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The unique nature of projects leads to an inherent level of uncertainty.  Project managers should expect and plan for project change.

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Quick reference

Change Planning

The unique nature of projects leads to an inherent level of uncertainty.  Project managers should expect and plan for project change.

When to use

When establishing a project baseline, the project manager should also establish an approach for how to change the project baseline.  These changes may come from outside the project team or they may be initiated by team members who uncover threats or opportunities within the project activities.  A regular part of each project review should be to identify when change is needed and to manage the implementation of those changes to the project baselines.

Instructions

The more uncertainty there is on a project, the more likely that changes will need to be done to the project baseline at some point in time.  Traditional projects, those with clear goals and little uncertainty in the planning and estimating of tasks will normally have few changes.  However, if the goal is clear but the tasks are not - often because it is an area in which we have little or no experience - an adaptive style of project should plan for changes at each major phase gate or decision point.  If the ultimate goal is not certain but a specific path or set of tasks has been established in the baseline the project is focused on discovery.  This type of project will normally be rebaselined at the end of each phase or iteration using the results of the previous generation to plan the next.  When both goals and actions are uncertain and changing, a project is in an extreme or crisis mode.  Change will be continuous.  If the organization's change management system can not react quickly, the project manager and core team will need to take change management upon themselves.

At every project review with stakeholders, the project team should determine if there are any changes to project boundaries or constraints.  These can occur due to many reasons such as industry dynamics changing, technology changes, organizational changes, and the impact on available resources due to the success or failure of other projects.

Periodically within the project, the project team should assess the current baseline project plan and determine if it is still the best plan to achieve the project objectives.  I normally do this as part of the preparation for phase-gate or toll-gate reviews and I will do this following the completion of a major risk event or milestone.  At those times there is usually a significant amount of new information or the validity of assumptions can now be checked.  With this information, improvements to the project plan can be developed.

A project change management process is created at the time of project baseline approval.  If the company has a Project Management Office, a project change management procedure probably exists and that should be used.  The elements of a change management procedure should include:

  • The mechanism for requesting a change.
  • The process for evaluating and approving or rejecting the change.
  • The definition of roles and responsibilities concerning who can approve the change.
  • The purpose of the change management plan and the limitations or boundaries on what it controls.
  • Any templates, checklists, or logs, such as the Change Log, to be used throughout the process.

Large complex projects are often managed as a program made up of related smaller sub-projects.  When this is the case, the change management system must also address how changes in one subproject will be communicated to other affected subprojects and the approval mechanism that is to be used for multi-project changes.  This is one of the most difficult aspects of program management and will often require a full-time dedicated resource to manage this process.

Definition

Change Control System: “A set of procedures that describes how modifications to the project deliverables and documentation are managed and controlled.” PMBOK® Guide

Change Log: “A comprehensive list of changes submitted during the project and their current status.” PMBOK® Guide

These definitions are taken from the Glossary of the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017. PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

