When implementing a project or initiative, both change management and project management are required. Each discipline provides the necessary framework for successfully implementing change and obtaining the desired outcomes. To be effective, however, change management and project management must collaborate. This results in a unified value proposition that lays the groundwork for tactical integration and adds value to all parts of the project, including people and technology.
The meaning of change management varies depending on your position. On a project, project managers often conceive of it as managing changing resources, processes, and people. Others could refer to it as project change management or change control. At Prosci, we define change management as the use of a defined process and tools to manage the people side of change to accomplish the desired goal.
Similarly, especially in technology projects, project delivery has developed to include a range of iterative techniques for solution design and development, such as Agile. Change management may be adjusted to fit with sequential, iterative, or even hybrid methods for solution design, development, and delivery.
The following paragraphs compare common features of change management with project management, such as focus, definition, intent, process, tools, scaling factors, success assessment, and practitioners. Although the contrasts between the disciplines are highlighted in this list, it’s important to remember that change management and project management are complementary disciplines with the same goal: to achieve effective transformation.
Change Management – the use of a structured process and tools to guide people through change to accomplish a project’s targeted goal (such as ROI).
Project Management – the use of specialized knowledge, skills, tools, and processes to provide others with something of value.
Change Management – to ensure that impacted workers accept, implement, and apply the change-related solution.
Project Management – to ensure that the solution is properly planned, developed, and provided.
Change Management – personnel and stakeholders that will be affected by a project solution or initiative (those who must adopt and use the change)
Project Management – tasks and activities involved in developing and implementing a technological solution for a change
Change Management – Change characteristics, impacted organizations’ features, and the degree of “people change” necessary
Project Management – The project’s or initiative’s complexity and degree of technological change
Change Management
Project Management/Solution Development “Domains”
Change Management
Project Management
Change Management – The factors of the human side of change that are measured include:
Project Management – The technical aspect of change elements is the focus of measurement, which includes:
Change Management – not simply change management practitioners, but a coordinated structure of assistance throughout the organization:
Project Management – Typically used by a project manager and a project team working on a single project or initiative:
Both project management and change management are important components of effective transformation. Each discipline is critical to taking your project and people from the transition stage to the intended future state, despite their differences in focus and approach. Understanding how each discipline interacts with one another is the first step toward creating a unified value proposition and laying the best possible basis for your transformation projects.
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