Controlling change and its impact can be a make-or-break factor of project success. Establishing a change board can help ensure that requested changes are realistic, do not cause downstream problems, and work within the project scope and budget. But what makes for a good change board?

Effectively managing change through a change control process is critical to the success of any project. For example let's say you have identified a feature that needs to be added to a software program for a customer. If that customer asks that the feature be changed, what impact will that have on your schedule, budget and how will it impact other development efforts?

Changes can come from many sources both internal and external and when this is repeated multiple times across a project, without proper change control in place, the project can quickly spiral out of control.

Change control is a disciplined approach to monitoring each suggested change, and assessing the impact of it on the schedule, budget and team.

Proper change control will:

• Make sure changes are prioritized properly and make sure any work done is in scope for the project.
• Allow the schedule and budget to be adjusted accordingly to avoid slippage and surprise delays.
• Keep the team informed and proactive instead of reactive to changes.

One of the most effective parts of a solid change control process is the change board. Simply put, a change board is a meeting that occurs at regular intervals, and occasionally on an ad hoc basis (although this should be avoided). Although the management of a change board can be one of the easiest parts of the change process, change boards are often used improperly, if used at all.

The purpose of the change board is to make sure the project status and any proposed changes are being openly reviewed by all stakeholders without the inevitable delay or filtering that can often occur with communicating project issues to the team. This creates intangible benefits while simultaneously informing the group of all decisions and status.

For example, an engineer in a change board meeting might bring up an obscure feature or an aspect of the software that a marketing representative at the meeting hears about for the first time. The marketing representative might see a way to sell this feature or may suggest a simple tweak that would make it more effective for another customer, etc. These potential benefits could easily go unrecognized, save for the common communication format of the change board.

The remainder of this article provides a brief overview of the change board, the benefits it can provide, and some dos and don'ts for board management.

1. Ensure that all appropriate stakeholders are present

A common mistake of change boards is excluding key stakeholders. A change board must include all  project stakeholders in order to be effective. For a software project change board, stakeholders from the following functions would typically be represented:

• Engineering
• Customer Service
• Product managers
• Project managers
• Marketing
• Sales

You might find that some individuals on change boards have little to say or do not seem to get meaningful information from most of the meetings. However, boards should resist the urge to start excluding members or allowing them to exclude themselves.

I remember a customer service rep who sat in each change board with his head down writing (sketching I think) for months without saying a word, until one day we were discussing an aspect of how our licensing scheme would work. He said he thought it might be incompatible with our current CRM system—something we had never considered—and he was right. The issue probably wouldn't have been found until the software release; at which point, it would have caused delays and countless problems for our customers and staff. However, by catching the conflict early, we were able to provide a simple fix, pre-release, with no interruption to the schedule.

So make sure all appropriate parties are included in each and every meeting. If a designated board member can't attend, seek a replacement representative to fill in for them, or consider or postponing the meeting.

2. Promote honest and open discussion

You cannot have an effective change board if people are unwilling to be completely honest in the meeting. Board members should strive to make sure everyone feels comfortable bringing up ideas, pointing out potential pitfalls, and questioning estimates. If an engineer is pressured into saying he can deliver something on time when he knows he probably can't, the purpose of the change board has been subverted. Moreover, the board has now created a scheduling issue that has been buried and will later appear as a "surprise."

Although the need for openness may seem obvious, it is where I have seen most change boards fail. All participants must be aware that change board meetings are open opportunities to bring up bad news, problems, and concerns. The board should, as a group, reward those who speak up and raise concerns; and the board should never react harshly to someone who raises a problem or makes a mistake. Instead, the board should thank contributors for raising their issues during the meeting. If the board must reprimand a member for a mistake, that action should be done outside of the meeting and with an emphasis on the fact that the member did the right thing in acknowledging the mistake.

Beware of change boards that turn into "everything is fine" status meetings. Anyone who has spent any time on a software project—or any project, for that matter—knows everything is rarely "fine." Keep everyone talking and keep asking hard questions until the issues start coming up more easily.

3.Take notes

It is critical that someone in the meeting takes thorough notes and indicates the appropriate parties involved in any issues raised. A project manager is often the best person for this role, although very large or small organizations may find other participants are more suited for the function. The note-taker's role is both to record meeting proceedings, and to follow up on noted action items, as needed, between meetings.

Follow-up between meetings and the discussion of follow-up actions are both very important to successful change boards. These efforts help show continuity and demonstrate the issues are being resolved. If no project manager is able or available to take notes, the board can either designate another person as note taker or rotate the responsibility each week, month, etc.

4. Follow a change board itinerary:

Some common tasks for change boards include:

• Bring up any announcements for the team.
• Go around the table and check status with each person/group. This provides an opportunity for each group to update the rest of the team on any new issues, concerns and ask questions.
• Review and discuss any new changes being recommended. Make sure each group gets a chance to respond and get clarity, ask questions, etc.
• Assess the impact of these changes on each team and the budget and schedule.
• Review the current list of tasks being worked on (features, etc.) Make sure everyone is clear on each, check status, schedule and discuss any outstanding issues

Conclusion

While the four recommendations cited above might seem obvious and simple, they are too often overlooked. Adhering to them will help ensure you get the most out of your change board and that the board will have a positive impact on your projects.

About the Author

Randy McGowan is a founder and the CEO of Reel Logix Inc., developers of scheduling software including The Calendar Planner for appointment scheduling in general business and Reel Production Calendar in Film and Television production.