The Art of Managing Change
Reflections on Change Management for Technology Projects
“If you want to make enemies, try
to change something” – Woodrow Wilson
The Art of Managing Change
Agenda
• What is change management ?
• Change management basics.
• Case study.
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What is Change Management?
• Change management is the process
of developing a planned approach to
change in an organization.
• Objectives:
– Maximize collective efforts of stakeholders
– Minimize risk of failure
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Icebergs
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The IT Project Iceberg
Technology
Process
People / Organization
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The IT Project Iceberg
Easy
Technology
10%
Process
People / Organization
Hard
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90% - need
to address
these first
The IT Project Iceberg
Failure to recognize that technology is just the tip of
the iceberg will doom your project to an early grave !
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Don’t Just “Wire it Together”
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How to Manage Change
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Find a great sponsor.
Have a clear sense of mission or
purpose – develop a shared vision.
Build a team. Pick people with
relevant skills and high energy levels.
Ask for volunteers.
Identify and manage stakeholders.
Communicate early and often.
Train early and often.
The Art of Managing Change
Project Sponsor is Critical
All IT projects must have a
business sponsor or “owner”:
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Establish vision and business case for change.
Provide overall project direction.
Report status / significant issues to stakeholders.
Ensure that system meets needs of users and
managers.
• Ensure that resultant changes in business process
are implemented consistently.
• Ensure that project benefits are realized.
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Make a Case for Change
Develop a business case that…
• Addresses a problem or opportunity
• Recommends a solution
• Defines the boundaries
• Creates a compelling case for change
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Make a Case for Change
Everyone sings off the same sheet of music…
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Manage Stakeholders
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Identify and Map Stakeholders
People / Organizations
Internal:
 Process owner
 Affected business units
 System users
 IT organization
 Support organizations
(HR, Finance, Admin)
External:
 External customers /
users
 Public
 OFT
 Control agencies
 Media
Stake
Define each
individual’s and
group’s interest in
the project and
describe how it
impacts them
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Expected
Disposition
Support,
Neutral or
Oppose
Proposed Role
Describe how you would
engage each individual or
group in the project. Some
individuals and groups play
direct roles (approver,
decider, builder, user,
operator, etc.). Others have
indirect roles requiring you
to keep them informed.
Understand Stakeholders
• Supporters
• Neutrals
• Opposers
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Understand Stakeholders
Stakeholder management The “Wild West” approach:
– Pioneers
– Settlers
– Outlaws
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Leverage the Pioneers
• Pioneers
– Unbridled enthusiasm for the project -- they
can see the promised land.
– Good source of project “champion” or
sponsor.
– Early adopters to demonstrate initial success.
– Project spokesperson -- keep the settlers
informed and get them on board for
implementation.
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Bring Along the Settlers
• Settlers
– They’ll follow, if you have
a good leader (pioneer).
– Important to communicate the “message of opportunity”
early and often:
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What’s in it for them ?
What will things “look like” after the project ?
How will their job change ?
What new opportunities will the project create ?
How can they participate ?
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Listen to the Outlaws
• Outlaws
– Equally important to identify.
– Change resistant -- lurking in the cubicles to
ambush your project.
– Expend some energy to convert as many as
possible.
– Listen to their concerns – encourages due
diligence to ensure your change strategy is
sound.
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Total Support is Impossible
“If your horse is dead, dismount !”
•
Alternatives to dismounting:
– Buy a stronger whip.
– Change riders.
– Declare: "This is the way we have always ridden this
horse."
– Appoint a committee to study the horse.
– Arrange to visit other sites to see how they ride dead
horses.
– Create a training session to improve employees' riding skills.
– Change the requirements and declare the horse undead.
– Outsource contractors to ride the dead horse.
– Harness several dead horses together for increased speed.
– Provide additional funding to increase the horse's performance.
– Promote the horse to a supervisory position.
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Stakeholder Management
Capability Maturity
Most Organizations at Level 1 (or 0/-1), Striving to Achieve Level 2
5. Optimized Process
4. Managed Process
3. Standardized Approach
2. Basic Capability
1. Ad-hoc
Lessons learned drive continuous
improvement of stakeholder
management process.
Sponsors fully engaged. Stakeholder commitment
and communications strategies routinely reviewed
and adjusted as required. Performance measured.
Stakeholder management processes fully defined and
documented with full buy-in throughout the organization.
Basic stakeholder management procedures are identified for some projects.
Sponsors informally committed to the project.
Few processes in place. Projects succeed by happenstance and heroics. Key stakeholders
known but not formally identified. No stakeholder communication actions identified.
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Communicate, Communicate
• Project Business Case
– Plain English description (business
purpose, resource requirements, expected
outcomes).
– Sends clear message of agency
commitment to project.
• Weekly Team Meetings
– Keeps project team on point.
– Surfaces issues for resolution.
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Communicate, Communicate
• Project Steering Committee Meetings
– Maintain agency focus on project.
– Keep project “owners” engaged.
– Decide major issues -- scope, budget,
resources.
– Opportunity to update key stakeholders.
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Communicate, Communicate
• Project Status Reports
– Weekly reports on Intranet.
– Pilot surveys.
• “Strut Your Stuff”
– Agency newsletter.
– Press articles.
– Agency’s external web site.
• Town hall meetings with stakeholders
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Key Skills
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People
Political
Analytical
Business
Systems
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Training is Critical
• Change agent skills:
– Leadership
– Visioning
– Listening and inquiry
– Coaching and facilitation
– Dealing with complexity
– Analyzing systems and processes
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Training is Critical
• Business training:
– New organizations and relationships
– Changed staff roles and responsibilities
– Changed business operations
– New policies, procedures
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Training is Critical
• Technology and tools training:
– New forms and documentation
– New information systems
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Case Study
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The Problem
• Law enforcement workers need quick
and easy access to crime fighting data
from state, local and federal sources:
– Criminals don’t heed jurisdictional
boundaries.
– Heightened need for intelligence sharing
post 9/11.
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The Problem
• Traditional agency-centric (e.g., “stove
pipe”) approach to technology gets in
the way:
– Individual agency resources strained supporting
redundant systems and databases.
– Limited resources available to build new capability.
– Users forced to deal with multiple entities to get
the data they need.
– Multiple PCs and devices in the field.
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The Vision for Change
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Coordinated delivery
of criminal justice
information
Easy to use
Graphical Interface
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The Strategy
• Individual criminal justice agencies keep their
data and applications.
• Give users access via a single web portal.
• Build new / upgrade old applications to
provide improved capability.
• Consolidate agency infrastructure (networks,
mainframes, servers, etc.) for improved
efficiency and lower cost.
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Managing Change
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Leadership communicated the vision.
Project sponsor and change leader identified.
Key participants trained in consensus building.
Agencies established a governance board:
– Coordinate budgets
– Prioritize and oversee common projects
– Manage consolidated technology services
• Incremental change initiated:
– Mainframe migration to OFT
– Single network organization created
– Common architecture and portal environment designed
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Parting Thoughts…
Building and managing relationships
is critical to success. Figure out
what’s required to inspire individual
stakeholders to work together
toward a common project goal.
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Parting Thoughts…
“Things do not change - we do.”
– Henry David Thoreau
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Thank you !!!
The Art of Managing Change