Angle 2 — "Scope: give the work a shape" (Round 2) · LI + FB + IG
Brand: Advisory OS · Vertical lean: consultants · Audience: practice owners, solo through small firm Mode: aspirational / top-of-funnel. No keyword, no link, no hashtags, no first comment. POV: Scope creep is downstream of how the work was sold, not how firm you are on the call. The fix is a defined deliverable with edges (the Deploy Sprint shape) — the boundary is part of the shape. Round 2 — why: distanced from Luk Smeyers. His "delivery problem → change requests → stricter SOWs" diagnosis and enumeration are gone; original scene + Kathryn's framing. No "firm." Status: rebuilt 6/17 — awaiting Kathryn's markup in the card.
The engagement was supposed to be one thing.
Three months in, it's quietly become five.
You never agreed to the other four.
They showed up one reasonable request at a time, and you said yes to each, because each one alone was small.
The creep starts before the project does — in how you sold it.
When what you sell is "my expertise, applied to whatever you need," there's no line for anyone to cross.
The work is open-ended by design, so it grows to fill whatever the client brings.
The fix is upstream of the boundary itself.
Give the work a defined shape — a clear start, a clear finish, a clear "that's a separate engagement" — and the line comes built in.
You build that shape once and run it on every engagement.
You reuse the same intake and the same scope, with one clear point where "in" becomes "next."
Then scope stops being a personality test you fail at 4pm on a Friday.The engagement was supposed to be one thing.
Three months in, it's quietly become five.
You never agreed to the other four.
They showed up one reasonable request at a time, and you said yes to each, because each one alone was small.
The creep starts before the project does — in how you sold it.
When what you sell is "my expertise, applied to whatever you need," there's no line for anyone to cross.
The work is open-ended by design, so it grows to fill whatever the client brings.
The fix is upstream of the boundary itself.
Give the work a defined shape — a clear start, a clear finish, a clear "that's a separate engagement" — and the line comes built in.
You build that shape once and run it on every engagement.
You reuse the same intake and the same scope, with one clear point where "in" becomes "next."
Then scope stops being a personality test you fail at 4pm on a Friday.The engagement was supposed to be one thing.
Three months in, it's quietly become five.
You never agreed to the other four.
They showed up one reasonable request at a time, and each one alone was small.
The creep starts before the project does — in how you sold it.
When what you sell is "my expertise, applied to whatever you need," there's no line for anyone to cross.
The fix is upstream of the boundary.
Give the work a defined shape — clear start, clear finish, clear "that's a separate engagement" — and the line comes built in.
Build it once, run it on every engagement.
Then scope stops being a personality test you fail at 4pm on a Friday.Image direction: AOS dark card, flagship system. Stand-alone hero "The engagement was one thing. / Now it's five." (gold on "Now it's five"), eyebrow SCOPE, no support line.