In many cases project we work on also involves changes in way people currently work or use the system, As a project manager do you also work on Managing Change along with the solution you are developing ? if yes please share your approach. if not who does this in your projects? Saving Changes...
Ram Narayanan SastryProduct Analyst| Toshiba Medical Systems CorporationNasushiobara-Shi, Tochigi-Ken, Japan
I work in Japan where changing the way things are is one of the biggest challenges in the success of any project. Change Management is usually a transformational process and requires an all pervading approach and requires people a many different levels to buy-in to the process at various stages.
My usual strategy for approaching this is as follows:
1) Get a buy-in from management: This is probably the most critical step. If the management does not buy-in to this process, then it would be difficult to percolate it to all levels. Of course, getting this buy-in from management is often tricky and you need to link the management goals with the change that you are proposing and show the benefits.
2) Get buy-in from high impact stakeholders: The next step is to identify the high impact stakeholders within the team and get their buy-in. Once these stakeholders are in your court the battle becomes much more easier. Again to get their buy-in you need to prepare for the "What's in it for him" question. If you can give a reasonable answer to this, then you are well on your way to winning a few friends in this journey.
3) Transition plan: It is all nice to get buy-in from the different stakeholders, but the real key remains the transition plan. Every change usually has good and bad points, also the transition is often the most trickiest part and many things usually go wrong in this stage. It is important to map a clear transition plan, then ensure that the various stakeholders understand this plan and commit to it. Then at regular intervals the deviations needs to be tracked and then revisions made in the plan accordingly. This part will require a lot of doggedness and determination. At times, it might seem easy to go back to status quo, so the leader who is driving this change needs to be strong willed!!
4) Communication: Though I write this point the last, but this is the most important part of any change management. Steady, constant and incremental communication of the change management and its impact and benefits is essential. This is keeps the wheel moving and momentum is built into the change process. I have been part of both successful and failed change managements and my analysis is that the main determinant of the success primarily hinged on this aspect though the other three points also contributed to varying degrees.
I work in Japan where changing the way things are is one of the biggest challenges in the success of any project. Change Management is usually a transformational process and requires an all pervading approach and requires people a many different levels to buy-in to the process at various stages.
My usual strategy for approaching this is as follows:
1) Get a buy-in from management: This is probably the most critical step. If the management does not buy-in to this process, then it would be difficult to percolate it to all levels. Of course, getting this buy-in from management is often tricky and you need to link the management goals with the change that you are proposing and show the benefits.
2) Get buy-in from high impact stakeholders: The next step is to identify the high impact stakeholders within the team and get their buy-in. Once these stakeholders are in your court the battle becomes much more easier. Again to get their buy-in you need to prepare for the "What's in it for him" question. If you can give a reasonable answer to this, then you are well on your way to winning a few friends in this journey.
3) Transition plan: It is all nice to get buy-in from the different stakeholders, but the real key remains the transition plan. Every change usually has good and bad points, also the transition is often the most trickiest part and many things usually go wrong in this stage. It is important to map a clear transition plan, then ensure that the various stakeholders understand this plan and commit to it. Then at regular intervals the deviations needs to be tracked and then revisions made in the plan accordingly. This part will require a lot of doggedness and determination. At times, it might seem easy to go back to status quo, so the leader who is driving this change needs to be strong willed!!
4) Communication: Though I write this point the last, but this is the most important part of any change management. Steady, constant and incremental communication of the change management and its impact and benefits is essential. This is keeps the wheel moving and momentum is built into the change process. I have been part of both successful and failed change managements and my analysis is that the main determinant of the success primarily hinged on this aspect though the other three points also contributed to varying degrees.
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
One thing is organizational change and other thing is project and/or product change. Product change will create project changes. Business analyst is in charge of all related product changes and project manager is in charge of all related to project changes. Both must work inside a Configuration Management process. If you manage changes outside that you are lost. You can search for the PMI`s Configuration Management standard or other standards outside there. I always use IEEE standards as the basement for everything I do. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Being in IT, this function is generally left to the initiative owner's Business area. The business justification and buy-in was vetted pre project submission and approval. I'm currently working on a couple projects, in which the business point of contact stakeholder is planning communications pre and post rollout, along with a user guide and webinars. I work with them through IT related decisions and technical implementations to better understand justification, from an IT perspective, and to look at a broader view of the initiative and its future potential enhancement efforts ensuring proper scalability and understanding to empower the business in managing User Acceptance Testing and user expectations.
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1 reply by Saket Bansal
Jan 31, 2017 9:35 PM
Saket Bansal
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Thank you for sharing, so you have business stakeholders playing the role of Change manager / Change agent .
My last project in IT, I've worked with a change manager, she took care of all aspects, from organizational to systems....was amazing!
I've learned a lot about change management strategies, and I recommend this role for big projects.
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2 replies by Ram Narayanan Sastry and Saket Bansal
Jan 31, 2017 8:30 PM
Ram Narayanan Sastry
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I agree having a full time change manager is extremely useful and could give organizations massive benefits. Unfortunately, most organizations deem it as an additional cost and hence do not consider this role as important. This is where the Project Manager often has to don multiple hats to fill in!!
Jan 31, 2017 9:36 PM
Saket Bansal
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Many of projects i worked on neglected the role of Change Management and in some cases it costed us failure in implementation.
Saving Changes...
Ram Narayanan SastryProduct Analyst| Toshiba Medical Systems CorporationNasushiobara-Shi, Tochigi-Ken, Japan
Jan 31, 2017 2:28 PM
Replying to Mayte Mata Sivera
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My last project in IT, I've worked with a change manager, she took care of all aspects, from organizational to systems....was amazing!
I've learned a lot about change management strategies, and I recommend this role for big projects.
I agree having a full time change manager is extremely useful and could give organizations massive benefits. Unfortunately, most organizations deem it as an additional cost and hence do not consider this role as important. This is where the Project Manager often has to don multiple hats to fill in!! Saving Changes...
Being in IT, this function is generally left to the initiative owner's Business area. The business justification and buy-in was vetted pre project submission and approval. I'm currently working on a couple projects, in which the business point of contact stakeholder is planning communications pre and post rollout, along with a user guide and webinars. I work with them through IT related decisions and technical implementations to better understand justification, from an IT perspective, and to look at a broader view of the initiative and its future potential enhancement efforts ensuring proper scalability and understanding to empower the business in managing User Acceptance Testing and user expectations.
Thank you for sharing, so you have business stakeholders playing the role of Change manager / Change agent .
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1 reply by Drew Craig
Feb 01, 2017 6:53 AM
Drew Craig
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The initiative is owned by the Business, not IT. For the purpose of preparing and educating the end-users, yes, the business group that owns the initiative is responsible for change management - the change is owned by the business. I, as the representative from IT, am there to support their activities.
Although It is not mentioned in standards, I would recommend use an integrated approach for Risk, issue and change management. These three project control functions drive each other.
Establish a system based on contracts, ITB, project scope and product scope documents. Evaluate each change order with respect to schedule, cost, quality and scope. Time duration to evaluate and accept or reject change order is crucial for having successful change management system. Saving Changes...
"I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near."
