Acknowledgements 13 1 Introduction 14 2 Definitions 17 2.1 Introduction 17 2.2 What is change? 17 2.3 What is a programme, a project, a portfolio or a change? 18 2.4 For clarity and ease of reading, this book will use the term Change to cover Projects, Programmes and Portfolios. 22 2.5 What is change Management? 22 3 The reasons for change failure s24 3.1 Introduction 24 3.2 What are the seven factors that help and/or hinder change within organisations? 24 4 Does the organisation have the skills and capabilities to implement Change successfully? 30 4.1 Introduction 30 INTERNAL ISSUES 32 4.2 Has the organisation grown by acquisition? 32 4.3 How much autonomy from the parent does the organisation have? 34 4.4 How siloed is the organisation? 35 4.5 How well is the Missions Statement and Strategic Direction understood? 37 4.6 How well does the organisation react to Market and Industry changes? 39 4.7 How much customer focus does the organisation have? 40 4.8 How well does the organisation learn from their mistakes? 42 4.9 How much empowerment do staff have to make decisions? 44 4.10 How supportive and knowledgeable are senior management? 46 4.11 How well does the organisations culture manage the human aspects? 48 4.12 Does the organisations have an organisation-wide committee to oversee all changes that are either planned or in progress? 51 4.13 Does the organisations have an organisation-wide Change Management process that can be used for all Changes that need to be made? 54 4.14 Does the organisations have an organisation-wide Change Control process to manage changes in scope, timelines, etc. for inflight changes? 56 4.15 Are the various Change Management processes a good cultural fit for the organisation? 58 4.16 What should an organisation do if they do not have any for insufficient Change Management processes? 59 4.17 How susceptible is the organisation to the latest management and/or change fads? 61 EXTERNAL ISSUES 63 4.18 How regulated is the environment that the organisation operates in? 63 4.19 How complex is the client base? 65 4.20 How complex is the set of products and/or services offered? 67 HYBRID INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ISSUES 70 4.21 How well is the operating model understood? 70 4.22 It is important to ensure that consistent terminology is used across all stakeholders. 74 5 Has sufficient pre-planning work been performed? 76 5.1 Introduction 76 INITIAL THINKING 79 5.2 Is it clear what has triggered the change? 79 5.3 Is it clear what the business case for the change is? 81 5.4 Is it clear who will benefit from the change? 84 5.5 Is there a clearly defined and agreed set of success criteria? 85 5.6 Is there a clear vision of the end-state (or what the world will look like once the change is implemented)? 88 5.7 Is there an understanding of what the Business Requirements for the Change are? 90 5.8 Has a suitable amount of money been allocated to the change? 95 5.9 Does the organisation understand the complexity of the change being implemented? 98 5.10 All changes will have a large number of problems and the stakeholders must be aware of this? 100 PLANNING 102 5.11 Is there an understanding of what things need to be changed to implement the change? 102 5.12 Is there an understanding of how the change will be transitioned into the live environment? 104 5.13 Has an initial change plan (even if draft) been completed? 106 GOVERNANCE 110 5.14 Does the change have an appropriate Sponsor? 110 5.15 Is there suitable senior management oversight and forums in place? 112 5.16 Is there a suitable Change Manager in place? 114 5.17 Is there an appropriate communication strategy in place? 117 5.18 Have suitable processes and controls been implemented? 119 5.19 Have all issues, ambiguities and gaps have been logged at the start of the change? 120 WHO NEEDS TO BE INVOLVED AS PART OF THE CHANGE TEAM 122 5.20 Is it clear what people, teams and organisations need to be involved in implementing the change 122 5.21 Is there a suitable works stream structure in place to ensure the change is delivered? 124 5.22 Have the required internal staff been included in the Change Team? 126 5.23 Does the organisation have the required skill sets in place? 127 5.24 Have all the required external suppliers being engaged in the change 128 5.25 Have the required Internal or intragroup suppliers being engaged in the change 130 5.26 Have all required customers been engaged in the change? 131 5.27 Has the required infrastructure for the change been put in place? 133 SAY THANK YOU 135 5.28 Is the Change Team being appreciated for their work and efforts? 135 6 Is the change being implemented in the most appropriate manner? 137 6.1 Introduction 137 6.2 How supportive and knowledgeable are senior management? 138 6.3 How well are the Change Manager and the Sponsor working together? 140 6.4 Are the correct number of issues being raised for the size of the change? 141 6.5 Does the change feel like is progressing well? 142 6.6 How well are change issues and problems being managed? 144 6.7 Are Change Team members working constantly long hours? 145 6.8 Is the governance structure in place still fit-for-purpose now the change is up and running? 147 6.9 Are key decisions being made as and when they are needed? 149 6.10 How well is resistance being identified and managed during the change? 152 6.11 How much re-planning is taking place during implementation? 156 6.12 How effective is the stakeholder communication strategy? 157 6.13 Are stakeholders hearing about problems with the Change from people outside the Change Team? 159 6.14 How well are the external suppliers being managed? 162 6.15 How well are intragroup or internal suppliers being managed? 166 6.16 How effectively are customers being managed? 169 6.17 How well are the human aspects of the change being managed? 173 6.18 Remember that all changes will have issues and problems 176 6.19 Is the change experiencing scope creep? 177 6.20 How paranoid is the Change Team about issues and problems? 179 6.21 Are staff comfortable raising issues and/or problems without the threat of repercussions from management or other colleges? 181 6.22 Is the Change Team being appreciated for their work and efforts? 184 6.23 Remember to keep checking whether the triggers, business case, benefits, etc. are still valid? 185 7 Has sufficient preparation been performed for the go-live transition? 187 7.1 Introduction 187 7.2 Has everything been delivered that is needed for transition? (And what are the impacts of any gaps) 188 7.3 Is everything that needs to be transitioned into live working as planned? 191 7.4 Has a Transition Coordinator been nominated? 194 7.5 Has the transition approach been agreed upon? 196 7.6 Is everybody aware that the transition is going to take place? 199 7.7 Is there clear ownership of the change before it is transitioned into live? 201 7.8 Has sufficient training been performed before go-live? 202 7.9 Is there a robust transition plan in place? 204 7.10 Is there a sufficient rollback plan in place? 207 7.11 Have both the transition and rollback plans been tested (both separately and together)? 209 7.12 Is the Change Team being appreciated for their work and efforts? 211 8 Care is still required during the actual transition event 214 8.1 Introduction 214 8.2 Issues and problems will happen so prepare for them and a cool head is needed to manage them 215 8.3 Follow the pre-agreed transition and rollbacks plan and only diverge from them with extreme caution 217 8.4 Do not skip the control points within the transitions and roll-back plans 219 8.5 Do not forget the point of no return 222 8.6 Is the Change Team being appreciated for their work and efforts? 224 9 Remember that all changes need a certain amount of post-implementation support 226 9.1 Introduction 226 9.2 Are all stakeholders aware that change takes time to bed in and this will mean the Change Team needs to be kept in place (often at a cost) 227 9.3 Is there are a clear set of handover criteria to pass the ownership of change from the Change Team to the required business teams? 229 9.4 Is the Change Team being appreciated for their work and efforts? 231 10 There is still work to do even though the change is complete 233 10.1 Introduction 233 10.2 Was the change been successful or not? 234 10.3 Has a post-implementation review of the lessons learnt exercise been completed? 236 10.4 Have all the successes been celebrated? 240 10.5 Has the change been formally closed? 242 11 Conclusion and closing points 245
