A project manager learns that a key staff member is making unauthorized product changes. How will this impact the project?

Unauthorized changes are typically not subject to quality control processes and are therefore more likely to degrade project quality standards rather than improve them.

Unauthorized changes represent work or features added outside of the project's approved baseline, which is the definition of scope creep, leading to an uncontrolled expansion of the project's scope.

Introducing unauthorized changes creates uncontrolled elements and unknowns, inherently increasing project risks by adding complexity and uncertainty.

Unauthorized changes would likely necessitate additional or revised acceptance testing to ensure the new elements meet any (potentially unstated) requirements, not decrease it.