Business folks often talk about managing change as if it was a standalone problem. What isn’t talked about is how to navigate around an issue in a project without derailing everything else.
Executing a new project plan is like driving in an unfamiliar foreign country. You hire a car, punch in your destination into a sat nav and follow its planned route until you get to where you want to go.
During the journey, the sat nav may need to modify the route to avoid an accident or roadworks. The sat nav will recalculate this change for you automatically, and sometimes without you even realizing it.
In the context of a project, it isn’t that simple. There may be a particular phase or block of work that doesn’t go to plan. A team member goes on sick, a customer changes the delivery date, or the spec changes. Your plan now needs to change to deal with it.
Unlike the sat nav though, recalculating your route to deal with the obstacle or issue in front of you isn’t done automatically. It needs to be carefully handled in real time and without upsetting the rest of the project. There are two types of navigation changes in projects:
- Detours & diversions
- Wrong turns or dead-ends
Detours & Diversions
These are temporary routes to get around unforeseen problems or issues. They require you to deviate from the original plan, sort the issues out quickly and then get back on track.
The diversion must be as short as possible. The further away you get from the main plan, the greater the risks to the project. Longer detours will take more time, burn more money and resources and potentially expose you to new risks and issues.
The best people to plot the detour are the folks involved in that specific part of the project. They have the best visibility of the issue and will have the know-how and experience to deal with it. All they need to know is to keep the detour short and get back on track quickly.
Wrong turns or dead ends
We all get the same feeling when we suddenly realize we’ve taken a wrong turn or hit a dead end. It doesn’t matter if we’re driving a car, walking in the hills or leading a project. We know that in that moment that we’ve gone wrong and now need to correct course.
The same principle for land navigation applies to managing projects. The moment you realize you’ve gone wrong, STOP. Work your way back to a known position as quickly as possible. This minimizes any knock-on delay and the time it takes to backtrack.
When we’re lost there is a part of us which is reluctant to admit we’re wrong and turn around. We can kid ourselves into thinking that things will ‘come good’ and we’ll eventually end up in the right place. This never happens. As soon as you’ve gone wrong, turnaround!
Communicating the change
Regardless of how you navigate change, it is crucial that everyone involved knows that they now need to change direction, even if its temporary. Everyone affected must know about the detour and all head in the same direction. If not, chaos ensues.
There’s a saying in project management that it is impossible to overcommunicate. Regardless of how many times something is said, there will be someone, somewhere that didn’t hear it! Figure out the change and then communicate it to everyone involved.
Navigating any project change is not easy but with the right approach it can be made manageable. If you find yourselves in a complex issue and don’t know how to adapt your plan to deal with it get in touch.
