A project change is a change in any of the critical success factors (scope, schedule, costs, quality, and project acceptance criteria). The big deal is not that there is a change. In fact, for many projects, changes—especially scope expansions—are expected and encouraged. The big deal is uncontrolled change. Why? Because a change in any of the critical success factors affects the other factors, which then impacts project performance and the project’s ability to achieve the success criteria, which then impacts stakeholder perceptions and satisfaction levels. For example, an expansion in project scope increases the work of the project. At a minimum, the increased work affects project schedule and project costs. In many cases, the increased work also impacts resource plans and adds new risks. On projects with contractual arrangements, the increased scope will likely have contract implications and needs to be formally managed to protect all parties involved.
Thus, any time a change occurs, the project needs a way to recognize the change, evaluate the impact of the change, communicate the change, and make planning adjustments if the change is accepted. This mechanism is commonly referred to as a project change control system.
Note
A project change is a change in any of the critical success factors (scope, schedule, costs, quality, and project acceptance criteria).
Now, if you find yourself managing an agile project, you might be tempted to think “I don’t need to worry about this change stuff, since change is encouraged and part of the innate process.” Not so fast, my friend. Agile approaches do have built-in processes to identify, prioritize, and manage scope changes, that does not mean the changes won’t impact the budget, alter the schedule, or require additional resources. All of this requires proper management. And this is especially true for contractual projects.
Tip
Agile projects still need proper change control management.
Project Change Types—More Than Scope
As mentioned earlier, a project change is a change to any of the critical success factors and not just scope. Although scope changes are generally responsible for 80% or more of the project changes, and we discuss these in greater detail in the next section, it is important to recognize that any of the following would also constitute a project change (and should be controlled using the project change control system):
- An expansion or reduction of project scope
- An expansion or reduction of product features
- An expansion or reduction in performance requirements
CautionFor agile projects, the frequency of scope-related change requests is reduced, since the project definition and/or contract does not normally contain scope/product details and is focused on the critical success factors and business value objectives. However, if there are requests identified that will impact the baseline schedule or budget, a change request should be leveraged. - An expansion or reduction in quality requirements
- A significant change in the target milestone dates
- A shift in the implementation or deployment strategy
- An increase in resource costs
- An expansion or reduction in the project budget
- A change in any of the project objectives
- A change in any of the final acceptance criteria, including return on investment forecasts
- A change in any of the project assumptions, constraints, or dependencies, especially regarding resources and work effort estimates
- A shift in project roles or responsibilities, especially on projects with contractual arrangements
- A decision to reset the performance baselines due to an unrecoverable performance variance
Relation to Configuration Management and Organizational Change Management
To further clarify what is meant by a project change, let’s review two other change-related components of project management: configuration management and organizational change. This is a common area of confusion because change control management, configuration management, and organizational change management are somewhat interrelated, they all deal with change, and they all are a part of project management. As illustrated in Figure 11.1, we are focused on change control management. Table 11.1 summarizes the key differences between the three.
TABLE 11.1 Comparison of Change-Related Components of Project Management
| Change Control Management | Configuration Management | Organizational Change Management | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Project critical success factors | Project deliverables and product | Organizational impact of the project results |
| Primary Concern | Project performance; stakeholder expectations | Integrity of project deliverables; tracking changes in project deliverables | Preparing individuals, organizational units, and customers for the changes |
| Related Terms | Change control; scope management | Document management, versions, and builds | Change management |
| Notes | Focus on scope can overlap with configuration management | Can be part of project’s overall Change Control Plan | Not regarded as a project control activity |
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