Use Solid Project Management on Transformation Projects

A lire sur: Tenstep

Business transformation projects are those that help implement major changes in business process or the entire business model to respond to changes in the marketplace. These projects are generally multi-faceted and include business process re-engineering, organization structure changes, culture change initiatives and new IT capabilities. In some respects, once a transformation project is authorized, it important to complete the work as soon as possible. Yet, in a large company, this "as soon as possible" might still take multiple years for all the work to be digested.

Transformation projects are by their nature large, complex and risky. The projects help implement an environment that can be radically different from the current state. It is often the case that the future state of the organization is not known for sure, but will be explored and discovered over time.

The Need for Project Management

Project management techniques should be used for the implementation of transformation - whether at large, medium and small organizations. The project management discipline will help ensure the creative and transforming ideas yield the desired results. The management of transformation projects should follow the usual project management processes. 

The project lifecycle models can vary. Options include:

• Traditional waterfall. This could be a traditional process of analyzing the current environment, designing the future state, constructing the future state components, testing changes in a pilot environment and implementing the transformational changes across the organization.
• New product development. A transformation project may include idea generation, business analysis, transformation design, prototyping the changes in one organization, implementation and subsequent enhancement over time. 
• Agile / iterative. Some newer thinking of transformation may utilize Agile techniques. This includes flexibility, short iterative cycles and constant reviews. Transformation is rolled out continuously over a period of time rather than implemented in a series of large disruptive waves. Agile processes can control the pace of the change and the degree of disruption.

These are the types of projects where project management discipline is a must. When everything else is in flux, your project management discipline provides the grounding to ensure you reach your transformational destination without completely spinning out of control.