No matter how carefully you plan, things happen during your project that you didn’t or couldn’t anticipate. A task might turn out to be more involved than you expected. Or the client’s needs and desires might change. Or a new technology might appear in the market that could make a portion of your plan obsolete. As a project manager, you need to respond to the new conditions that arise, being aware that a change early in your project may affect your project from beginning to end.

Most organizations that perform large projects put a formal change-control system in place that dictates how you assess and act on requests for changes. Even if your organization has such a system in place, make sure that you clarify exactly what the request is asking you to do and either request the change in writing or write it down yourself to confirm your understanding of the request.

When you assess a change request, look at how the change will affect all aspects of your project—what additional tasks and staff will be required, what tasks will potentially disappear, and how will the change affect the cost of your project. Also try to assess what may happen if you don’t make the change. When deciding whether to implement the change, involve everyone affected by it in the decision process. If you decide not to make the change, tell the person who requested the change why you’ve chosen not to implement it. If you decide to implement the change, write down the steps needed to incorporate the change and update your project plan.

Be aware that some changes can result in scope creep—the gradual expansion of project work outside the scope you originally established for your project. Typically, scope creep occurs when your organization doesn’t have a formal change-control policy in place that formally accepts changes and their associated costs and effects. Scope creep can also occur when the people who don’t do the work associated with the changes decide whether to make changes. Finally, scope creep can occur if you have the feeling that you should never say "No" to a client or you believe you can do anything.

To avoid scope creep, make sure that you define your project’s goals and objectives in sufficient detail so that everyone understands what your project will accomplish. Also, make sure that you assess all aspects of a change for the ways in which it will affect your project. Don’t hesitate to be realistic and admit that you can’t do everything. The world in general likes happy surprises and dislikes unhappy surprises; you’ll do better if you under-promise and over-deliver rather than over-promise and under-deliver.

In response to change requests, you may ultimately decide that your current project plan no longer reflects what you actually need to do. The schedule, costs, and resources needed may be far from your original estimates. At this point, consider updating your project plan and then setting a new baseline.

Tip

Make sure that you keep a copy of your original plan and all subsequent modifications. Comparing the original plan to the new plan can help you become a better manager in the future and can support your performance assessment after you complete the project.