Too Many Tickets: When Scope Creep Crowds the Train

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place”…

George Bernard Shaw

The train was hired with a simple purpose: to take the invited guests from London to Edinburgh for the wedding. The carriage seats were counted, the catering was ordered, and the crew knew exactly what it would take to arrive on time. Everyone had a ticket. Everyone had a place.

Then, mid-journey, the message came through: the bride and groom had another 30 guests arriving from overseas. They were waiting further up the line and needed to be collected. Suddenly, the project had changed. The train must now detour, burn more fuel, and compress the schedule to still make it to Edinburgh for the 3:00 p.m. ceremony.

This is scope creep in action.

What looked like a small adjustment — “just a few more guests” — carried major implications. More fuel would be needed, catering supplies might run short, and the timetable itself was now under threat. Unless adjustments were made quickly, the entire purpose of the journey — delivering everyone to the wedding on time — would be at risk.

Seth Godin captured this tension perfectly:

“Change is not a threat, it’s an opportunity. Survival is not the goal, transformative success is”

Scope changes are not inherently bad. Sometimes they’re necessary, even beneficial. But they must be communicated early, assessed properly, and approved with full awareness of their impact. The real danger lies not in the change itself, but in its timing and the silence that often surrounds it.

Had the train crew known from the outset that additional guests were likely, the project could have been planned differently — a larger contingency budget, additional carriages, a longer fuel reserve. The cost may have been higher at the beginning, but it would have been transparent and approved. Instead, the change emerged mid-journey, with little time to adjust, and the risk of delay looming larger by the mile.

At the heart of this lies one word: communication. Without clear, early, and honest communication, projects lose the ability to adapt. With it, they can absorb change, flex around new constraints, and still deliver on time.

Remember, the project manager’s job is not to eliminate change but to navigate it wisely — weighing trade-offs, protecting the core outcome, and ensuring decisions are informed.

The takeaway message: communicate changes early so the project can adapt and respond wisely without being derailed.

Next time on The Pieces Fit . . .

When leadership changes mid-journey, projects can drift off course . . .