Saying No To Scope

Halfway through every project, somebody walks up and says, 'arey, ek choti si cheez aur add kar do, kya mushkil hai'. The thing they are asking for is almost never small. It is small for them because they do not have to do it. To you it means staying up until 2 am the night before delivery, doing work that was never in the original done criteria. The skill of saying no to this, without losing the relationship, is called scope protection.

Scope is just a fancy word for 'what we agreed I would deliver'. The done criteria from your one page plan is the scope. Anything not on that list is new scope. New scope is not bad. New scope is fine. New scope just cannot be free. It costs either time, or money, or quality of the original promise. The conversation has to be honest about that.

In Pakistani family and work culture, a flat 'nahi' feels rude, especially to elders or clients. The trick is the izzat aware no, also called the 'no later'. You do not say no to the request. You say yes to a different version of it. 'Bhai jaan, yeh achi idea hai. Abhi karunga to Friday wala kaam late ho jayega. Aap Friday ke baad confirm kar dein, main next week pakka kar dunga.' You have not refused. You have just put the new thing in its rightful future place.

Today's habit. Practise the no later script three times in front of the mirror, in Urdu and in English, for an imaginary scope add. Then keep it ready. The next time somebody at school, at home, or in a freelance gig asks for ek choti si cheez, you will not freeze. You will calmly do the math, name the cost, and give them an honest yes for next week or an honest no for this one. People respect this. Even the people who are testing you respect this.