9/15/2004

Change Management In Need of Changes

This article from Tech Republic explains:

"In a change management methodology some entity, usually a change committee or change manager, gathers ideas for changes from various parties. These changes pass through an approval process. Accepted ideas then find their way to the appropriate parties for implementation. Rejected ideas fall into a big bucket somewhere, only to recur in an altered form sometime later. All changes, accepted or rejected, create a paper trail an auditor or manager can follow later to 'prove' an idea received its due attention. In a healthy system the accepted change log becomes a record of the change controlled system's evolution, in theory allowing a responsible party to assess the 'as it exists' system state.

This all looks great on paper. In practice, the change management system often comes into play at the tail end of the change cycle as a kind of 'rubber stamp' for decisions made by whomever holds the power to enact change within a particular area."