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About this lesson

To fully realize the benefit of a project, often business systems need to change to implement the project results.  This transition can be a challenging aspect of the project.

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Quick reference

Transition to Business

To fully realize the benefit of a project, often business systems and processes need to change to implement the project results.  This transition can be a challenging aspect of the project.

When to use

Whenever the project result will disrupt or change established patterns of behavior – even if no one like the established patterns – expect a resistance to the change.  A transition process is needed to remove the old way of doing business and incorporate the project results.

Instructions

There are several approaches that can be used to transition the result of the project into the normal operations of the organization.

Transition the project team

This approach is often used for a totally new capability or business process.  The transition process is to transfer the project team (or at least a portion of it) to the operational component of the organization.  The project team member transition out of a project mode and into an operational mode.  They are essentially handing off the project results to themselves.  The biggest challenge in this type of transition is to establish the new operation with operation controls.  The danger is that the team will continue to innovate and a stable process is never established.

Transition the project results

This approach is commonly used for product development, process improvement, and facilities projects.  The results of the project are incorporated into the normal business operations and managed by the current business operations management team.  This approach often requires an entire phase of a project to train the users in the operational management of the project results, fully test/demonstrate the results of the project in the operational environment, and overcome any resistance to change.  In many cases, the emotional aspect of change is more difficult to overcome than the technical aspect of the change.

Change can either be implemented all at once – known as the “big bang” approach; or in small increments - known as the phase-in approach.  A big bang requires careful coordination to ensure all aspects of the change go live simultaneously.  This approach can lead to rejection of the entire project result if any aspect does not work well.  The other approach is to “phase it in.”  This will incrementally introduce aspects of the project result.  It takes much longer, but usually gets better buy-in because you are able to build momentum and confine issue resolution to only a few minor points.  However, this can be a very difficult transition since it is likely you will be operating with part of the old process and part of the new process simultaneously.  With either approach it is wise to conduct a pilot run or beta test of the project results before committing the business to the new approach.

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  • 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 I'd like to talk with you now about an important aspect of project closeout,
  • 00:10 the transition to business operations.
  • 00:13 A project often creates a new product, process, or facility.
  • 00:18 But for the goals and objectives of the project to be realized, that new product,
  • 00:22 process, or facility must be put into operation.
  • 00:25 The project will end.
  • 00:27 You may not be used to that idea, but projects really do end.
  • 00:30 The business must now manage the day-to-day operations of
  • 00:33 the project result.
  • 00:35 The project team has been disbanded, and is not there for them to rely upon.
  • 00:40 There are two different ways of conducting this handoff
  • 00:43 of the project results to the business management team.
  • 00:46 The easiest one is to transition that project team
  • 00:49 into the operational organization.
  • 00:51 In this case, all or
  • 00:53 at least some of the project team transfer to the operational department.
  • 00:57 They're essentially transferring the project results to themselves.
  • 01:01 The hardest part of this approach for the project team, now operating managers,
  • 01:05 is to not continue playing with the project results.
  • 01:09 The second approach is to make the handoff into a phase of the project.
  • 01:13 Many project management methodologies are structured in a way
  • 01:16 that this is their normal approach.
  • 01:19 That transition phase, just like any other phase, must be project managed.
  • 01:23 In fact, this may be the longest and the highest-risk phase in the project.
  • 01:28 Let's talk about this second approach, that of a transition phase to the project.
  • 01:33 As we have discussed in the project phase session, each phase is a mini-project
  • 01:37 with its own project management triangle of scope, schedule, and resources.
  • 01:41 The scope are the activities needed to hand off the responsibility for
  • 01:45 managing the new product, process, or facility.
  • 01:48 The schedule is the time of those activities.
  • 01:50 And the resources are the project team and any costs to conduct training and
  • 01:55 pilot runs or beta tests.
  • 01:57 There are two different approaches that we can use when planning this phase.
  • 02:01 One approach is called the Big Bang approach.
  • 02:04 In this approach, everything created in the project is introduced simultaneously.
  • 02:08 Everything from the old way is out, and
  • 02:10 everything from the new way is in, all at once.
  • 02:13 The advantage of this approach is that it is very fast.
  • 02:16 Also, there's less confusion for users in terms of the transition process.
  • 02:21 And the training is easier, since everyone can be trained at once and
  • 02:24 then immediately begin to use the new product, process, or facility.
  • 02:28 The difficulty with this approach is it is much more susceptible to disaster.
  • 02:33 One little thing can cause the entire introduction to fail.
  • 02:36 Leading to confusion, frustration, anger, and
  • 02:39 the complete rejection of the project results.
  • 02:42 The other approach is to phase in the transition.
  • 02:45 In this case, we introduce elements of the new product, process, or
  • 02:48 facility one piece at a time.
  • 02:50 Growing the capability in this way allows us to find and fix problems along the way.
  • 02:56 As users become comfortable with the portion that they have,
  • 02:59 the organization builds momentum and hunger for the complete implementation.
  • 03:04 The difficulty with this approach is it can take a long time
  • 03:07 before the transition is complete.
  • 03:09 Another very significant management challenge is that during a portion of
  • 03:12 the transition time, we have a hybrid state of affairs.
  • 03:15 We're operating portions of the new process or system, and
  • 03:18 portions of the old process or system.
  • 03:20 This can lead to confusion and high costs to maintain both systems.
  • 03:25 There are pros and cons of each approach.
  • 03:27 I've used them both.
  • 03:28 Coordinate with your stakeholders to choose the one that is best for
  • 03:31 your project.
  • 03:33 Regardless of the approach you use, you'll wanna conduct a pilot run or a beta test.
  • 03:37 When the new product, process, or facility is first created, it may be fragile and
  • 03:41 susceptible to failure.
  • 03:43 Through the pilot run and beta test process, you can demonstrate that
  • 03:46 the project results are ready for operational deployment.
  • 03:50 A pilot run, which is a preliminary operation of a new process, or
  • 03:54 a beta test, which is a preliminary operation of a new system, are used to
  • 03:58 demonstrate that everything will work as expected in lifelike, everyday conditions.
  • 04:04 Pilot runs and beta tests should use operational resources,
  • 04:07 not the project team.
  • 04:09 They use the actual procedures, equipment, and
  • 04:11 systems that the operating managers will be using.
  • 04:14 This is meant to be as close to real-world as possible.
  • 04:17 In fact, pilot-run products are often used as prime units
  • 04:20 on new product-development projects.
  • 04:23 However, a pilot run or a beta test does not need to be perfect.
  • 04:26 But whatever problems they encounter, they should have the procedure and
  • 04:29 tools to manage them.
  • 04:31 Just like they would in day-to-day operations.
  • 04:34 If you have to use the word, now pretend at a point in time of the pilot run,
  • 04:39 you're not doing a pilot run.
  • 04:41 Projects can never realize their promised benefits unless
  • 04:45 the project results are incorporated into the business operations.
  • 04:49 Just because you create it, doesn't mean you're done.
  • 04:53 You have to get it transitioned into the fabric of the business.

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