Change is one of the most dangerous aspects of any project. Simply analyzing and evaluating changes can consume a great deal of time and effort. Not every problem reported requires immediate changes, analysis, or especially implementation. That’s why change management should be treated as a mini-project within the project.
For a project manager, maintaining focus on change management is critical to project success. Changes arise regularly — even in projects with initially well-defined and agreed-upon structures, scope, content, and deliverables.
A formal change management process should be implemented as early as possible in the project — ideally before the formal definition of its scope is completed.
The primary goal of change management is to ensure that every decision to modify the project scope is accompanied by an assessment of financial impact. Note: not all changes lead to increased cost or effort. In fact, some can reduce project scope — but in practice, scope expansions are far more common.
Funding and Scope of Change
Changes can be financed from either the project’s internal budget or external sources. Regardless of funding, an effective change management process should include a few critical components.
First and foremost: define the time and effort required just to evaluate the proposed change. Stakeholders often submit endless “nice-to-have” requests, which can “drag the project team into the swamp.” Even preliminary assessments take time and energy. So the first step in the change process is to obtain authorization — from someone with appropriate authority — to allocate resources for investigation and evaluation.
Once approval is granted, the project team can involve the necessary resources to analyze the impact of the proposed change. This analysis must cover how the change affects every other part of the project. After assessing the change’s impact on cost, schedule, and scope, the team must make an informed decision.
If the decision is positive — and authorized stakeholders confirm funding — then the change should be formally incorporated into the project plan.
That means change management is essentially a project re-planning effort. All processes used to plan the original project must be applied again to manage changes properly. If done this way, any changes to the baseline scope, cost, or schedule will lead to updated and valid project plans.
A Cautionary Tale About Change
As the holidays approach, let me end with a light-hearted but insightful story:
Sitting in a barber’s chair, a client mentions he’s planning to travel to Rome for Christmas.
— Rome? You must be crazy! Why does everyone want to go there? It’s filthy and packed with tourists. How are you getting there? — the barber asked.
— We booked discounted tickets with TWA.
— TWA?! That airline’s a nightmare — old planes, ugly stewardesses, constant delays. Where are you staying?
— At the Marriott, downtown.
— That dump? Worst hotel in Rome — tiny rooms, terrible service, outrageous prices. What are you even going to do there?
— We’re planning to visit the Vatican and see the Pope.
— Ha! You and a million others. You might see him from so far away, he’ll look like an ant. Good luck, sounds like you’ll need it.
A month later, the same client returns for another haircut.
— So, how was Rome? — the barber smirked.
— It was amazing! We flew on brand-new TWA jets — both flights were on time, and we were bumped to first class for free. The food and wine in Italy were incredible. The Marriott was newly renovated after a $25 million upgrade — now the best hotel in Rome. It was overbooked, so they apologized and gave us the presidential suite at no extra cost.
— Well, I’m sure you didn’t get to see the Pope.
— Actually, we got lucky! While walking through the Vatican, a Swiss Guard stopped us and said the Pope wanted to meet a visitor. We were taken to his private study, and five minutes later, the Pope walked in and extended his hand. I bowed, and he said a few words to me.
— Really? — grumbled the barber. — What did he say?
— He said: “Who gave you that awful haircut?”
