The Primary customer of a project has requested an application change during user testing. As a project manager, how should you BEST address this issue?
1 Develop a risk mitigation plan
2 Create a formal change request
3 Infor the project sponsor of changes to scope, cost, and schedule.
4 Ensure the scope change complies with all relevant contractual provisions
The change request (2) will formally document what the customer wants. Approval of the change request will include 4.
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1 reply by Pooja Sharma
Jul 02, 2020 11:38 AM
Pooja Sharma
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Thanks for reply, Keith. You mean, first document what is demanded by customer. After that, think about scope or let change management think about scope PM should not worry about it.
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Kimberly McCoyProject Manager| TekSystems - ContractorZanesville, Oh, United States
The change request (2) will formally document what the customer wants. Approval of the change request will include 4.
Thanks for reply, Keith. You mean, first document what is demanded by customer. After that, think about scope or let change management think about scope PM should not worry about it.
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1 reply by Keith Novak
Jul 02, 2020 12:41 PM
Keith Novak
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The PM is involved in evaluating the change since they are the most knowledgeable about the project. Organizational responsibilities vary between companies, but a Change Management organization is typically the experts on the change process and how it impacts the various business systems (finance, scheduling, etc.) but they often have little product or project knowledge.
The PM would already be considering the change impact, but a full evaluation can involve significant work. Having the request clearly defined in writing can save a lot of time reviewing many iterations of informal change requests by the customer. Otherwise, the customer can keep changing their mind on the details of their change request (an issue we refer to as Change-on-Change) and it takes far more work for you to keep evaluating change requests, than it takes for the customer to ask for poorly defined changes.
You may and often should work with the customer informally at first to help define the details of the formal change request in a way where it is more workable for your organization executing the project, but the formal change request itself is the input to evaluating the complete impact.
Thanks for reply, Keith. You mean, first document what is demanded by customer. After that, think about scope or let change management think about scope PM should not worry about it.
The PM is involved in evaluating the change since they are the most knowledgeable about the project. Organizational responsibilities vary between companies, but a Change Management organization is typically the experts on the change process and how it impacts the various business systems (finance, scheduling, etc.) but they often have little product or project knowledge.
The PM would already be considering the change impact, but a full evaluation can involve significant work. Having the request clearly defined in writing can save a lot of time reviewing many iterations of informal change requests by the customer. Otherwise, the customer can keep changing their mind on the details of their change request (an issue we refer to as Change-on-Change) and it takes far more work for you to keep evaluating change requests, than it takes for the customer to ask for poorly defined changes.
You may and often should work with the customer informally at first to help define the details of the formal change request in a way where it is more workable for your organization executing the project, but the formal change request itself is the input to evaluating the complete impact.
The PM is involved in evaluating the change since they are the most knowledgeable about the project. Organizational responsibilities vary between companies, but a Change Management organization is typically the experts on the change process and how it impacts the various business systems (finance, scheduling, etc.) but they often have little product or project knowledge.
The PM would already be considering the change impact, but a full evaluation can involve significant work. Having the request clearly defined in writing can save a lot of time reviewing many iterations of informal change requests by the customer. Otherwise, the customer can keep changing their mind on the details of their change request (an issue we refer to as Change-on-Change) and it takes far more work for you to keep evaluating change requests, than it takes for the customer to ask for poorly defined changes.
You may and often should work with the customer informally at first to help define the details of the formal change request in a way where it is more workable for your organization executing the project, but the formal change request itself is the input to evaluating the complete impact.
Keith, Thank you very much for so much detail. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Pooja
Those are the steps for a change:
Assess the Impact of the change
Create a formal change order
Documents the decision / changes
Communicate the Changes
Implement the Changes
From your list, no 2 seems the most correct. If no 3 mentioned assess impact on scope, cost and schedule then I would chose this instead because assessign the change comes before initiating a formal change order.
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