Scope Creep Examples — Web development
Analytics and event tracking that was never part of the SOW
The SOW covered application functionality. The client asks for detailed event tracking and conversion analytics to be wired in — never scoped or estimated.
The SOW's feature list covers the application's core functionality; analytics isn't mentioned. Close to launch, the client asks for detailed event tracking across the app — button clicks, funnel steps, conversion events — framed as something that should "obviously" be part of a modern build. Implementing meaningful event tracking properly means instrumenting the codebase throughout, not adding a single tracking snippet, and it wasn't in the original estimate.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Deliverables clause→ — The feature list is the reference point for what's included — detailed event tracking is a real feature with its own implementation cost, whether or not it feels obvious to include.
Suggested change-order wording
Suggested change-order wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
Detailed event tracking wasn't in the original feature list, and doing it well means instrumenting key actions throughout the app rather than a single script tag. I can scope this as a follow-on — happy to prioritize the highest-value events (signup, purchase, key conversions) first if you'd like a phased approach. Want me to put together an estimate for that?
How this usually resolves
A phased approach — tracking the handful of events that actually matter for the client's business decisions, rather than everything — usually gets this done at a fraction of the cost of full instrumentation, and is often genuinely what the client needs anyway.
Related reading