Scope

To determine if the "What" question has been answered fully consider the following three areas to determine if your action has clarity now and will have clarity when you revisit again sometime in the future.

1. Context: Does the action describe the current context in which the action is needed? This helps when you revisit the problem later, to understand why the action was raised in the first place.
2. Focus: Is the action describing one thing to do clearly, or is it describing a range of topics?
3. In Scope: Does the action clearly describe the scope of the action - e.g. which areas of the organisation it would impact.
4. Out Of Scope: Just as important as in scope, it is key that you describe what is out of scope. This helps to deliver results fast, rather than trying to "boil the ocean".

Scope Creep

Scope Creep is what happens when an action evolves over time. It is a natural consequence of understanding and digging into the root cause of the issue being addressed. You start off trying to fix one thing, but you find that it is actually something else that is the underlying cause of the problem.

Rather than trying to prevent Scope Creep from occuring, you should ensure that where it does occur you document the action accordingly - using notes or further break-down of the action to reflect what is actually happening. Communicating these changes across your organisation is important to ensure you all remain aligned around the objectives you set each other.

Progress Updates

Things don't always go to plan. To remain coordinated in your business it is important that you provide regular updates on the progress of your action(s) so that your organisation remains coordinated. If you are not updating then everyone's natural assumption is that everything is going according to plan and that your action will be delivered on time. "No surprises" is a good philosophy to engender in an organisation as it will build trust and understanding across the organisation.