base and at that time a lot of pilots were 2-week reservists who were commercial pilots and needed annual military certification.  The Air Force graciously offered us slots.

I went back to work and several weeks later noticed that my unit had not received weapons training.  I noticed that the previous trainers had tried to get the "big combat division" to share its rifle ranges.  Of course, it needed the facilities all for itself.  I was pretty sure it would, again.

Naively, I approached the second major combat unit on base.  This unit was, and is, focused on training and had, and has, a completely different mind-set.  The Command Sergeant Major in their training office not only let us have several rifle ranges they provided buses, their ammunition, and even rations for a week's training.  The soldier received weapons training by some of the most highly qualified specialists in the world. 

Due to the generosity and professionalism of the Air Force and this other unit my combat support battalion was able to pass the AGI.

Several time-lines had not been met in previous years because of the stone-walling of this major division.  By the time I arrived the unit just expected to fail those categories.  If my boss had given me this information when I took the job I would have accepted defeat, as by that time it was a part of the culture of the unit.  He encouraged me to find the solution on my own and as long as I was experiencing a measure of success he kept me in the dark about how impossible things seemed to be.  He, of course, knew the size of the task, but in my mind it certainly was scope creep as at every turn things the tasks kept getting more Herculean.  This is one time that optimism and naivete triumphed.  This is also one time that training goals were met by a management technique of withholding information.

Unfortunately, a stakeholder or SME can withhold information at any turn in a design project.  This is a contingency that a project manager needs to understand may happen if not everyone is "on board" with the project.  In order to help prevent this I think the project manager needs to a.) develop allies within the client's leadership structure that can alert him or her to these possibilities and b.) always keep a sharp eye on the time-lines and budgets for this, and similar problems to occur.  It may seem negative and skeptical to expect, not only scope creep, but sabotage, but a wise project manager is a successful project manager.