Scope creep is requirements growing through small additions that nobody reviews as a change, with no matching change to the date, the people or the budget. Each addition sounds reasonable on its own (“can the export also include last quarter?”); together they move the delivery date without anyone deciding to move it.
In FDE interviews
Sierra’s post on its Strategist role, published in May 2026, names pushing back on scope creep as part of keeping deployments on track; the role is not an engineering title, and the post says its strategists come from product management, engineering, consulting and other backgrounds. Source 1Agent Strategist: Your PhD in applied AI (Andrew Kim)PublisherSierraSource typecompany blog OpenAI’s Colin Jarvis said, on a South Park Commons panel in May 2026, that OpenAI’s unit works only about 10 engagements at a time and has to say no more often than yes. Source 2The Future of Forward Deployed Engineering | OpenAI, Ramp, Nominal, DatalandPublisherSouth Park Commons (YouTube)Source typerecorded talk or interview That is about which engagements to take on; inside one, the same discipline holds scope. It belongs in answers to behavioral questions about saying no to a senior customer, and in client scenarios where a product manager asks for more features by the same date; the lesson What customer rounds look like, and the core moves shows how those role-plays run. First decide whether the ask is creep or the real requirement surfacing late: if the region filter is how the sponsor will judge the project, absorbing it and cutting something else is the right call. Otherwise, trade instead of absorbing: “I can add the region filter by Friday if the audit export moves to the next release. Which matters more to you this month?” Then write the trade in the change log the same day and send it to the sponsor, not only to the person who asked.
The lesson Saying no, and holding scope covers the no that offers a path, trading scope for date and keeping a visible change log.