Discuss the following:
Recently I was a part of a project team that was selected to analyze current robotic systems and identify necessary hardware and software upgrades. Based on the requirements of the project, the scope was defined with more than adequate time to accomplish each activity. As the project began more and more requirements were added, in fact, some of the task required the team restart because the new requirement had to be done before the work already accomplished.
The project took another turn when the PM decided to add an additional antennae to the platform that no one on the project team was familiar with. This "gold platting" attempt drastically slowed the project and added an additional $270 k to the budget. The client was unhappy with the unnecessary upgrade and required the PM to stop adding the antennae's to the remainder of the platforms.
References:
Usmani, F. (2013). Scope creep and gold plating in project management located at
https://pmstudycircle.com/2012/09/scope-creep-and-gold-plating-in-project-management/