Definitely we should document all the change request. But many a times we are getting verbal request.
Could we accept and ask them to submit in written in future or we should tell them that we can't accept verbal request, please provide us change request in written. Saving Changes...
Philippe SchulerSenior Instructor/Lecturer in Project/Program/Account PMO Management| Independant ConsultantLes Choux, France
Yes we should document all the change requests. But we can take change requests over the phone or in face to face from authorized project resources just to discuss about the relevance of the request. This could avoid an overload of the Change Management Process activities.Then when we come up to an agreement we must claim for a formal documentation of the change.
Senthil Kumar RajendranMaintenance Superintendent| Blue Hydrogen Industrial gas - Air Products Qudra CompanyJubail, Easter Province, Saudi Arabia
No way always make documented, even email communication or confirmation also accepted.
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1 reply by Md. Masudur Rahman
Nov 26, 2017 4:48 AM
Md. Masudur Rahman
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Thanks for your comments
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
One of the things I always do not accept in a project is not to have a change request process including it non verbal change request. With an email is enough but two things are critical: people who started the change must have visibility of the impacts (in scope, time, cost, or any other things) and must be the owner of the change. Sorry to write this, but you must avoid verbal change request. This type of behavior generate all the undesirable things you hear about projects (scope creep, time delays, out of budged, etc). All people engaged to the poroject must know about the things that will happend when they decide to put a change (the change management process). This line of thinking is the same when you use methods based on Agile where some people think that there is not a change process in place but when you use any of those you will understand that it is.
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1 reply by Md. Masudur Rahman
Nov 18, 2017 5:35 AM
Md. Masudur Rahman
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Thanks for your comments
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Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
No. Pretty much verbal anything will not work - requirements, changes, agreements - to protect yourself, the team, the stakeholders, the project, and the product.
Yes, you can listen to the details around the CR, but to do the work, properly estimate, and identify potential risk, it must be documented. Saving Changes...
A verbal change request is worth the paper it's written on!
If I receive a change request from someone verbally, if they are a senior executive I am likely to complete the change request on their behalf but if they are someone that should have the time to do it themselves, I will educate them on the defined change control process for the project.
The only exception to this would be in a project following an agile delivery lifecycle where a key role such as the Product Owner directly adds requirements or reprioritizes them in the backlog. Even with this, there is documentation, but it might not be a "formal" change request, just the update to the detailed requirements and their priority in the backlog.
Kiron
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1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Oct 08, 2017 8:44 AM
Sergio Luis Conte
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Kiron, sorry to disagree. No matter the position in the organization we must always educate her/him in the change request process. The first person to support the process must be the highest level executive.
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Oct 08, 2017 8:33 AM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
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A verbal change request is worth the paper it's written on!
If I receive a change request from someone verbally, if they are a senior executive I am likely to complete the change request on their behalf but if they are someone that should have the time to do it themselves, I will educate them on the defined change control process for the project.
The only exception to this would be in a project following an agile delivery lifecycle where a key role such as the Product Owner directly adds requirements or reprioritizes them in the backlog. Even with this, there is documentation, but it might not be a "formal" change request, just the update to the detailed requirements and their priority in the backlog.
Kiron
Kiron, sorry to disagree. No matter the position in the organization we must always educate her/him in the change request process. The first person to support the process must be the highest level executive.
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1 reply by Kiron Bondale
Oct 08, 2017 10:55 AM
Kiron Bondale
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Sergio -
It comes down to understanding the materiality of a change. Ideally, there has been some discussion and determination of the thresholds for what constitutes a change requiring formal handling. For example, in my last organization, teams using our agile methodology were required to follow proper change control procedures for high-level requirement (e.g. theme/feature) changes, but detailed requirement (e.g. elaborated stories) changes only need to be documented in the requirements tool and sprint planning tool so long as they did not result in the addition of sprints beyond the current approved number.
Without this materiality threshold, PMs further the perception that we are just "bureaucrats".
From my perspective even in projects with a deep trust on both sides, customer and supplier, I think orally agreed CRs should be written down.
This is also kind of seriousness in business. You never now when things change, in terms of relation, partners in the project etc. pp.
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1 reply by Md. Masudur Rahman
Oct 28, 2017 5:22 AM
Md. Masudur Rahman
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Thanks for your opinion. I am agreed with you.
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Joseph PanganSenior Principal Consultant| Genpact PhilippinesAngeles City, Philippines, Philippines
This may depend on the rules set in the change management plan which may also be highly influenced by enterprise environmental factors like the change management process used in the organization. This may also be dependent on the methodology/approach agreed to be used as Kiron pointed out in his exception example (Agile).
The truth is, change requests can come and be received in multiple different ways. Some organizations use tools such as JIRA, Service Now, Sharepoint, etc. to manage CR's. Some use basic templates (created using MS Word or Excel). If received verbally, you could ask the requester to log the CR using the agreed available tool or at least shoot you an email to formalize and document the request so it could be reviewed, scrutinized, verified and perhaps approved accordingly. Documented CR's are useful for tracking, monitoring and control. They can also be used as reference for future projects.
Kiron, sorry to disagree. No matter the position in the organization we must always educate her/him in the change request process. The first person to support the process must be the highest level executive.
Sergio -
It comes down to understanding the materiality of a change. Ideally, there has been some discussion and determination of the thresholds for what constitutes a change requiring formal handling. For example, in my last organization, teams using our agile methodology were required to follow proper change control procedures for high-level requirement (e.g. theme/feature) changes, but detailed requirement (e.g. elaborated stories) changes only need to be documented in the requirements tool and sprint planning tool so long as they did not result in the addition of sprints beyond the current approved number.
Without this materiality threshold, PMs further the perception that we are just "bureaucrats".
Kiron
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2 replies by Md. Masudur Rahman and Sergio Luis Conte
Oct 08, 2017 12:07 PM
Sergio Luis Conte
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Sorry but I still disagree. Is not about bureaucracy. Is about save money and time. Including the Agile methods a change process is defined implicit or explicit. And changes must be recorded and analyzed in any way that best fits to the organization and the initiative but must be done. If not it is a high probability to not achieve the objectives. At the end, I think we are talking about the same.
