The success of a project depends on how well the people around it, i.e. sponsors, core project team members, and business units, collaborate with each other. Two key people of the core project team are the Change Manager and the Business Analyst (BA). For the purpose of this article, Change Manager refers to any Change Management professional, i.e. Senior Change Manager / Change Lead, Change Manager, Senior Change Analyst, Change Analyst; and BA refers to a Lead BA, Senior BA, BA.
From experience, these days in most organisations, people seem to understand what a BA does; but in many organisations, people wonder what a Change Manager does. This is where actually a Change Manager should utilise their relationship with the BA to:
explain what they do.
set the expectations around how they will:
conduct their work, and
engage with the businesses.
The easiest way for a Change Manager to explain their role is by referencing to what a BA does: the BA focusses on the technical aspect of the solution while the Change Manager focusses on the people side of the change. There is another analogy which many Change Managers prefer to use: ‘Project Managers, BA’s and other technical people involved in the project build the aircraft, and we (Change Managers) build the crew.’ This is a very effective explanation and it explains the relationships between a Change Manager and other professionals (especially BA’s) involved in a project. On the one hand, how would you prepare a crew when there is no aircraft; and on the other, what is the point of building an excellent aircraft if the crew are not prepared to operate it?
In many cases these two professionals realise the great benefits of collaborating with each other, in some cases they do not, in some cases one realises but the other doesn’t. Let us explore how it is actually beneficial for these two professionals, how they support each other (without even realising) and how they can maximise the outcomes of mutual collaboration in their favour.
Designing a solution is not enough, identifying who it impacts and how it impacts, bridging the gap in skills and knowledge, minimising and managing the resistance, convincing the target user groups to accept the proposed solution, keeping them regularly engaged and updated, addressing all their concerns are equally important. This is where a Change Manager is the best salesperson (or to be more precise, the best friend) a BA can depend on; indeed, the former is convincing everyone about the great merit in the work the latter has done. This is where the Change Manager is working to ensure the success of the BA.
If we look at the other side, when a Change Manager is onboarded, the first document they should read is the Business Requirement (BRD). I have done it all the time and benefitted from this. Surprisingly many people have often asked me, ‘Why should a Change Manager read a BRD?’ Well, what else can they do to get a through understanding of what really is changing? How can they get the first impression of what the current state is and what the future state will be? Where else can they get the idea or at least the cue to ask questions about what processes are changing, what systems are changing or being replaced, who uses the systems now, who performs the processes now, and who will perform those functions post implementation? This is where the BA – probably without realising it themselves – provides the biggest support to the Change Manager.
In the early days of the project when the BRD is being developed, it is actually a good idea for the BA to get it checked by the Change Manager; since the latter can raise many questions which down the track sponsors, business units, and stakeholders may also ask. A collaboration here will support both the Change Manager and the BA.
Once the project is in motion, the Change Manager and the BA can collaborate on writing the updated processes, liaising with the System Integration Testing (SIT) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) teams. From here onwards, when the Change Manager has to write FAQ’s or coaching tools, they heavily utilise the knowledge and expertise of the BA. When a Change Manager writes a training document, ideally the BA should be the first person to evaluate this in terms of accuracy. Change Managers use process maps and detailed step by step instructions created by BA’s to create training documents. In many training sessions they run, Change Managers actually utilise BA’s as the ‘go to person/ people’ for curly questions.
At the post implementation / warranty phase, the Change Manager liaises the hypercare process and redirects complex questions to BA’s. This is where they support each other: the BA with their expertise of the systems and processes, and the Change Manager with business intelligence, governance around the hypercare and communication processes.
Both the Change Manager and the BA are seasoned professionals, they have different skill sets, both have opportunities to support each other. The more they collaborate with each other, the better: better for their success, better for the core project team, better for the success of the project; and most importantly, that ensures a fantastic outcome for the centre of the business: customers.
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