Develop and Manage Scope

In predictive projects, scope is decomposed into a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and locked into a scope baseline, changed only through formal change control. In agile projects, scope lives as a continuously reprioritized product backlog — "scope change" is expected and handled by re-ordering the backlog, not a change request form.

Scope creep (uncontrolled, informal scope addition) and gold-plating (delivering extra, unrequested features "to delight the customer") are both wrong, and PMI tests the difference: creep usually comes from stakeholders, gold-plating from the team overachieving — both bypass the agreed baseline and both need to be corrected, not praised.

Study focus: the 100% rule for a WBS — the sum of child elements must equal 100% of the parent's scope, no more, no less — is a reliable exam detail.