Mission Creep

[visionary]

Mission creep is the expansion of a project or mission beyond its original goals, often after initial successes.[1] The term often implies a certain disapproval of newly adopted goals by the user of the term. Mission creep is usually considered undesirable due to the dangerous path of each success breeding more ambitious attempts, only stopping when a final, often catastrophic, failure occurs. The term was originally applied exclusively to military operations, but has recently been applied to many different fields, mainly the growth of bureaucracies.

 

[visionary]

Mission Creep: Hey, Who Changed My Job Responsibilities?
November 21, 2008 10:15 AM ET | Michael S. Wade | Permanent Link | Print

Michael Wade
At some point in your career, you'll encounter mission creep.

Sometimes, it's more like mission leap. You take on a project, and then ugly things quickly surface—matters that those charming souls who lured you into the task failed to mention. What initially seemed like a simple matter becomes a poisonous swamp.

As bad as mission leap is, at least it seizes your attention. You know that you're swatting snakes and gators. Mission creep, however, can be just as dangerous but much harder to detect. You take on an assignment and don't notice as it slowly shifts into an entirely different and more complicated world. An obvious challenge is that the resources and personnel dedicated to the original mission may be inadequate for the new one. The political support may also be missing. You're working on a project that has ceased to exist, but you're still responsible for the scope of its new incarnation. read here for the rest

 

[billwald]

Sort of like the Church taking on the conversion of the world instead of merely teaching that Jesus died for the sins of the world and leaving the regeneration of hearers to the Holy Spirit?