Manage the post-project phase

Your work isn’t over just because you have delivered the project’s
product; you can’t suddenly let go when you move out of project
mode. On the contrary, you need to guarantee a smooth transition to
the operational phase: a project is only successful if all the changes
it brings are accepted and taken on board by end users. If not, even
if it’s on budget and on time, the project will be worthless. Managing
change is the third three key phase of the project management
process, following on from definition and implementation.

Anticipating change when you define the deliverable

Change management should built into the project early on
A new project is launched in a similar way to a new product: you start by looking at the impact you expect it to have
on users:
• Study the market and the expectations of your target population (users).
• Define the product (the deliverable).
• Define the launch plan (the project schedule).

Key roles in change management

• The project sponsor expresses the need which forms the basis of the project, and determines the value he or
she expects to obtain.
• The project owner does what is necessary to deliver the product and takes responsibility for user support.
• The senior user has a key role, by ensuring that the project achieves its objectives and by managing the users’
acceptance of change throughout the life of the project.

Project management and change management: two complementary processes

Managing the project: binary logic
• The project itself obeys binary logic: either an intermediate deliverable exists or it doesn’t (i.e. it’s either compliant
or it isn’t). The existence of the final deliverable marks the end of the project.
All the criteria that obey binary logic are part of the project: they are involved in the definition of the deliverable.
“The new factory is up and running and the machinery is working.”

Managing change: continuous logic

• Change follows continuous logic: users may take change on board at a rate of between 0% and 100% with respect
to the initial objectives (or may even take it on more enthusiastically than you planned!).
Every new process has its own level of adoption. For example, we can pinpoint the percentage of users who have
adopted the project’s deliverables at a particular time: 10%, 30%, 60%, and so on. The success of the project depends
on the degree of adoption you’ve set as a benchmark (for instance, you might consider integration to be successful if
you get over 70% of users accepting the project within 6 weeks).

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• All the criteria that obey continuous logic are part of change management.
“Staff have taken the changes on board: they are observing the new quality and productivity procedures.”

Building change management into project management

The change management component should have its own progress meetings, where the following questions are asked:
• How far are we from achieving target behaviour?
• What’s working and what isn’t?
• What should we do to make things work?
Just as the progress of the project should be analysed by the project owner side, the project sponsor’s team
(and specifically the senior user) should track and analyse the progress of change.

How to ensure effective change management

Begin with the objectives – the project’s goals – at the outset
These are defined by the sponsor, and are the project’s raison d’être.
Example: increase productivity by 10%.

Define target behaviour

The goal will be achieved thanks to the change the project brings: in other words, the way people use the product.
Example: factory workers applying a new machine assembly procedure: D then A then B then C.

Identify current behaviour

This means the way people are doing things at the time of the project launch, before their behaviour has been modified
by the deliverable.
Example: workers are presently assembling the machine in this order: ABCD.

Define benchmarks for the level of adoption

These are the criteria that will enable you to assess levels of acceptance and how far new behaviour has actually
been taken on board.
Example: percentage of workers applying the new assembly procedure after x weeks.

Build your change strategy

This means defining action plans to encourage acceptance of new processes.
Examples: messages in company newsletter, training sessions set up by the foreman, one-to-one meetings, bonuses in year 1
if overall increase in productivity exceeds 6%, and so on.

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