I have a topic that continues to bring some confusion for the PMP certification exam (I have it scheduled next week). It's handling change.
As I do the practice tests and review the explanation, I get different correct answers to the situation, making it difficult to understand - what's the right way to answer "what do to next/first".
Sharing a couple of examples:
1. If there is a change which is business critical & urgent - should the PM first assess the impact or inform the stakeholders or submit the change via CCB or implement the change first & then submit the change request for documentation?
2. If there is an issue that would result in the project objectives no longer feasible to achieve - should the PM first update issue log or inform the stakeholders or work with team for a solution or submit a change to revise the baselines?
I guess the main factor is how to handle the situation if a change is needed & is business critical/urgent/due to law or regulations v/s something that needs assessment before an action can be taken?
Some answers state that you should always assess the impact of a change first. Others state, first always update the project documents. Another explanation states the correct thing to do is to inform the impact stakeholders first. What is right?
Any help to clarify & understand this would be appreciated.
Unfortunately the inconsistencies you are seeing are likely a result of the quality (or lack thereof) of the practice exam questions.
Generally with changes, you'd want to follow what is in the change management plan as far as the process goes. Usually, that would mean working with the team and other stakeholders to assess the impact and then submit it for review & decisioning. The latter would also be when the broader set of stakeholders would be informed.
However, in the real world, if the team is crunched for time or cost, even the effort involved in assessing a change might need to first be approved by an appropriate governance body to avoid negatively impacting the project.
Thanks Kiron. Guess what's confusing me more is: when a change is requested, should the first action be to assess the impact (if the question doesn't provide that info already) or submit a change request first & then do the assessment (I understand that during CCB meeting the impact & other analysis would be evaluated to decide if the change is to be approved, deferred or rejected anyway)..... Saving Changes...
Thank you RK....I felt after giving some practice tests that sometime the questions are vague and just tell you that a change is requested so what should the PM do next. In those scenarios, I guess you have to take a calculative guess - whether to assess the impact or submit a change request first. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Keep in mind that Impact Assessment should always be regardless. Saving Changes...
Phil AkinwaleProject Management & Leadership Speaker, Coach, Trainer & Author| PRAIZIONMesa, Az, United States
Never forget to ask for the CR in a formal CR form.
Log the CR in the C.Log to begin with
Then assessments/analysis with your team can follow
But wait, there's a lot more! 12 possible steps depending on if there is a CCB or not and if the sponsor and customer are on it or not. Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
When you have urgent or emergency situations, often you have to fast track your processes.
In the case of the change request, don't be surprised if all of the steps happen simultaneously. Remember that getting the outputs is more important than how you get them. Furthermore, don't bother updating your documentation until you have your decision. (Do include documentation updates in your impact.)
I, personally, don't like to have the impact analyzed until stakeholders understand that effort will be required to do so. In my project change management process, I have an initial gate asking my CCB to approve the impact analysis effort. (I give them an estimate.) Unfortunately, this is not something that you will find in the PMBOK Guide.
It's pretty well the same thing with issues.
For the exam, I would lean towards communication first: let the affected stakeholders know. Saving Changes...
I guess there is no straight answer to this question and the best answer would depend on what the situation presents. It's confusing at times on how PMI wants you to take action v/s how it is presented in the practice tests that you take to gain understanding....you may think you are right but end up selecting a wrong answer.
Hopefully I will choose the right one in the exam :)
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1 reply by Stéphane Parent
Apr 24, 2020 1:20 PM
Stéphane Parent
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Having taken four PMI exams, I found the exam questions easier than the practice questions. On the other hand, practice questions tend to focus on knowledge while exam questions tend to be situational.
Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Apr 24, 2020 12:39 PM
Replying to Mohit Joshi
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Thank you all.
I guess there is no straight answer to this question and the best answer would depend on what the situation presents. It's confusing at times on how PMI wants you to take action v/s how it is presented in the practice tests that you take to gain understanding....you may think you are right but end up selecting a wrong answer.
Hopefully I will choose the right one in the exam :)
Having taken four PMI exams, I found the exam questions easier than the practice questions. On the other hand, practice questions tend to focus on knowledge while exam questions tend to be situational. Saving Changes...
Quick additional question: If a requested/identified change doesn't impact the baselines (of scope, cost or schedule), does it still need to have a change request approval from CCB or can it be implemented directly? I believe it would still a change request to be documented but no CCB approval.
In relation to the above, I understand that an update to a team charter, issue log, change log, risk register etc. doesn't need a change request...is that correct?
Thanks.
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1 reply by Stéphane Parent
Apr 24, 2020 2:24 PM
Stéphane Parent
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I have had change requests to capture documentation-only changes. In my case, we were changing names of milestones reported on the project dashboard. We wanted to have the paperwork that showed why it was changed. We only sought the project director and project sponsor approvals, not the whole CCB.
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