IT Project = Change management program

Most IT projects are fundamentally Change management projects, So the required care & steps need to be taken for the same. All the stake holders in the engagement need to "CHANGE" their way of accomplishing their duties or tasks. But in most cases organizations don't perceive it that way and hence don't take the additional steps required to make sure the project flows freely and all the stakeholders are onboard and are aware and have bought in/agreed to the new way.

Recently I was reading a BCG whitepaper titled "A Road Map to Change", In which the authors talk about how new initiatives need to be managed in companies. I thought it was quite relevant to IT Projects, So below are some excerpts from the same,

Our study of hundreds of Major change programs around the world revealed a number of systematic and reproducible ways to reduce the risks of transformation efforts so that companies can be sure of a positive outcome if they take the right steps.

Change Programs tend to trip on the same kinds of issues:

- Shortcoming in leadership

- Ineffective Project Team performance

- Inadequate stakeholder engagement

- Diffuse Accountability

- Lack of clarity on critical milestones

- No line of sight of original business case

Three critical dimensions that drive success:

Time to Results and the critical milestones that keep the program on track

Financial impact (tied to the business case) and the leading indicators that show progress towards desired results.

Behavior that supports the projects goals or that puts the project at risk.

Next defines A good reporting system - Generates management reports that clearly show individual accountabilities and timelines, progress against milestones, places where deadlines are slipping and where outcomes are likely to fall short of goals, and other factors that put the program at risk.

It instills a common language and consistent way of approaching and evaluating projects.

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Prashanth Rai