February 12, 2020
Scoping a Service Request When Requirements Keep Changing
Updated September 2026: this 2020 post captured my uncertainty after kicking off a presales request with a team I had clashed with before, not knowing whether the work would stay simple. I have rewritten it as a guide to scoping a service request so requirement changes are visible and manageable.
In February 2020 I set up the call between onsite and offshore teams for a new service request, gathered the requirements and felt relieved: most slides were standard, only a few needed rebuilding. By the next calls, as usual, the expectations had changed. The pattern is familiar to anyone in presales or solution work.
Why do requirements keep changing on service requests?
Because the client is often still deciding what they want while you build it. The onsite team hears new thinking on every client call, and passes it on as it arrives. Changes are normal. What hurts is when they are informal, so nobody notices how far the work has drifted from the original ask.
What should you confirm at kickoff?
- The purpose of the deliverable and who will present it.
- What already exists and can be reused.
- The exact list of new content needed, in writing.
- The deadline and any review points before it.
- Who on the onsite side can approve changes.
Send this back as a short summary after the call and ask for confirmation. It takes fifteen minutes and becomes the baseline for every later conversation.
How do you handle changes once work has started?
Log each one: what changed, who asked and when. Then state its effect in one line, for example "adds four slides; moves the draft from Wednesday to Thursday". This is not about refusing changes. It makes the cost of each change visible, so the onsite team can decide whether it is worth it, and so the final timeline surprises nobody.
How do you work with someone you have clashed with before?
Rely on process rather than goodwill. Agree roles at the start: who owns the client conversation, who owns the document, who approves. Keep communication in shared channels rather than side calls. Past friction usually comes from ambiguity about ownership, and a clear split removes most of it.
What if the scope keeps growing?
Raise it with your manager once the change log shows a clear trend, with the numbers: original scope, current scope, hours added. That turns a feeling of being overloaded into a decision someone above you can make. The uncertainty I felt in 2020 was really about not having that baseline on day one.