Quick adds are where freelance weeks disappear: “while you’re in there, could you also…?” I started treating every new ask as a scope decision instead of a favor.
My quick filter:
1) Is the outcome clear enough to test or approve?
2) Is it inside the agreed deliverable?
3) If not, can I quote the extra before touching it?
If any answer is no, I reply with a short macro: “Happy to look at that. It’s outside the current scope; I can quote it once we confirm the outcome, deadline, and inputs.”
I turned that into a one-page Scope Firewall checklist + email macros for deciding yes/no/quote before committing. Sharing in case it helps:
https://temporary-rapid-xenon-xrqpw1i.vercel.app/scope
Small correction: the checklist link above had a temporary deployment URL. The current link is https://temporary-swift-juniper-k3lrtyq.vercel.app/scope