What to do

How to do it

1

Manage change throughout the execute and control stage of the project

Perform the following change management activities as defined in the Change Management Plan:

• Set staff assignments per the roles defined in the plan.
• Monitor and control integration of changes into project documents
• Report status of change management activities in regular project status reports
• Provide other communications as appropriate

2

For each change request, set evaluation and approval guidelines

Determine if the change request requires special treatment and, if so, charge evaluators and approvers accordingly. Otherwise, follow the guidelines in the Change Management Plan.

3

Monitor change management processes for effectiveness

Watch change request, evaluation, and approval queues to determine whether changes are being processed with the appropriate level of care and efficiency.

Examples:

• If new change requests suggest inadequate evaluation of prior requests, perhaps the process is flawed or evaluators may not be complying with process.
• If there is a bottleneck, perhaps the person filling the approver role is not regularly available.

4

Monitor change requests for patterns that may circumvent the project’s established principles for managing change

Look for changes that when considered separately merit approval but when aggregated would likely be rejected. 

Examples:

• Slippery slope pattern: The rationale for the next change is the consequence of the last change.
• Divide and conquer or flying below the threshold: You’ve set a threshold for low-level approval and the change requester chunks a large change into small changes that fall below the threshold.