What makes a project successful?
- On time/on budget delivery?
- A quality product?
- A complete set of delivered requirements?
OR
- Successful attainment of business goals and objectives?
- A user-friendly system that end users want to use?
- New business processes that align work flow and system flow?
For me, the answer is all of the above. If we, as Project Managers, deliver the project on time and on budget but the project does not meet the original business goals and objectives as defined in the business case – or doesn’t align with the business workflow and allow for user efficiencies – then we have not done our jobs to completion.
As Project Managers, we have a responsibility to ensure that our projects impact business change. We can prevent adoption and alignment issues by including Organizational Change Management (OCM) activities into our project. Here are some basic organizational change management components that can be included in your work plan and if executed appropriately will make a big difference in your project’s success:
- Align Project Goals with Organizational Goals
- Educate and Manage Stakeholders
- Coach Business Leaders and Sponsors
- Communicate across the Organization
- Redesign and align Business Processes
- Train Business Users
- Market Project Goals and Objectives
Including these basic OCM tasks will ensure you think of the overall project in terms of what the organization is trying to accomplish and what the users need instead of just focusing on the system implementation. This will ensure your organization achieves the return on investment and goals/objectives they planned on for the project and make you an integral part of business change at your company.
For help in leveraging your next BI project, contact a data and analytics specialist today.
