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Why It Is Important to Manage Change
Have you ever been on a project where change was not managed well? Think about what the project manager should communicate to the stakeholders in order to successfully control the change management process.
Managing change is a critical factor in the success of a project. Without a sound, well-understood, and enforced change management process, the project will be out of control soon after it starts.
Change is inevitable. It will happen. You, as the project manager, must be prepared for it and manage it appropriately. Your focus should be on controlling the amount of change by ensuring that all changes that are of benefit to the project are appropriately analyzed (including assessing impacts), approved, communicated, and implemented in a timely, cost-effective manner. At the same time, ensure that any proposed changes that are of little or no value to the project are rejected.
The Project Management Body of Knowledge states that a project manager will spend about 90% of their time communicating. Change management is an area where it is vital to gather input from stakeholders and communicate the decision about the change, whether it is approved or not, back to the stakeholders.
In all but the simplest of projects, some change is essential. In projects with an external sponsor or customer, changes can be an important source of additional revenue and improved or enhanced deliverables. However, too much change can impact productivity and ultimately can lead to the project becoming out of control. You, as the project manager, must ensure that this does not happen and that change is a positive, well-managed process.
I encourage you to review the document Prevention Measures to Avoid Troubled Projects, which includes a number of items relating to project baselines and change management. This document is available at the Quality Assurance Web site.