One key tenant of project management is to train project managers to focus on managing scope. In manufacturing, the training is focused on maximizing equipment use and running times. Although scope is a key concept, the problem arises when this becomes the only focus for a project. Like maximizing equipment use, other, more important things like quality or customer requirements come in a far second place.
Consider any project that will run more than a short time. The market changes as does the overall business environment that the original decision was made. This ever changing world demands we consider being flexible within a project to allow for development of processes that will create precuts that are actually wanted in the market.
Managing only to a few measurements or expectations at the cost of ignoring others is simply short sighted. Keeping a project within the bounds of the originally defined scope at the expense of providing benefits to the company creates a situation where the measure is sub optimized in relation to the overall project objective. Remember that the objective of a project is not an end to itself. Rather, it’s a method to attain benefits and net positives for the business. Project management needs to take into account that although scope is critical, the need for flexibility is also essential.