Solid planning and implementation approaches prepare business for the process of managed projects, improved processes and established change with measurable results. Project management and business analysis helps align business objectives, process and work discipline that must be followed to successfully achieve a change within an organization.

The desired change should be business driven beginning with requirements identification and shared business analysis. The business requirements could be any number of things. For example, decrease costs, minimize risk, enhance processes and improve productivity or increase revenue and profits. Identifying the business needs and required results helps in developing plans and making sound strategic decisions. Shared business analysis is the first key to creating success.

Once direction is determined, project management should emphasize accountability, shared implementation, mentoring and transition strategies. All operational resources should move towards the desired result as quickly as possible with the least amount of resistances. There are many methods of managing this process. Picking the right method, strategy and people during the upward swing of project implementation and resource development is critical to having small or large initiatives accepted and integrated. Often a combination of economic, organizational methods and influence must be applied.

Project managers must consider operational resource’s abilities to provide the support services required to make changes and business improvements viable. You must consider corporate culture and the business mandate. If you need to get a project done, resistance or slow moving efforts get you nowhere. You should focus on communications in an enhanced way of making things happen. Provide mentoring and make it part of the corporate routine.

If the initial investigation phase, planning phase and execution phase are successful then there should be an improved measurable result. The organization capabilities should have shifted from the business operations perspective. Benchmarking should be used to measure the improvements that include both economic and organizational measurements with the appropriate business services support groups. Being departmentally inclusive is important.

The business project team accountable for the process needs to exit the environment with a pre-exit plan in place. They should ensure that the operations people can manage the changed environment. A training and transition plan must be implemented early in the process. The exit requirements should be identified prior to the project engagements with strict efforts on measurable results.

Closure to the project and change process is critical for all parties involved. Once support teams take over operational responsibility, there should be a monitoring and measurement system in place to ensure that objectives are reached. By now the business project team is no longer involved but accountability still exists with key assigned members and stakeholders. There should be identified audit points that exist outside the project and into the operational departments.

Business departments that emphasize using best practices for projects and process change can establish themselves as innovative leaders by establishing work management discipline principals, measuring their activities, and showing the results that they made. This approach can be applied to any number of departments and projects; for example changes in technology, business processes, risk advisory or staff training.

When managing projects and business operational change it is important to keep your exit in mind with a disciplined approach. Measure your success and you will learn and achieve greater results.

QUESTION: Does your business take the time to think through the approach to getting things done better?

Thought: Maybe it’s time to build that brain power into the business best practice to bring down mistakes.Having good solid business requirements upfront can help. It is just a matter of training your people to facilitate that process better and then letting them do it.