- Lao Tzu
This post concludes the series on change management that
started with a discussion about what’s
so confusing and is a continuation of my previous post on the
process of project change management.
That post described the conceptual activities in project change
management and why there are not explicit change management processes in the PMBoK. Now it is appropriate to review what is in PMBoK
and how it aligns with the conceptual activities.
The following PMBoK processes relate to project change
management:· Develop project management plan
· Plan [Knowledge Area] management
· Direct and manage project work
· Monitor & Control project work
· Perform integrated change control
“Develop project management plan” and “Plan [Knowledge Area]
management go hand-in-hand. The project
management plan includes each of the knowledge area management plans. Each knowledge area plan (scope, time, cost,
etc.) needs to include how change to that component will be managed. In addition, the project management plan
should describe how change requests are submitted, processed, reviewed and
decided.
One thing I haven’t yet discussed is the two types of
change. There are, for example, changes
to the product or service that is produced in “Direct and manage project work” and
variance and compliance changes that are recognized in “Monitor and Control
project work.” We encountered both of
these in a previous post on the philosophical
dilemma of project change. The
project plans should,, of course, address how this dilemma is recognized and
resolved in the “direct and manage” and “monitor and control” processes.
“Perform integrated change control” is the key to having
project change work effectively. It is
here that change requests are received and processed. As I mentioned in the previous post, this
process is like initiating a complete mini-project for each request. That’s why I have a dissonant response to
Table 3-1 on page 60 of the PMBoK every time I pay attention to the location of
4.5 Perform Integrated Change Control, in the Monitoring and Controlling
Process Group column. Realistically,
this step spans all five columns, from Initiating to Closing. Not only does this span all process groups,
but because a change to one functional group will trigger cascading changes in
other functional groups, this activity also spans all functions (scope, time,
cost, etc.), which is why it is integrated
change control.
As I now bring this series to a close, the most important
point to emphasize is that change will occur on your project, it will happen,
and it must be planned for, you must prepare to have change, and you must have
the processes and practices in place to effectively include, manage and control
change in your project.
So now that you know everything I know about project change,
what tips do you have for other PMs?
© 2013 Chuck
Morton. All Rights Reserved.
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