mission creep
phrase

- the gradual broadening of the original objectives of a mission or task

- the gradual expansion or shifting of a mission beyond its original goals, often leading to complications

- a situation where a plan or job gradually increases in size or changes its aims

Merriam-Webster, Oxford English Dictionary, Cambridge Dictionary

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PHRASE ORIGIN

The phrase emerged during coverage of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Somali Civil War, particularly concerning the U.S. military operation "Restore Hope" (1992-1993). Original military definition: "Unconscious expansion of troops' role in a foreign operation"

From the primarily military usage in the 1990s, from the
2000s onward it expanded to multiple domains:
- Government agencies: Regulatory scope expanding beyond original mandate
- Technology: Feature creep, scope creep in software projects
- Business: Projects exceeding initial boundaries
- Non-profit sector: Organizations broadening their focus
- Privacy/surveillance: Also called "function creep"—systems used beyond their intended purpose

The success of "mission creep" as a phrase spawned an entire family of "-creep" compounds describing unwanted gradual expansion in various fields:

- Scope creep (project management)
- Feature creep (software)
- Function creep (surveillance)
- Budget creep (finance)

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MISSION CREEP

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he found a company drowning in its own complexity. Dozens of overlapping models, accessories, and product variations filled the catalogue. Teams were confused, resources scattered, and no one could say with confidence what Apple truly stood for.

Jobs gathered the leadership team, reviewed the entire product range, and made a radical decision: focus. He reduced the company’s sprawling portfolio to four clear product families. The move shocked people. It felt risky. But Jobs’ reasoning was simple: you cannot put everything first.

That principle lies at the heart of mission creep—the quiet expansion of goals until even the essential becomes blurred. Many leaders today echo the same frustration:
“We have too many priorities.”
“We don’t know what comes first.”

Interestingly, priority was a singular word for centuries. It meant the one thing that comes before all others. Only recently did we invent “priorities,” and with it the illusion that many things can be equally important.

The antidote is not another list. It’s an action: to prioritise. To ask, again and again: What comes first right now?

Mission creep dissolves when we stop trying to do everything and deliberately choose the single, next decisive step. Clarity isn’t found in adding more—it appears the moment we start to subtract.



Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

aim dilution (inflation), bite off more than chew, boundary blur, creep like ivy walls, drift from mission, drip drip flood, goal creeps (drift), inch becomes mile, initiative inflation, mandate/objective/unintended expansion (inflation), MISSION  CREEP, operation overreach, overextension, overreach, plan proliferation, policy drift, project overrun (sprawl), purpose shift, scope creep (drift), target sprawl, task bloat, trickle becomes flood

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SMUGGLE
 OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“MISSION CREEP sneaks its way in when we lose sight of our main objective.”

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P L E A S E   S U P P O R T   O W A D