The Project That Wouldn't Die

I was working late one evening trying to finish a project plan. It was raining outside and the emptiness of the office was only interrupted by the sound of thunder and flash of lightning. Then "He" appeared in a black robe and sickle in hand , worse than death, it was the Grimm Sponsor. He spoke in a British accent, "Terry", he said, I need you to take over the ghost website project. "NO!!" I screamed , "That project has been going on forever".

The Grimm Sponsor replied, "Sorry Terry  but the Project Manager disappeared and we need you to finish the project".

"What do you mean disappeared? I asked."

"Never mind that", said the Grimm Sponsor. " The project documents are downstairs in the project war room". "Go take a look and let me know that you can finish this before Thanksgiving".

So with great dread and trepidation I headed downstairs. With each step I could hear the stairs creek, "Scope Creep, Scope Creep, Scope Creep" they groaned. When I reached the bottom I started walking down the hallway toward the door. As I passed several closed doors I though I heard a voice. "More time, more resources, more money" said the voice. As I kept walking, the air got colder. All of the sudden I tripped over something. I looked down and to my horror it was a skeleton. In its curled hand was a document. I picked it up and to my amazement it was the project charter. On it the version number was faded but looking closely it was version 1.0. I opened the document and took a look.

"Wow, this scope doesn't look that bad. I wondered what happened?" I asked. Then the voice came back. "More time, more resources, more money it growled" louder than before. Once more and even louder came the voice. "More, More, More!!

I came upon the door of the war room. I started to grab the handle. It was cold and forbidding to the touch. The voice came again, shouting " More, More, More". Slowly I opened the door. And there it was , in the middle of the room. Screaming "More, More, More" was that most hideous of creatures. The great Scope Blob. Oozing red ink it looked like it was growing.

Then it started heading towards me. I rushed for the door. It was jammed! "Oh No!" I was going to be scoped blobbed to death! Then the lights went out. A flash of lightning lit up the room. in the corner was a table with an old moldy pizza. Next to it was a a knife. I ran over and grabbed it. I lunged at the scope blob and cut away. A requirement here, gold plating there. I slashed and cut with all of my might. The blob wailed and whimpered. Then the lights flickered on. Where the large dreaded blob was before there were now several smaller blobs. I picked up each one and put them on the table. I then put them in order by size.

Just at that moment in came the Grimm Sponsor. "Sir", I said, "Pick the ones you need first and that will be delivery one". Then we will  deliver the next few. " Jolly good" he bellowed. " You have certainly cut this project down to size"

So the next time you're face with that project that just seems to grow, remember to split it up in manageable chunks and attack one at a time. Happy Halloween!