Change Management –
It’s About People, Not Just Process By Frank P. Saladis PMP
Published on Jul 19, 2007 | 423 Reads

Change management is a fundamental part of managing projects. Without a change management process, the project and the team will likely experience a phenomenon that all project managers are aware of – Scope Creep. I have heard other versions of scope creep such as “scope leap” and “scope drift” and even a very unique way of describing scope changes – scope wedgies! I heard that particular term at a PMI® World Congress a few years ago. The speaker was presenting a paper about risk management and introduced that term. She said that that many project managers and teams experience “scope wedgies,” things that creep up on you and are “damn uncomfortable.” I liked the creative way she described what commonly happens to projects that don’t have a change control process or have one that is basically ignored.

Regarding change control and change management, you will find information about it in almost every book written about project management. If you have earned the PMP® credential or are studying for the exam or if you have done any research in the field of project management, you have encountered numerous articles, suggestions, techniques, and processes for managing change. Basically, change management is not a complicated process. During the project kick-off meeting the project manager usually introduces some specific processes for monitoring and controlling the project through the entire life cycle. These processes are discussed among the project team members and other stakeholders and a set of mutually agreed upon project monitoring and control procedures are established and accepted. The basic elements of a change control process are:

All changes should be reviewed for value and benefit to the project or be considered a requirement due to a regulation or compliance issue. Changes should be agreed upon by some type of change control board, steering committee or other group with the authority to make decisions.

Baselines should be established for comparison with actual results to determine where variances exist. Procedures for determining the severity of a variance should in place and whether or not corrective action is required.

Procedures for managing the actual implementation of a change should be in place. Changes that have been analyzed and agreed upon must be implemented at the most convenient point in time to minimize the potential impact on other projects, organization operations or areas of concern. (Basically this means to implement the change in the best possible time frame such as performing an upgrade on a system at 2am on a Saturday morning).

I think that most people, including the project manager, project team member, and the operations manager, understand the need for a process to manage change and that a change process is basically not very complicated. Here are items to include in such a process:

1. Identify the potential sources of change
2. Log in all change requests
3. Analyze the impact of the change – cost, risk, quality, organizational operations, other projects, customer satisfaction, project schedule
4. Approval or denial - Determine whether or not the change should be implemented
5. Inform the source of the change request – Go or No Go and why
6. Communicate approved changes to the affected stakeholders
7. Update project plans or other documentation
8. Implement the change
9. Monitor the results of the change (to determine if the desired outcome has been achieved)
10. If successful, document any lessons learned. If not successful, identify why and determine alternatives.

Developing a change control process is not a difficult endeavor. There is more than enough information available in most project management text books and other reading material to provide the project manager with enough information to establish a reasonably understandable process for managing change. The challenge is to actually implement the change control process.

Having a process in place is only part of the picture. The project manager has to make sure that the process is utilized and, in many cases, enforced. Dr. Harold Kerzner mentions in his books that 90% of project problems are caused by people -- not by tools, equipment or technology.

The major issue is that people often don’t follow the established process. Work load, management pressure, multiple responsibilities and priorities are all part of the problem. It is understandable that a project manager is busy with many day-to-day challenges and it is fairly easy to miss a change or fail to see an “adjustment” by a team member or functional manager to a process. But these missed issues and informal changes can create major problems as the project progresses.

So what can a project manager do?

There are probably hundreds of possible actions a project manager can take but the best approach, in my opinion, is one of preventive action. The project manager must constantly remind the team and project stakeholders about the importance of adhering to the change control process. This includes obtaining and maintaining a commitment from senior management or the project sponsor that the change process will not be overruled. It can be expected that an occasional exception may be required but that should not be the norm. If senior management continuously overturns decisions by the project manager or change control board, the change process is basically useless and the project manager’s credibility and position with the client and project team are seriously damaged.

Change can be expected and a change process can help to manage the changes but the bigger issue is whether or not the change process will be followed. Additionally the project manager must be concerned about how people will respond to requests for change and how the change will be received by those affected.

The bottom line is that change will occur, even on the most carefully planned projects. With that in mind here are a few tips that could help to keep the process intact while managing the effect of the change on the stakeholders:

1. Create a change management process that is mutually agreed upon by the stakeholders and establish it as early in the project life cycle as possible
2. Remind stakeholders about the process often
3. Listen to the needs of the stakeholders. Identify all stakeholders and establish the appropriate balance. There will always be a stakeholder or two that will not agree with a change or resist an approved change.
4. Plan for resistance. There will be varying degrees of resistance. Don’t dismiss objections.  Review them to understand any fears and reasonable concerns that you may not have thought of.
5. Communicate the need for the change to people who are not involved in the decision process. Explain why it was approved. Clarify the change when necessary and explain it in terms that the affected stakeholders will understand.

Again, a change management process is not difficult to develop. The challenge is found in the people that change will affect. Effective communication about change is one of the key elements to managing change effectively. Keep people informed. They need to know why a change has been approved and the reasoning behind the change. The effective project manager, and leader, does not simply say “just do it” and expect everything to work out fine. Truly effective project managers communicate the issue, provide an explanation, and attempt to gain buy-in. Even if the affected parties don’t agree with a change, at least they will understand why it has been approved and the integrity and credibility of the project manager will remain intact.

© 2007 allPM.com

About the Author
Frank P. Saladis (PMP) is Senior Consultant with International Institute for Learning, Inc. He has been involved in the development of standardized Project Management Guidelines (PMGs) for the AT&T Corporate Information Technology Services (Corporate ITS) organization and is the author of the Project Evaluation Review Process (PERP). He is the recipient of the 2006 PMI Linn Stuckenbruck person of the year award.