Chapter 16

Change

In This Chapter

Appreciating what the Change theme is all about

Revising the Change theme

Key revision points

Practising with exam-style questions

The Change theme isn’t named very well, because although it’s about change management, it’s about rather more than that. In fact, the theme covers:

Change management

Configuration management (not quite the same thing as change management)

Issue handling (and issues can be about anything, not just change)

The main target of change control in any approach to project management is to tackle scope creep, a major project killer. Scope creep is unauthorised change where someone asks for ‘just’ this little thing to be added in, and then another little thing, and then another, but without any extra allowance of time or resource in the project. These little changes are supposed to be absorbed somehow. The problem is that a large number of changes build up, cumulatively representing considerable change, and so damage or even kill the project, which can’t now deliver within its allocated time and budget.

The main thrust of change control then is exactly that, to control change. Now, please note carefully that this is about change control, not change prohibition. PRINCE2 allows for change in the project, even very considerable change. It’s just that change is done in a controlled way, and with extra time and resource being given to do the work.

Configuration management is basically version control, or versioning. It’s important to take on board that configuration management is closely connected to change management because, if a change is made to a product, it’s likely to be given a new version number and the details of the change recorded. However, configuration management isn’t exactly the same as change management, because if under change control the change is refused, then there isn’t going to be any change of version.

Issues, also covered in this theme, can be about anything at all. A particular issue may be to ask for a change – a Request for Change (RFC) – but it may be about something else such as to report a new risk, put forward a good idea, or ask a question. This is where the Change theme covers rather more than change management.