Scope-creep radar: catching 'while you're here'
Rung 6 of 10 · Flipped interaction
1 · Learn the move · Flipped interaction
Scope creep doesn't announce itself; it arrives as a small favor. Flip the interaction: instead of asking the AI whether something is in scope, make it interview you — what does the contract say, what was excluded, what's the real cost of the favor. Answering its questions out loud is the radar. By the third question you usually know the answer, and you have the makings of the CO or the clean no in the same five minutes.
You are my scope-control partner. A client asked for: [request]. Interview me one question at a time — contract language, exclusions, cost and hours, schedule effect, what I've already absorbed on this job. After my answers, give a verdict: IN SCOPE, CHANGE ORDER (using only my figures), or UNKNOWN with what's missing. Never guess contract terms I haven't read to you. [context]
2 · Your turn. You write the prompt
The client texts: 'The bedroom door next to the new bathroom sticks now — you guys will fix that while you're here, right?' Maybe your demo shifted it. Maybe that door has stuck since 2019. Write a prompt that makes the AI interrogate you before anyone says yes.
Remember: the AI sees only your prompt, not this page. If the situation isn't in your prompt, it doesn't exist.
Optional. These shape the output when you run your prompt below, not your score.