Change overload and how to avoid it Mike Pryor – Principal Consultant, Bestoutcome These days it feels like everything we get asked to do is top-priority. But how do you prioritise when everything is top-priority, and what happens when the list of top-priority changes just keeps growing? This is the modern equivalent of the “straw that broke the camel’s back”, and we’re seeing more and more clients becoming overloaded with change. Mike describes clients who have adopted an outcome-driven heat-map approach to programmes and projects, which allows them to manage the amount of change underway at any time and to balance their priorities and resources effectively.

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Mike Pryor
25th
March 2015
Change Overload
(and how to avoid it)

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Senior
Executive
Our web site went down
yesterday and I need you to drop
everything and get it fixed so it
doesn’t go down again
How often does this happen to you ?
Team
Project Manager
Ok, but what about
the other important
stuff you’ve asked
me to do ?
Leave that for now.
Get the web site
fixed
OK team, new
plans (again!)
Yippee !!

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Senior
Executive
Great work on the web site yesterday.
Now, I’ve just seen this great tool which our competitors
use and I need you guys to investigate it immediately.
The next day
Project Manager!!**##
Oh, OK
By the way, how’s
the other stuff
going ?
Change
(Request)
overload
Team

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Change bandwidth
How much change can one person absorb ?
•Personal change
(buying a new house, a new child, engagement)
•Business change
(store re-fit, new recruits, office move)
•Macro change
(new legislation, elections)

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Three tensions in all organisations
Corporate
Strategy
Run the
Business
Change the
Business
Change bandwidth

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Avoiding Change Overload
1. Get visibility of what’s going on
o Running the business
o Changing the business : active and committed projects
2. Build a heat-map of change
o Level of change on people
o High impact areas
3. Outcome-Driven prioritisation
o New ideas, service requests
o Gateway process
4. Readiness for change ?
o People readiness
o Technical readiness
5. Communicate, communicate, communicate
o Tell your stakeholders what you’re doing
o Listen to what they say
Change Overload
is costly

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Key 1 : visibility of the entire portfolio of work
• In-flight initiatives
• Proposed and committed initiatives
• Running the business

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Key 2 : heat-maps – measuring the change
A B C C E
Governance Framework Oct: Current Status A
Planning
Reporting
Risk&
IssuesMgmt
Governance
Delivery
Management
Claim
Management
Goodwill
register
This
Period
Period
-1
Period
-2
Framework Overall G A G G A G G A A G
Project 1 Manager 1 A G G G A G G G G G
Project 2 Manager 1 G A G G G G G G A A
Project 3 Manager 1 A G G G G G G G G G
Project 4 Manager 2 G A G R A A R R R A
Project 5 Manager 3 G A G G A G G G G G
Project 6 Manager 3 G A G G A G G G G G
Overall
Key Adoption Indicators
• Reduce the heat (bandwidth exceeded):
• load balancing
• re-prioritising
Stakeholder heat-
maps also useful

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Key 3 : Outcome-Driven prioritisation
• You don’t get into the ‘hopper’ without a valuable idea or request
• You don’t continue unless the business case is valid and the work is doable
• Focus on the outcomes, not the outputs
New Idea
Change Request
Gateways

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Key 4 : readiness for change
• Is the organisation ready for the change
• Are your people ready for the change ?
• Are your new processes ready to be implemented ?
• Is your new technology ready to be implemented ?
• Ask all these questions before pressing the button
Come and take the Change
Challenge on stand 40

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Key 5 : communicate, communicate, communicate
• Establish your Drumbeat reporting
• Remember that communication is two way :
1. From the communicator to the recipient
2. Feedback from recipient that the message has arrived

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• Programme and project consultants, helping you deliver successful change
• Portfolio/Programme/Project Office (PMO): setup and management
• Programme and Project initiation and best practices
• Interim and permanent resourcing
• PM3 is our flagship solution, a Programme and Portfolio Management tool
“developed by practitioners for practitioners”
• PM3time is our timesheet solution, which can be integrated with PM3
• Programme management Apps – come and take the Change Challenge
Services
Solutions
Customers
About Bestoutcome
Stand
40

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Questions?
Stand
40
www.bestoutcome.com