If one should judge by the way Project Management is taught and practiced in most circles; one would be forgiven for the misguided conclusion that Change is always bad. It would appear that the goal of project planning is to be able to anticipate the future precisely and then develop a perfectly choreographed set of actions to be executed on command, with little to no deviation. It would also follow that the goal of execution is to stick with the script precisely as laid out in the plan, regardless of emergent circumstances. It frequently takes too much energy to stick with the script. On the other hand, coming up with a new script for each change is not always easy and is usually regarded as admission of failure at best, or cheating at worst. In many project oriented organizations, it is necessary and desirable to plan for the known while making reasonable accommodations for the “unknowns”. In these environments, it is frequently advantageous to delay some decisions until more information is available, usually, just prior to the related action. However, such an approach to managing projects would require an acceptance that the Project Management environment is inherently uncertain and therefore highly change prone. Acceptance that change is a fact of life would pave the way for a change-friendly approach to project planning and execution.

Presenter:
Hilbert Robinson