BradEgeland.com
  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • Expertise
  • Resume
  • Software / Service Reviews
  • Contact
  • Videos
  • Books / White Papers
  • Mentoring Contact Form
  • Awards/Recognition
  • Templates & Downloads
  • Clients
  • Professional Services
  • Past Survey Results

Managing the Changing Project

12/13/2020

2 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Managing a project is hard enough. Managing all the changes that can and often do happen on a project makes everything that much harder. It's like trying to hit a moving target or trying to ride a bull through the streets of Mexico!


Here's the simple definition of change...To make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of something different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone. Most of us don't handle change all that well. In our personal lives or our professional lives. I used to be one of the least flexible people you’d ever meet. I liked taking the same vacations because everything was familiar. Boring. But confidence and a willingness to try new things changed that for me.


Are you good at handling change? Do you readily accept and embrace change? Do you run away from change? Are you somewhere in between those two ends of the spectrum concerning change? How you handle change may say a lot about you and your type of leadership…and it even may say a lot about your ability to lead projects effectively – or at least how much conscious effort you’re going to have to put into each and every turn and bump in the road.


The way I see it, the project manager must always be open to change. Certainly, they must be stubborn leaders…steadfast in the decisions they make, stern in the delegation of tasks and enforcement of deadlines, and not afraid to call the customer out if they aren’t delivering information, task progress, or decisions on their end. Indeed, the project manager must be bold in all aspects, but change is inevitable and they must be open to change.


Why? Because…


Customers almost always change requirements and priorities sometime during the project. Customers probably present the most frustrating changes. What they want changes. What they need changes. Their organization changes and suddenly you’re working with a new sponsor or your project takes on a higher or lower priority. So many customer changes can affect you and your project. Be prepared and try not to pull your hair out.


Your project resources may requiring changing during an engagement. This won’t happen on every project, but it can happen on any project. It can be frustrating when it happens on the customer side. And it can cause significant project impact when it happens on the delivery side of the project – usually because some other project absolutely had to have the specific individual resource that was on your team. Stay calm, make appropriate plans to strategically onboard new project team members when necessary and always do your best to present it in a positive light to your project customer. The last thing you want to do is cause the customer to be overly concerned about any project resource changes that must be made.


Issues and risks will come up. Remember those risks you were dutifully planning for early on in the project? A few of those will likely actually come to light…and you’ll need to react to them to either avoid their impact or to mitigate their impact. The key is to be ready, have a plan in place, and make sure that you did that early risk and issue planning. It’s actually important that it does happen so that you can always be proactive and remain in control.


Organizational changes can and do affect the projects that we manage. Lastly, things will happen in our own organizations that will affect our projects from time to time. Priorities may change, personnel may change (one of our resources might be let go or might leave for another opportunity at another organization)…it’s impossible to predict. And it’s really impossible to prepare for these types of changes. They key is to know they can happen and to not let them overwhelm you and cause you to react negatively and possibly take any actions that may be detrimental to the health of your project or projects.


Summary / call for input


Most changes that we have to manage as project leaders throughout the life cycle of our projects have nothing to do with anything we initiated...we just have to jump on the bull and hope to steer it down the street successfully. No project goes through the cycle without experiencing some change...we just need to be ready for it and prepared to handle it calmly and responsibly...with the help of our team and stakeholders.


How about our readers? What other areas of change affect projects? Do you have certain strategies of dealing with project change that you can share?

2 Comments
Craig Sanders
12/28/2020 07:52:29 pm

Agreed, change is inevitable on any project. It's our ability as PM's to try and prepare for it as much as possible and roll with the punches. As you say, 'embracing' the change makes it a more palatable pill to swallow when it does happen.

Reply
New Orleans Auto Locksmith link
9/2/2022 04:00:43 pm

This is greatt

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author:

    Picture

    Brad Egeland


    Named the "#1 Provider of Project Management Content in the World," Brad Egeland has over 25 years of professional IT experience as a developer, manager, project manager, cybersecurity enthusiast, consultant and author.  He has written more than 8,000 expert online articles, eBooks, white papers and video articles for clients worldwide.  If you want Brad to write for your site, contact him. Want your content on this blog and promoted? Contact him. Looking for advice/menoring? Contact him.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    November 2009

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.