Change happens on projects. If you’ve managed a project, you’ve seen it time and time again. Show
Sometimes the change is big and requires an adjustment to your scope and plan. Other times, it’s minimal and doesn’t impact too much. Either way, as a project leader, you have to stay on top of change to ensure it doesn’t impact your budget, timeline, or team negatively. You may not be able to keep project change from happening—but you can manage it. What is change management?In project management, change management refers to the process used to identify, document, and remediate change in a project. That change could alter the scope, budget, resourcing, and timeline of a project. Or it could just alter an existing project requirement and nothing else. Like projects, change comes in many shapes and sizes. So it’s up to you as the project manager to keep an eye out for it and apply the proper steps to avoid project combustion. Every organization handles change management differently, but a change request form is a simple tool you can use to document and track ongoing change. How to manage project change requestsWhether you have a change management process in place or not, it’s important to think through the logical steps you might take to accept and agree to a project change. 1. Assess the impact of the change requestWhen a stakeholder or team member makes a change request, you’ll want to inspect it to ensure the change is necessary, then assess the impacts. Here are a few simple questions to help you and your team determine how to handle the change:
Once you’ve discussed these questions with your team and stakeholders, you can focus in on how the change will impact your timeline and budget. It’s a good idea to get your team together to talk about the level of effort required by the impending change. For instance, let’s say you’re scoped to install an in-ground pool and the customer decides to add a hot tub after the pool has already been dug. You’ll need to figure out how that affects the existing plan, labor, and, eventually, costs before moving forward. After all, stopping work to redesign the pool, get the customer’s approval on the new design, and order the proper materials sure sounds expensive and time-consuming. In some cases, a stakeholder may be fine with the change and its associated costs. But often, it can be just as much of a surprise to them as the original change request was to you! Be thoughtful, and spell out all the steps the change will require—making sure to get specific about potential project schedule and budget impacts. That way, everyone can agree on next
steps and any added costs before you proceed with the work. 2. Adjust your project planOnce everyone agrees on next steps, it’s time to update your plan. Having a documented plan makes it easier to manage change through to completion because it provides a single source of truth for your project. See other ways a plan benefits your projects. If the change affects your timeline, be sure to capture a baseline of your plan before you reschedule tasks so you can track changes to your plan over time. You can use those learnings to inform project decisions and improve future planning. Then adjust all impacted tasks in your plan to ensure it’s up-to-date. Need to reschedule or reassign several tasks at once? Here’s how to select multiple tasks in TeamGantt for quick and easy updates: 3. Communicate the changeOf course, anytime you make changes to your plan, you’ll need to let your team and stakeholders know. That way everyone’s on the same page about the path moving forward and can work together to bring the project home successfully. Here are a few simple ways you can communicate project changes:
How (and why) to write a change requestThe best way to document and get approval for a change (and everything that comes with it) is to write a change request. Not sure where to start? Download a copy of our free Google Docs change request form template. Using the change request form templateDocumenting your project change and approvals is a whole lot easier when you use our template. To edit the template, you'll need to save a copy to your own drive first. Simply click File > Make a Copy (or File > Download as), and you’re ready to go! Here’s a quick overview of the form and its fields so you know how to make the most of it for your change requests:
Customizing the change request form templateWe’ve kept this change request form template short and sweet because these are the basics you’ll need to manage change on multiple projects. After all, templates should make your job easier! But feel free to adapt this template to make it yours. You may want to add your own logo to the header or even format your change request as a written contract rather than a form. Whatever you do, just be sure to include a form of written agreement in your change management process. Manage project change more easily with TeamGanttYou may not be able to avoid change, but you can keep it from bogging your project down with TeamGantt. Here are just a few of the features you’ll enjoy:
Give our online project management software a free try today! When should a process for handling change request be defined for a project?A process for handling changes should be defined during project execution. Projects are more likely to succeed when project managers focus on work challenge and expertise to influence people. If you do not want the schedule duration to increase, you should focus on leveling non-critical tasks.
What is the process of change management for the change project?The Change Management Process is the mechanism used to initiate, record, assess, approve and resolve project changes. Project changes are needed when it is deemed necessary to change the scope, time or cost of one or more previously approved project deliverables.
Which process is used to implement approved change requests?Change control is a process used to manage change requests for projects and big initiatives. It's part of a change management plan, which defines the roles for managing change within a team or company.
What are the six steps in the change control process?Change control can be described as a set of six steps:. Plan / scope.. Assess / analyze.. Review / approval.. Build / test.. Implement.. Close.. |