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  • 00:05 Hi, I am Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 I'd like to talk about another important aspect of project planning and
  • 00:10 that's planning for change.
  • 00:14 This diagram provides a framework to think about change.
  • 00:18 When we start to execute a project plan, is the goal clearly defined, or
  • 00:22 is it uncertain?
  • 00:24 And is the project fully planned and understood, or
  • 00:26 are there major elements that are uncertain?
  • 00:29 The diagram is based of of Bob Wysocki book, Effective Project Management.
  • 00:33 Projects are unique.
  • 00:35 This framework helps us to manage that uniqueness.
  • 00:38 When the goals and plans are defined and
  • 00:40 understood, you can follow a traditional predictive project manager methodology.
  • 00:45 When the goal is clear, but the path to achieve it is not,
  • 00:49 Wysocki says to use the adaptive project management methodology,
  • 00:53 that means changes after each phase.
  • 00:55 When the goal is uncertain, Wysocki would say the path can't be defined, but
  • 00:59 I think it can, because I've worked in those types of projects.
  • 01:03 It's a research project, but we have a set plan for discovery, but
  • 01:07 we have no idea what the results will be until the research is over.
  • 01:12 And Wysocki says if the goal is unknown and
  • 01:14 the path is uncertain, you need to be using extreme project management.
  • 01:19 The magnitude and quantity of change increases as you move down and
  • 01:23 to the right in this matrix.
  • 01:25 And while we all wish we were in the upper left corner,
  • 01:28 many projects never get to that point.
  • 01:30 And even those who start there will often have some unexpected surprise drive them
  • 01:35 down and to the right for at least a portion of the project.
  • 01:39 By the time you are operating in the extreme mode,
  • 01:41 you are undergoing continuous change as you react to the circumstances.
  • 01:46 Uncertainty of the goal will lead to changes in deliverables, but
  • 01:50 even when the deliverables stay unchanged, the plan to get there may need to change
  • 01:54 because of changes to resources or the impact of other project risk events.
  • 01:59 Which is why the project manager needs to have a change management plan.
  • 02:03 Changes in one aspect of the project will cascade into others.
  • 02:08 The project manager needs to have a method for evaluating the requested change, and
  • 02:12 if approved, to be certain that the change is implemented.
  • 02:16 The process is part of the overall project methodology,
  • 02:19 and it's incorporated into the project plan.
  • 02:22 Let's consider for
  • 02:23 a moment what the elements of a project change manager plan should include.
  • 02:28 First, it's always good idea to clarify the purpose of this type of a document.
  • 02:32 It's to explain the process and change criteria.
  • 02:36 We don't change the project just because it's Tuesday.
  • 02:39 We change it,
  • 02:40 because with the change, we're better able to meet the project goals.
  • 02:44 The plan needs to have a process by which changes can be requested,
  • 02:48 this can be both from the project team members or external stakeholders.
  • 02:52 Then there needs to be an assessment and
  • 02:54 approval process that each requested change goes through.
  • 02:57 This process considers the need for the change, the impact of implementing
  • 03:01 the change, and of course, the impact of not implementing the change.
  • 03:05 The rules and responsibilities,
  • 03:07 along with authority level of each actor in this process.
  • 03:10 This needs to be explained, so expectations are clear.
  • 03:13 Finally, the process should include any forms, templates, or
  • 03:16 checklists that are used.
  • 03:17 This guides in requesting, assessing or
  • 03:19 proving and implementing process within the change management plan.
  • 03:24 Lets think about this process for a minute.
  • 03:26 You will normally go through these five steps, request, assess,
  • 03:30 approve, implement, and record.
  • 03:33 For a small project, a project manager can often handle the whole process informally.
  • 03:38 But for large projects or programs with several sub-projects,
  • 03:42 the level of complexity and
  • 03:44 difficulty managing this process will quickly grow to a full time job.
  • 03:48 The project management
  • 03:54 body of knowledge,
  • 03:58 the PMBOK guide defines
  • 04:03 In many organizations.
  • 04:08 This system is managed by the project management office or
  • 04:11 a change control board.
  • 04:13 While that helps to ease the burden on project manager,
  • 04:16 it can slow the process with bureaucracy.
  • 04:19 The project manager needs to still manage the changes through the process.
  • 04:23 Generally, when working with an organizational change management system,
  • 04:27 the focus is on risk reduction.
  • 04:29 That could be cost, schedule, or technical risk.
  • 04:32 But thechange request will need to identify the risk that is being addressed.
  • 04:37 There are some tools that will assist in the management of this process and
  • 04:40 a key tool in the change control system is the change log.
  • 04:44 The project management body of knowledge, the PMBOK guide,
  • 04:46 defines a change log as a comprehensive list of changes
  • 04:51 submitted during the project and their current status.
  • 04:55 I use the log as both a planning and tracking tool for managing project change.
  • 04:59 Each column in the log is another step in the change management process.
  • 05:04 Another act of benefit is the log would then provide a record of the changes.
  • 05:08 This is useful for doing lessons learned, updating project templates and
  • 05:12 estimating guides and conducting a project audit if required.
  • 05:17 Change is inevitable on projects.
  • 05:21 A change management process provides the guidance needed to prevent uncontrolled
  • 05:26 change on your project.

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