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Relationship to Project Management Project management and change management are complementary yet distinct disciplines that may overlap during change delivery, and are often interdependent when delivering value to the organization. The degree of overlap and interdependency can vary between organiz...

Relationship to Project Management Project management and change management are complementary yet distinct disciplines that may overlap during change delivery, and are often interdependent when delivering value to the organization. The degree of overlap and interdependency can vary between organizations, depending on factors such as organizational structure, type of change, methodologies utilized, competency, and capability maturity. Effective integration of project management and change management is required to ensure that organizational objectives are achieved. Integration can occur across various dimensions, including: Roles and Responsibilities: Project management should focus primarily on the application of skills, tools, and techniques to activities required to deliver planned change (e.g., new systems, new processes, new resources) in a structured way within the required scope, time, cost, and quality parameters. Change management should focus primarily on the application of skills, tools, and techniques to activities required to implement and sustain the delivered change, such as influencing individual behavior and organizational culture, facilitating new ways of working, tracking and enabling benefits realization, and providing input for future change initiatives. The scope and focus of the two disciplines should be clearly defined early in the planning process. Overlaps and interdependencies should be identified and documented, including how the disciplines will work together, how information will be shared, and how decisions will be made. Methodology and Plan: Project management and change management methodologies differ in focus. Project management methodologies typically emphasize the organization and management of resources and activities required to complete projects (deliver the change) within the defined scope, budget, timeline, and quality standards. Change management methodologies typically emphasize the people side of change and the activities required to prepare the organization for the delivered change, facilitate the transition from the old way of working to the future state, and embed the change as the new norm. The two approaches should be integrated to ensure that the right amount of attention is given to both the technical (delivery) and people (implementation) side of change. Projects have specific start and end dates, but change management activities frequently continue long after the change is delivered and the project is closed. Nevertheless, project management and change management plans should be integrated into an overall plan because project milestones and change management activities may trigger one another. Tools and Resources: Practitioners use a variety of tools to deliver, implement, control, and measure change. Some tools are specific to project management or change management, but some, such as a Stakeholder Analysis, may be common to both. Where commonalities exist, tools should be integrated to increase efficiency and collaboration between the two disciplines. There may also be opportunities to integrate or share resources (e.g., people, hardware, software, facilities, finances), depending on the degree of overlap and interdependency between project management and change management. Objectives and Outcomes: The common objective of project management and change management is to add value to the organization. Each discipline uniquely contributes to the realization of benefits. Project management delivers the planned change, and change management ensures that the delivered change is implemented and adopted to enable the realization of the expected benefits. Risks Both project management and change management recognize that risks can have a significant impact on the organization’s ability to deliver and implement change. Change management focuses on risks to the adoption of the change, threats to the realization of the expected benefits, and threats to ing the change. Change management also has an interest in project-related risks, such as those affecting timeline, scope, budget, and benefits realization.