Project Management Changes
Project management is probably the most important aspect of every software development project. It is subdivided into various activities aimed at realizing the project’s plan and delivering the final software product in time. However, like any other aspect of the software development process, project management may change. It may also respond to the changing conditions and environment. That is why change management is worth talking about. In this article we will describe the main change management activities and goals. But before doing that it is necessary to say a few words about project management, because it is hard to describe change management without understanding it.
As we have already mentioned, project management is a necessary aspect of every software development project. It is aimed at meeting the terms of project and delivering final products in time. Project management is actually a process of work organization. It begins with the creation of plan. A plan is necessary to forecast the probable terms of product delivery and to define all activities of the team for the period of project realization. After the plan is created, it must be implemented properly. That is why the next stage of project management process is called project monitoring. The programmers must track the development of their projects constantly to detect problems in their realization in time. The last stage of the project management process is called project control. It is required to make sure that all issues in project realization have been handled.
Now let’s find the definition for changes in project management.
Changes are things that impact the initial plans of software development projects. For example, if the customer changes his requirements regarding the final software product, the team should change the initial plan of the project. However, not all factors that may impact the plan lead to changes in it. We have already mentioned that software development teams remove problems in plan realization constantly during their projects. That does not always mean changes in the initial plan. Sometimes these problems are results of factors that can be removed. In other cases software developers use change management.
Change management and project management
Change management is an amount of activities aimed at adapting the project’s plan to the changing environment. Actually, it includes three kinds of actions.
Adaptation to changes is the most widely used of them. Software development teams use it when it is impossible to struggle changes or control them. In such cases they just change the project’s plan.
Changes control is the second activity of change management. It is used when the developers can control the changes caused by external factors. In such cases the initial plan of the project remains the same.
The team may also effect changes if the developers see that their plan is not perfect or it does not fit to the changed requirements. In such cases the team becomes the driver of change.
