Contributed by Cory Camic
At the October meeting of the IIBA Bluegrass Chapter, Mark Wavle presented on “Cultivating Agile Requirements”. In his presentation, Mark talked about one of the most important principles of the Agile Manifesto as producing working software over having comprehensive documentation. The Agile Manifesto was created for software development, but the principles can be applied to project management. In Agile projects, the project is successful if the product outcome is a “working” outcome that the stakeholders want. To make sure that you have a “working” outcome to your project, that is where it is important to implement Change Management.
In PMI’s Managing Change in Organizations: A Practical Guide, Change Management is defined as “a comprehensive, cyclic, and structured approach for transitioning individuals, groups, and organizations from a current state to a future state with intended business benefits.”
Put simply, Organizational Change Management is the people side of Project Management.
You can do a great job of running projects…come in on time, in budget, and deliver what was requested. However, if the people using the solution don’t want to adopt it, you’ve wasted your time and money. Building in change management strategy and activities helps to ensure that the change will be adopted, and that your project is a success.
References:
- Mark Wavle, Cultivating Agile Requirements [IIBA Bluegrass Chapter Meeting, October 15, 2014]
- Project Management Institute, Managing Change in Organizations: A Practical Guide [2013, Project Management Institute, Inc.]