What happens if requirements change mid-project?

Requirements change. That's not a failure — it's reality. What matters is how the change is handled. Our process: any new requirement gets evaluated against the existing scope, the timeline impact is estimated, and you decide whether to include it with a revised timeline, push it to a later phase, or decline it. We never proceed with scope changes without explicit agreement.

We also distinguish between types of changes: clarifications (the requirement was ambiguous and we're aligning on what was always intended — no timeline impact), additions (genuinely new functionality that wasn't in scope — requires a scope amendment and potentially a revised timeline), and pivots (the core direction of the project changes — requires a full scope review). Each type gets handled differently and honestly.

The buffer we build into timelines is for technical unknowns (an API behaving unexpectedly, a performance issue that needs architecture changes), not for scope growth. This distinction matters: buffer is not a slush fund for adding features. It's insurance against the engineering surprises that are inevitable in complex software work.